Govindarajan is a senior professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bengaluru, India, whose research area is fluid dynamics. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and a PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA. Before joining TIFR, she worked at the National Aerospace Laboratories and in the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. She is an associate editor of Physical Review Fluids, serves on the editorial committee of Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physical Review Letters, and Physics of Fluids. In addition to being a TWAS Fellow, she is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian National Science Academy, and the American Physical Society.

Rajasekhar Balasubramanian of the National University of Singapore has made significant contributions to advancing the understanding of urban air quality. His research focuses on airborne particulate matter, examining its sources, chemical composition, and impact on climate change and human health. Using innovative characterization techniques and advanced modeling approaches, he has elucidated the complex interactions between urban and regional air pollution, demonstrating how targeted interventions, such as indoor air filtration and traffic reduction measures, can effectively protect communities. Beyond his scientific achievements, Balasubramanian has played an influential role in shaping environmental policy, notably through his involvement with the Asia Pacific Clean Air Partnership and as a lead author of the UNEP Global Environment Outlook. In recognition of his contributions, he has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Asian Aerosol Research Assembly, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, and TWAS. He is also an international honorary member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists.

Anand received her PhD in chemistry from Cornell University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2008, and is currently the institute chair professor and head of the Department of Chemistry. Her research integrates X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and biochemical approaches to study antimicrobial resistance and develop biosensors. Her group designs next-generation therapies using modified antibiotics and combination strategies, enabling structure-guided drug design. Her laboratory also develops biosensors based on allosteric systems to detect phenols and aromatic compounds at ultra-sensitive levels, translating them into portable strip-based and organic electrochemical transistor platforms for rapid, low-cost monitoring. She serves on the advisory boards of ACS Sensors and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and is an associate editor of ACS Biochemistry. She is a DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance senior Fellow, a Sun Pharma Fellow, and a Fellow of several Indian science academies.

Yusuf, a J.C. Bose National Fellow, is a senior professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute, serving as director of the physics group at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He was the director of the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Argonne National Laboratory (US), and was a visiting scientist at the Institute of Materials Science in Spain. His research expertise lies in condensed matter physics. He has published nearly 400 original research articles, and obtained several patents. He serves as president of Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association, and vice-president of the Materials Research Society of India. In the past, he was appointed as president of the Indian Physics Association, vice-chair of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies, president of the Neutron Scattering Society of India, and council member of the National Academy of Sciences, India. His honours include MRSI Distinguished Lectureship Award, the P.K. Iyengar Memorial Award, the Raja Ramanna Prize Lecture in Physics (JNCASR), the MRSI Medal, and the DAE Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award.

Venkataraman is a leading researcher in aerosol science, working at the intersection of technology and emissions, climate science, air quality, and engineering nanoparticles for drug delivery. Her group aims to use aerosol science to serve society, through a diversity of environmental and biomedical applications, with emphasis on locally relevant solutions. She has authored over 150 cited publications, a book and four patents, and has built academic and research programmes to advance climate and air quality studies in South Asia. She was the founding head of the Centre for Climate Studies, and led the multi-institutional COALESCE research network. She participates in global policy networks, as a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of the UNEP and the Global Burden of Disease working group. She has extensively mentored research students and supported the advancement of women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in India, and has received a IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award (2024), a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2012), the Vikram Sarabhai Award (2006), and teaching excellence awards.

Kulkarni earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1992, where he also conducted postdoctoral research. He moved to Cardiff University to work on a project funded by Unilever. In 1995, he joined the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) as a faculty Fellow, serving there as a professor since 2008. Until 2011, he chaired the Materials Science Unit at JNCASR and held key administrative roles including dean of academic affairs and dean of faculty affairs. He later joined the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) as its director. In 2020, he returned to JNCASR as president, while continuing to serve as an adjunct professor at CeNS. Kulkarni has been a visiting scientist and professor at several prestigious institutions, including Cardiff University, the University of Tokyo, TASC-INFM in Trieste, Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Purdue University, and the Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay at Université Paris-Sud. He also served as an adjunct professor at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University (2009–2011), and held an international senior fellowship from the University of Bayreuth (2016–2018).