Singh earned his PhD in 1986, from Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, India. He is a distinguished researcher, educator, and Fellow of leading scientific academies, including the American Society of Horticultural Science, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian Academy of Horticultural Science. With over three decades of achievements, he has advanced horticultural research, innovation, and capacity building, particularly in developing countries. His work has earned numerous national and international honours, including recognition from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, UNESCO, and the International Society of Horticultural Science. Also, he has been named Western Australian Innovator of 2017. His research has enhanced crop productivity, reduced postharvest losses, and contributed to global food security. Singh has worked across institutions in Australia, the UK, Italy, and India, publishing 468 papers, developing industry-relevant technologies, and inventing two ethylene antagonists. A strong advocate for global collaboration, he has led major initiatives to strengthen scientific capacity worldwide. His work has received 11,426 citations.

Meyer is a professor of computer science at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and holds the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation/National Research Foundation–University of Cape Town research chair in symbolic Artificial Intelligence. Previously, he held positions at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, National ICT Australia (now Data61), the University of New South Wales in Australia, the University of Pretoria, and the University of South Africa. Meyer is internationally recognized as an expert in knowledge representation and reasoning, and one of only three South African computer scientists to have obtained an A-rating from the South African National Research Foundation. A member of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and the Association for Computing Machinery, he is also an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. In 2025, he has received the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists Pioneer Award.

Professor Kadambot Siddique obtained his PhD in 1985 from The University of Western Australia. Currently Hackett Professor of Agriculture Chair, and Director, The UWA Australia Institute of Agriculture. He is Fellows of The World Academy of Sciences, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, African Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Agriculture Institute of Australia and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He was designated by United Nations FAO as special ambassador for the International Year of Pulses 2016. Highly Cited Researcher in 2019-2023 in Agricultural Sciences and double Hi Ci in 2021-2023 in Agricultural Sciences and Plant & Animal Science (Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics). Professor Siddique is the recipient of national and international awards. In 2025 was bestowed Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by Kerala Agricultural University, India and 2024 Crawford Fund Medal in recognition of considerable and continued contribution to international agricultural research through the Crawford Fund’s programs and related activities. Awarded Western Australian Scientist of the Year 2023.

Bhargava is a world-renowned multidisciplinary scientist with decades of leadership in the academia and industry. His contributions in nanotechnology, catalysis and metallodrugs for cancer treatment are outstanding. His award-winning Global PhD programme with the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology broke new ground and established a unique connection between his native India with his adopted Australia. Regarded as the topmost researcher in mercury pollution control, Bhargava's achievements place him among the top 1 per cent scientists in mines and mineral engineering. He has co-authored over 600 highly-cited refereed journal articles, two books, 14 book chapters, 12 relevant patents, more than 120 lectures. He is known as a solution-provider to many industries. Holding distinguished professorships at top universities in six countries, he is an outstanding ambassador of Australian higher education around the world. An inspirational figure to many, he pushed boundaries and developed innovative ways for how universities should collaborate with industry, creating jobs and changing lives.

Tao is the Inaugural Director of the JD Explore Academy and a Senior Vice-President of JD.com, China’s largest online retailer. He is also an advisor and Chief Scientist of the Digital Sciences Initiative in the University of Sydney. He mainly applies statistics and mathematics to artificial intelligence and data science, and his research is detailed in one monograph and over 200 publications in prestigious journals, and proceedings at leading conferences. He received the 2015 Australian Scopus-Eureka Prize, the 2018 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) Research Contributions Award, and the 2021 IEEE Computer Society McCluskey Technical Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE.

Prof. Rajeev Varshney is an agricultural research scientist specializing in genomics and molecular breeding with 20+ years of service in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He is serving Murdoch University as a Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; Director, State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre: and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute. Prior to joining Murdoch University, Prof Varshney served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for about 16 years in various science and leadership roles and Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crops Plant Research, Germany for 5 years as a Research Scientist. Prof. Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa & Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops.