Sharma was educated at the Universities of Rajputana (Jodhpur), Mumbai, and Cambridge. He obtained his BSc in chemical engineering (1958), MSc (tech.) by research (1960) and PhD (Cantab) in 1964. He is honorary Kothary research professor, JNCAR, and professor of eminence, Inst, of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. He was previously: professor (1964-97) and director (1989-97), Dept. of Chemical Technology, Univ. of Mumbai. His awards include: Om Prakash Bhasin; Padma Vibushan; FICCI Award in Science and Technology; JC Bose Memorial Lecture, Royal Society, London; Shatabdi Puraskar, Indian Science Congress. He is a fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences; INSA; Maharashtra Academy of Science; Royal Society, London; and hon. fellow, Natl. Academy of Sciences; foreign assoc., US Natl. Academy of Engineering; intl. fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering.

Azim Surani, born in Kenya received a PhD in 1975 at Cambridge University under Professor Sir Robert Edwards FRS (Nobel Laureate, 2010). Surani joined the Babraham Institute in 1979, and discovered ‘Genomic Imprinting’ in 1984, and subsequently, novel imprinted genes and their functions, with contributions to its mechanism through establishment and erasure of DNA methylation. In 1992, he was elected the Marshall-Walton Professor, and subsequently Director of Research at Cambridge University. His recent work established the genetic basis for germ cell specification and epigenetic programming towards resetting of the epigenome. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001, awarded a Royal Medal in 2010, and in 2014, the ISSCR McEwen Award for Innovation.

Bai was educated at the University of Science and Technology of China, Beijing from 1963-68 and Hefei, Anhui, China where he obtained his PhD in 1982. He is professor of statistics in the department of statistics at the Northeast Normal University, China. He was previously: Research associate of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, University of Pittsburgh; senior research associate at the Center for Multivariate Analysis at Penn State University; associate professor, department of statistics, Temple University, Philadelphia; professor of statistics, department of applied mathematics, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan, China; senior fellow and professor of statistics, department of mathematics and department of statistics and applied probability, National University of Singapore.

Benmouna was educated at the Univ. of Algiers, School of Engineering, Paris, the Univ. of Michigan and the Univ. of Strasbourg (PhD, 1984). He is professor of physics at the University of Tlemcen in Algeria, and co-director of the Laboratoire International Associé of the Université des Science et Technologies de Lille in France and the Université de Tlemcen in Algeria. His previous positions include visiting professorships at: Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung in Mainz; universities of Lille, Dunkerque, East Anglia, Tulane; Food Research Inst.; Univ. of Konstanz; Centre de Recherche sur les Macromolécules Végétales in Grenoble; Natl. Inst. of Science and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Ctr. de Recherche sur les Macromolécules, Strasbourg. His membership includes the Académie FrancoPhone d’Ingénieurs, UNESCO, New York Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences.

Julian Chela-Flores was born in Caracas in 1942. He studied in the University of London, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Quantum Mechanics (1969). He was Associate Researcher at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research from 1971 till 1978 and Dean of Research and Professor at Simon Bolivar University until his retirement in 1990. He is Fellow of The Latin American Academy of Sciences, The Academy of Sciences of the Developing World and Corresponding Member of the Venezuelan Academy of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences. From 1996 till 2014 he was Staff Associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) where he continues his research as a Visiting Scientist. His area of expertise is astrobiology. He organized and co-directed seven related conferences at ICTP. He has collaborated with emerging nations from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Besides many research publications in specialized journals, he is the author of The New Science of Astrobiology; A Second Genesis: Stepping-stones Towards the Intelligibility of Nature; The Science of Astrobiology a Personal Point of View on Learning to Read the Book of Life, and Astrobiology and Humanities.

Chu and colleagues were the first to achieve superconductivity above liquid nitrogen temperatures with YBaCuO (90 K). Such and related work has established him as a leader in the field of high temperature superconducting oxides. He is Founding Director and Chief Scientist, Texas Center for Superconductivity; Professor of Physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science, University of Houston; President Emeritus and University Professor Emeritus, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; and Honorary Chancellor, Taiwan Comprehensive University System. He has received the U.S. National Medal of Science and numerous international awards, as well as 10 honorary doctorates and 7 honorary professorships. He is a fellow/member of the American Physical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Sinica, National Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other organizations.

del Pino is emeritus professor of biological sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE). After obtaining her PhD at Emory University, del Pino returned to Ecuador in 1972 and worked at PUCE until 2013. Her honours include: an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1984-85), a diploma from the World Wildlife Fund for the Education for Conservation in the Galapagos Islands (1986); the International L'Oreal/UNESCO Award For Women in Science (2000); the Sheth Distinguished International Emory Alumni Award (2003); the TWAS Medal (2005); the Eugenio Espejo Prize in the Sciences, Govt. of Ecuador (2012), the 2019 Prize of The Latin American Society for Developmental Biology (LASDB) and The Developmental Biology – Society for Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award (2022). She is hon. foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences, hon. foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, International member of the US National Academy of Sciences and founding member of the Ecuador Academy of Sciences.

Khush is adjunct professor at UC Davis. He obtained his PhD at UC Davis in 1960. After serving as assistant geneticist at the same university for seven years, he joined the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines as plant breeder. He retired as principal plant breeder and head of the division of plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology in 2002. His honours include 14 honoris causa doctorates and several awards including the Japan Prize, World Food Prize, Rank Prize, Wolf Prize, Golden Sickle Award, Mahathir Science Award and the Padma Shri Award by the President of India. He is a member of 9 science academies including Indian National Science Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Chetsanga (PhD Univ. of Toronto, 1969; postdoc fellow, Harvard Univ., 1969-72) is prof. of Biochemistry at the Univ. of Zimbabwe, Harare since 1983 and former chair of the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education and the Zimbabwe Research and Intellectual Exposition Program (2009-2016). Previous positions include: inaugural Dir. Gen., Scientific and Industrial Research Centre (1993-03); pro-vice chancellor, Univ. of Zimbabwe, Harare (1991-93); member, UNESCO Exec. Board (1996-99); pres., Zimbabwe Acad. of Sciences (2004-2010); prof. of Biochemistry, Univ. of Michigan (1972-83). He is a member of African Academy of Sciences and American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His honours include: President’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to Science and Technology (1990); honorary D.Sc. degrees (2000, 2010).

Ghassib is professor of theoretical physics at the University of Jordan. After obtaining a PhD in physics and completing postdoctoral work at Manchester University, he returned to Jordan in late 1975. Since then he has worked in various capacities at the University of Jordan and other institutions, including the Arab Thought Forum, Majlis El Hassan and the newspaper AL ARAB AL YAWM. His honors and awards include: Abdul Hameed Shoman Prize for Young Arab Scientists in Fundamental Sciences, Amman, 1986; Al-Hussein Order of Merit for Distinguished Contribution, 2nd order, 1998; and 1st order, 2000; Distinguished Researcher Prize, The University of Jordan, 2011. He is a member of the Jordan Academy of Arabic (1984-) and the New York Academy of Sciences (1981).

Kayanja is chancellor of Gulu University in Uganda. Doubly qualified in veterinary and human medicine, he attended undergraduate courses at the Universities of London and Oxford, was a postdoctoral researcher at the Nuffied Orthopaedic Unit, University of Oxford, and obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has received an honorary causa doctorate and was a gold medalist of the Royal College Medical Association. He was also awarded The Commendeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the Republic of France and the Science Research Excellence Award of the Republic of Uganda. He is a member of the African Academy of Sciences and the Uganda National Academy of Sciences. Research interests: Mammalian reproduction; the vascular role in osteogenesis; Zoonotic diseases; Ecology and the Environment.

Professor Moncada’s scientific career began at the Royal College of Surgeons, where he was part of the team that discovered the mechanism of action of aspirin-like drugs, thus explaining how they act to relieve pain, control temperature, reduce inflammation and cause gastric damage. During his time at the Wellcome Research Laboratories he led the team that discovered thromboxane synthase and the vasodilator prostacyclin. This work is the basis for the understanding of how low doses of aspirin prevent cardiovascular cardiovascular disease and events such as heart attacks and strokes. In the 1980’s he discovered nitric oxide as a biological mediator, the mechanism of its biosynthesis and many of its biological functions. As Director of Research at Wellcome, he also presided over the work that resulted in the development of several new medicines, including Lamotrigine, Atovaquone, Somig and La

Rodríguez-Iturbe is Distinuguished University Professor at Texas A&M University and James S. McDonnell Dist. Univ. Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He is author of over 300 papers in international journals and 3 books. His memberships include: US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering, Pontifical Vatican Academy of Sciences, Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, Mexican Academy of Engineering, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. His awards include: Stockholm Water Prize, Prince Sultan Abdulaziz Water Prize, Bowie Medal, Horton and Macelwane Medals, American Geophysical Union; Langbein Lecture, AGU; Huber Prize and VT Chow Award, American Society of Civil Engineers; Horton Lecture Award, American Meteorological Society; Premio Mexico of Science and Technology; National Science Prize of Venezuela; and Honorary Degrees from the universities of Genova, Cantabria and Zulia.

Youdeowei (PhD in agric. entomol., U. of London) is a consultant and IPM specialist for Global IPM Facility, FAO Reg. Office for Africa, Accra, Ghana, and World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. He is also Dir., Pesticides Action Ntwrk UK; Dir., West Africa Book Publ. Ltd, Nigeria, Vis. Prof., U. of Greenwich, UK in Capacity Strengthening for Afr. Agric. Research. He was: Dean, Fac. of agriculture and forestry, 1976-79; act. vice chanc., 1978, U. of Ibadan, Nigeria ; research associate, Intl. Ctr. for Insect Physiology and Ecol., Nairobi, 1973-77; sci. coord., ICIPE/UNEP Group, Pest and Vector Mngmnt. System, 1978-82; and dir., Training and Communications, West Africa Rice Devlpmnt. Assocn., Côte d’Ivoire, 1990-97. He is a founding fellow of: African Acad. of Sciences; Science Assocn. of Nigeria; Entomol. Soc. of Nigeria; Royal Entomol. Soc., London. Winner Intl. Plant Protection Award of Distinction, IPPAD 2015