Yansui Liu is the TWAS Fellow, GSC Fellow, specialist of human and economic geography and land science, Top 1% Scientist, the Global Highly Cited Researchers since 2018; TWAS Prize award(2018), IGU Distinguished Practice Award（2022），the Second Award of the Scientific and Technological Progress of the State(2019); Associate Editor of Land Use Policy, Economic Geography. Academic Vice President of Henan University, Director of the Faculty of Geographical Science and Engineering, Henan University；Professor of Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the University of CAS; Chair, International Geographical Union’s Commission on Agricultural Geography and Land Engineering(IGU-AGLE); Chair, ANSO-Alliance of Poverty Reduction and Development (ANSO-APRD); Director, Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, CAS; the Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor. Honorary advisory board member of the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network. He is also the Head of Specialist Group for Third-party Assessment on the Effectiveness of Targeted Poverty Alleviation in China (2016-2021).

Michel López’s distinguished career reflects a profound commitment to academic research, teaching, and cultural heritage preservation. He founded Bolivia’s first salvage archaeology company, Empresa Consultora de Arqueología ECOAR and possesses extensive knowledge of Bolivia’s protected areas. From 2005 to 2011, as the director of the Institute of Anthropological and Archaeological Research at San Andrés University in La Paz, he spearheaded groundbreaking research and mentored future generations of scholars. His dedication to education has enriched academic discourse, ensuring the transmission of knowledge. From 2011 to 2015, as director-general of the Cultural Heritage at Bolivia’s Ministry of Cultures and Tourism, he led initiatives that secured UNESCO’s World Heritage status for the Ichapekene Piesta of San Ignacio de Moxos (2012), the Qhapaq Ñan (Andean Road System) and the intangible heritage of the Pujllay Ayarichi (2014). He also championed Bolivia’s Cultural Heritage Law (530), enacted in 2014. His academic contributions span diverse topics, including the pre-Columbian settlement of Tarija, ancient hydraulic systems in Beni, and the Inca conquest of Bolivia.

Mulugetta is a professor of energy and development policy at University College London (UCL), and a member of the management team of the Climate Compatible Growth programme. Prior to joining UCL, he held an academic position at the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey, UK. He is also a founding member of the African Climate Policy Centre at the Ethiopia-based UN Economic Commission for Africa, where he served as senior climate and energy specialist (2010–2013). He has over 25 years of research, teaching and advisory experience specialising on the links between energy infrastructure provision and human welfare. His research focuses on three interconnected areas: energy systems and development; energy systems and climate change; and political economy of low carbon development. He served as a coordinating lead author of the energy systems chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (Working Group III on mitigation), lead author in the IPCC Special Report on global warming, and lead author in the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

Munasinghe is founder chairman, Munasinghe Inst. for Development; Chairman, Presidential Expert Committee on Sustainable Sri Lanka 2030 Vision; distinguished guest prof., Peking Univ; and hon. senior adviser, Sri Lanka Govt. He has degrees in physics, engg. and economics from Cambridge U., UK; MIT, USA, and McGill and Concordia U., Canada. He was sr. energy adviser to the Pres. of Sri Lanka; advisor, US President's Council on Envir. Quality; sr. adviser/director, World Bank; vice chair, Intergov. Panel on Climate Change; chairman, Computer and Inf. Tech. Council, Sri Lanka; and chancellor, Int. Water Acad., Oslo. He shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and won many major research awards, incl. 2021 Blue Planet Prize Laureate; Eminence in Engineering; award, Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, 2014; Lifetime outstanding achievement in energy award from President of Sri Lanka, 2016; Officer of French Legion of Honour decoration from French President, 2018; and highest national award "Deshmanya" from Sri Lanka President, 2019. He has authored over 120 scientific books and 350 papers. He is fellow of 10 science academies, and editorial board member of 21 journals.

Okereke is a professor of global climate governance and public policy at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK. He is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and a senior academic visitor at the University of Oxford. He was previously the director of the Center for Climate Change in Alex Ekuweme Federal University, Nigeria, co-director of the Center for Climate and Justice, and co-director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme, both at the University of Reading. He also served as the director of the Center for Climate Change and Development at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, at the University of Oxford. A globally recognized leading scholar on global climate governance and international development, Okereke was the coordinating lead author of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group 3.

Reis is Prof. of Political Sociology at the Federal U. of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She obtained her BA (sociology) and MA (political science) in Brazil and her PhD (political science) from MIT. She has been visiting professor at several universities including UC San Diego, Columbia U., MIT, and the Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich. She chairs the Interdisciplinary Res. Network on Inequality (NIED) at UFRJ. She is former president of the Natl. Ass. for the Social Sciences. (ANPOCS); former secretary general of Brazilian Sociological Society; she has also served in the Executive Committee of both the International Political Science Association (1988-1994) and the International Sociological Association (2006-2010), and was vice-president of the International Science Council (2018-2021).

Rios-Neto is a visiting professor in the applied economics graduate programme at the Federal University of Ouro Preto. From April 2021 to December 2022, he served as the president of the Brazilian National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and from May 2019 to March 2021 he was the director of surveys at IBGE. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he was a distinguished Lemann Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2015–2016). In 2015, he retired as a full professor of demography at CEDEPLAR-UFMG, where he served from 1980. In 2010, he received the Brazilian Federal Government Medal of Scientific Merit, and in 2006 he was appointed as Tinker Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. From 2004–2011 he was president of the National Committee on Population and Development, and from 1999–2002 he was president of the Brazilian Population Association. From 1996–2000, he served as graduate training director in demography at CEDEPLAR. In 1996, he carried out postdoctoral research in demography at the University of Texas, Austin. He earned his PhD in demography from the University of California at Berkeley.

Nísia Trindade Lima was the first woman to hold the position of Brazil’s Minister of Health (2023–2025) and to preside over the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz, 2017–2022). She holds a PhD in Sociology and a Master’s in Political Science. She is a Public Health researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Fiocruz, a professor in the Graduate Program in the History of Science and Health, and a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program in Sociology at Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ). Her work focuses on Brazilian social thought, public health ideas, and state-building. As Fiocruz president, she led the COVID-19 response and joined international efforts such as Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the Lancet Commission on Global Health Threats, and the Global Council on Inequality, HIV and Pandemics. She launched the Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda, aligning the UN SDGs with institutional planning. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, she was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honor by France. Since May 2025, she holds the Olavo Setúbal Chair at the University of São Paulo.

Wang (PhD 1986, Inst. of Systems Sci., CAS) is a Changjiang Chair prof., Acad. of Math. and Systems Sci., Chinese Acad. of Sci. (CAS) in Beijing, chief economist and founding director of the Center for Forecasting Sci., CAS, and Dean of School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is/was president of Intl. Soc. of Knowledge and Systems Sci., and pres. of China Soc. of Systems Eng., a vice pres. of the Chinese Acad. of Mgt. and an advisor of several ministries of China. His honours include research fellow, Dutch Royal Acad. of Sciences, 1987-88; Croucher Foundation fellow, Hong Kong, 1993; China Sci and Tech Prize for Young Scientists, 1994; Japan Sci. Promotion Soc. fellow, 1994; foreign prof. of Tsukuba U. Japan, 2000-01, 2003-04; Fudan Prize of Mgt., 2008; Chairmanship Award of Intl. Soc. of Multiple Criteria Decision Making, 2009; Academician, Intl. Acad. of Systems and Cybernetics Sci., Wien, 2010 and Scott Award, Moskow,2014.

Winkler is a professor in Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing, a research unit in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research explores the intersection of development, climate, social justice and economics, with future work focusing on equity and inequality between and within countries; just (energy) transitions and just adaptation; implications of the global stocktake; and low emission development strategies and nationally determined contributions. His over 100 academic publications can be accessed on Scopus. He has led transdisciplinary research on mitigation action plans and scenarios in several developing countries. Winkler is a member of both the South African Academy of Sciences and African Academy of Sciences, and serves on the South African delegation to the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has recently served as joint editor-in-chief of the international journal Climate Policy, a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and as a co-facilitator of the technical dialogue of the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement.

Yang (PhD) is a professor, Institute of Psychology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She has been working on psycholinguistics and comparative studies between language and music processing, with over 200 papers published on journals in the fields of psychology, linguistic sciences and cognitive neurosciences. She is a member of Standing Committee, and Fellow, Chinese Psychological Society; member of Division of Phonetics, Chinese Society of Linguistics; President, Society of Neurolinguistics, Society for Chinese Language Modernization (2020-2022). She was Director, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1997-2006; President of Chinese Psychological Society, 2009-2013; Chief-editor for Acta Psycologica Sinica, 2006-2009, and Advances in Psychological Sciences, 1997-2006. She received awards: National Excellent Scientist from China Association of Science and Technology, 2014; Life span achievements, 2015, and Achievements in academic development, 2016, from Chinese Psychological Society.

Yang obtained her PhD degree from the Institute of Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, in 1999. She is the vice-president and professor at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, CAS, China; director of the Key Laboratory of Management, Decision and Information Systems affiliated to the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of CAS; and vice-director of the Centre of Forecasting Science affiliated to the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of CAS. She served as the vice-president of the International Input-Output Association (2013–2018; 2023–2024) and as the executive vice-president of the Chinese Input-Output Association (2016–present). Her awards include the TWAS Siwei Cheng Award in Economic Sciences, the National Award for Youth in Science and Technology (China), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (China), and the Sun Yefang Economic Award, the most reputational award in economics in China, among many others.

Zeng (PhD, 1986, Brussels Free University; Post-doc 1986-1987, Princeton University) is tenured professor of National School of Development at Peking University, Honorary Director of Center for Healthy Aging and Development Study at Peking University. He is also tenured professor of Center for Study of Aging and Human Development and Geriatric Division, School of Medicine, and Director of Center for Chinese Population and Socioeconomic Studies, Duke University. He is a foreign member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Distinguished Research Scholar of Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany. Up to July 2021, he published 369 articles (196 in English,173 in Chinese) and 31 academic books (11 in English, 20 in Chinese); he submitted 51 policy reports to government agencies; his articles/books have been cited over 14,354 times in other scholars’ publications, his h-index is 54 and i10-index is 174; he was awarded 4 international academic prizes and 16 national academic prizes.

Zhang (PhD, 1995, U. of Reading) is a UNEP senior staff and Director, UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), a joint center between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and UNEP. She is leading the implementation of a UNEP flagship programme focusing on the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services and sustainable development. She used to be a professor and Deputy Director at Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP), Chinese Acad. of Sciences (CAS). Most of her previous research has concentrated on policy-relevant studies on rural development in China, particularly on poverty alleviation. In recent years, her team has also focused on action research in rural health, nutrition and education to assess effectiveness of policies and interventions. She has published more than 300 papers in natl. and intl. journals, and presented more than 30 policy suggestions to government. She received numerous awards, incl. Fudan Management Excellence Award (2014), TWAS Celso-Furtado Prize in Social Sciences (2013), "Ten Most Outstanding Women in Science" award, CAS (2012), "100 Talent" award, CAS (2007), "Outstanding Young Scientist" Award, NSFC (2003).

Alouini is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, USA, in 1998. Alouini is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America (OSA)). Other recognitions include his selection as Fellow of the African Academy of Science in 2018 and Member of the Academia Europaea in 2019. Over the last years, Alouini has been addressing the uneven global distribution, access to, and use of information and communication technologies by studying and developing (i) new generations of integrated space-air-ground networks as a solution to provide connectivity to far-flung, less-populated, and/or hard-to-reach areas and (ii) novel thrifty wireless networks to achieve digital inclusiveness for low-income neighborhoods.

Bandyopadhyay completed her BTech and MTech in Computer Science from Calcutta University and IIT Kharagpur, respectively. She joined the Indian Statistical Institute as a faculty member after completing her PhD from the same Institute. She was the Director of the Institute for two terms: 2015-2020 and 2020-2025. She currently continues as a Professor at the Institute. Her areas of research interest include computational biology and Bioinformatics, soft and evolutionary computation, data mining and machine learning. She has received several awards and fellowships, including the Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys award, TWAS Prize, IAPR Maria Petrou Prize, DBT National Women Bioscientist Award (Young), Young scientist/engineer medals of INSA, INAE and Science Congress, JC Bose Fellowship, Swarnajayanti Fellowship and Humboldt Fellowship. She is a Fellow of the all the major Indian science academies and the Engineering academy, and of IEEE, TWAS and IAPR. In 2022, she received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the Government of India. She is currently a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India.

Claudia Bauzer Medeiros is Full Professor at the Instituto de Computação of Unicamp, the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil. She earned her MSc in 1979 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and her PhD in Computer Science in 1985 from the University of Waterloo, Canada. She received Brazilian and international awards for research, teaching, and work in fostering the participation of women in information technology. Her research is centered on managing scientific data, including handling very heterogeneous data sources. She coordinated large transdisciplinary and multi-institutional projects in agro-environmental planning, biodiversity and health, involving, among others, sensor data streams, satellite images, photos, videos, sound, clinical data and all kinds of textual sources. As the President of the Brazilian Computer Society (2003–2007), she launched some of the first countrywide initiatives to attract women to computing. She is recognized in Brazilian and international forums for initiatives associated with public policies in science and technology and in open data, and coordinates open science activities at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Bello Pérez has a strong academic foundation in computer science, complemented by doctoral studies in mathematics. A member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, Bello Pérez serves as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Sciences, where they lead the PhD Programme in computer sciences and informatics. He teaches courses in artificial intelligence (AI) at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and has authored over 300 scientific papers published in national and international journals, as well as several books. Their ongoing research focuses on advancing the field of AI, with current interests focused on explainable AI (XAI), responsible AI, and other emerging AI methodologies.

Caballero Mota received more than 105 awards and distinctions: Finlay Order; 10 Cuban Academy of Sciences Awards; TWAS Regional Partner's Award for Young Scientists (Computer Science) awarded by the Cuban Academy of Sciences; Distinguished Foreign Expert Award in the 100 foreign experts plan from Hebei province, China; Distinguished Researcher of Hebei International Studies University, China; Sofia Kovalevskaya Award; 5 Special Distinctions by Cuban Ministers; National Award for Young Researcher in the Category of Technical Sciences; Pablo Miquel National Prize form the Cuban Society of Mathematics and Computing; National Vanguard of the Science Union; several National Prizes awarded by the Youth Technical Brigades, 20 provincial CITMA Awards, among others. She has participated in more than 200 congresses worldwide. She has over 140 scientific publications, several of them within the Web of Science and referenced databases. She participated in more than 30 research and development projects and has 33 software registrations in her name at the Cuban Copyright Center. 33 diploma projects, 64 master's theses, and 10 doctoral theses have been defended under her tutorship.

Chaudhuri is a K.N. Bajaj chair professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He earned his Bachelor of Technology in electronics and communication engineering at IIT Kharagpur (1985), his Master of Science at the University of Calgar (1987) and his PhD (1990), both in electrical engineering, at the University of California, San Diego. For his research excellence, he has received major national awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Swarnajayanti Fellowship, J.C. Bose National Fellowship, G.D. Birla Award and the NASI-Reliance Award. Chaudhuri was honoured with the title of TUM Ambassador by Technical University Munich, Germany. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science India, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (US). He has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and UCSD. He has received a Doctor of Science degree (honoris causa) by Burdwan University. His areas of research include computer vision, machine learning and computational haptics.

Durrani is Research Professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He has received a number of awards including: M. Carlton Award, IEEE Aerospace Soc., 1974; IEEE 3rd Millennium Medal, 2000; IEEE Signal Processing Soc. Meritorious Service Award, 2000; the OBE in 2003 for services to higher education and electronics research; the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Award for;Asian Man of the Year in the UK, 1999; and the 2005 Muslim News Award for Excellence in Engineering, Science and Technology; the IEEE Haradan Pratt Award, 2024 and he wasindicted into the IEEE Hall of Honor,2025 . He has authored over 420 publications and he has supervisd over 45 PhDs. His membership includes: Fellow Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Fellow Royal Society of Edinburgh; Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, Internatrional Member US National Academy of Engineering and of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently Fellowship Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Eleuch is a professor-chair of research excellence in quantum information and AI at Univ. Polytechnique Hauts-de-France. He received his PhD in quantum physics in 1998, from Kastler Brossel Laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure and the University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris), France. He has visited and worked at several prestigious institutions such as Texas A&M University, Max Planck Institute, Princeton University, McGill University, the University of Auckland, and the University of Montreal. Eleuch has authored more than 300 papers and holds 21 US patents. He has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Max Planck Society, and the International Center for Theoretical Physics. He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society (US), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists. He has been ranked among the top 2% of scientists, according to Stanford University's rankings, both in career-long and annual categorises, since 2019. In 2024, he received the Abdul Hameed Shoman Prize for Arab Researchers in Science.

Ghogho received his PhD in signal processing from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (1997). He was a research fellow at the University of Strathclyde (1997–2001) before joining the University of Leeds where he was promoted to full professor and head of the Signal Processing and Communications Group, in 2008. In 2010, still affiliated with the University of Leeds, he joined the International University of Rabat where he served as ICT research drector and dean of the College of Doctoral Studies. In March 2025, he joined the College of Computing at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. He is a recipient of prestigious awards, including the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship (2000), IBM Faculty Award (2013), and was elected a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2018), and International Academy of Artificial Intelligence Sciences (AAIS) (2021). His work focuses on machine learning and statistical signal processing, with applications in wireless communications, robotics, cybersecurity, and healthcare. He has published over 450 papers, supervised over 50 PhD students, and led over 20 research projects, serving as editor for many journals.

Hasna earned a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2003) and has over than 25 years of academic experience. At Qatar University, he served as head of Electrical Engineering Department, dean of College of Engineering, and vice-president and chief academic officer. Hasna was a founding member of the Society of Qatari Engineers, IEEE Qatar section, and co-established the Qatar Mobility Innovation Center at Qatar Science and Technology Park. As a prolific researcher, he has published more than 250 publications with a total of over 10,000 citations. He was the first from Qatar to be included in Thomson Reuters' highly-cited list of researchers, in 2015. His research focuses on wireless communication, including a project with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish an affordable network connecting the Comoros Islands. Hasna serves on senior committees: the National Education Excellence Award's Board of Trustees and the Energy and Industry Qatarization Awards Advisory Committee. He represents Qatar in the Arabian Gulf University's Board of Trustees since 2014.

Professor Huang has made fundamental contributions to dynamics of nonlinear systems, neuromorphic computing, intelligent control and smart grid. He was named Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2019, and was a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Computational Intelligence Society 2022-2024. He is on the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List, and on the top 0.5% of scientists list for life time and recent 5 years both by ScholarGPS. He received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Asia Pacific Neural Networks Society, the Changjiang chair professorship awarded by China’s Ministry of Education, the Best Research Project Award presented by Qatar National Research Fund, and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, the highest honor bestowed by Texas A&M University to its faculty. He is a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), IEEE, IAPR, an academician of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences, a Member of the European Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences.

Jain earned his PhD in 1973 from The Ohio State University, USA. He is Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. His area of research includes pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision and biometric recognition. He was a member of the US Defense Science Board and the US Forensics Science Standards Board. He was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Humboldt Research Award, the Fulbright Fellowship and the King-Sun Fu Prize. He was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence and is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Jain holds ten US patents and was named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Jain's work is focused on face and fingerprint recognition for secure authentication and national ID systems, e.g. India's Aadhaar. Jain received the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award for ICT in 2025.

Karimipour began his studies in electrical engineering before switching to physics and earning his PhD from Sharif University of Technology, where he has been a faculty member since 1993, and is now a physics professor. His early research focused on quantum groups and integrable models, later expanding to exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, particularly reaction-diffusion systems. As a contribution to this field, he developed an algebraic model for particles overtaking each other in a line and related it to traffic flow. Since 2001, he works in quantum computation and quantum information, mentoring many students who now work in Iran and abroad. His work covers various areas of quantum information theory, and is restricted to formal and mathematical aspects, like entanglement theory, and capacity of quantum channels. He was a regular associate of ICTP (1998–2013) and a Simons Associate (2015–2023). He served on the editorial board of the European Physical Journal D (2019–2024) and was named an outstanding referee by the American Physical Society, in 2013. Since 2007, he co-founded and co-organized the biennial IICQI conference series and contributed to ICTP schools.

Mitra is a Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She was in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Germany (1992–94) as a Fellow under the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She was Visiting Professor at Computer Science Department, University of Alberta, Canada; Meiji University, Japan; and Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark. Mitra received the National Talent Search Scholarship (1978–1983) from National Council of Educational Research and Training, India; the University Gold Medal (1988); the Outstanding Paper Award (1994) by Transactions on Neural Networks, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for her pioneering work in neuro-fuzzy computing, the CIMPA-INRIA-UNESCO Fellowship (1996), and Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship (2018–2020). She was the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Chair Professor 2018–2020. Mitra has been awarded the prestigious J. C. Bose National Fellowship, 2021. She is a Fellow of IEEE, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), Fellow of INAE, and of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI).

Pal is a distinguished scientist and former Director of Indian Statistical Institute. He founded its Machine Intelligence Unit & the Natl. Center for Soft Computing in Calcutta. Currently, he is an ANRF Prime Minister Professor; ISI-President and Emeritus Professor; & AICTE-Distinguished Chair Professor. Obtained PhD (Sc) from Calcutta U. and PhD (Engg) & DIC from Imperial College, London. Worked at UC Berkeley; UMD, College Park; NASA JSC, Houston; and US Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC. His awards include: SS Bhatnagar; Padma Shri; GD Birla; OP Bhasin; J Nehru Fellowship; FICCI; Vikram Sarabhai; IETE-Wadhwa Gold Medal; INSA-Zaheer Medal; ISC-PC Mahalanobis Gold Medal; INAE Chair Prof.; INSA Distinguished Prof.; National Science Chair; INAE-SN Mitra; INSA-JNBC Lecture; JC Bose Natl. Fellow; DAE Raja Ramanna Fellow; Al-Khwarizmi Intl. 1st Prize; NASA Space Act Tech Brief; NASA Patent Appl.; IEEE Distinguished Speaker; IEEE NN Soc. Outstanding Paper; US NAS-NRC Senior Associate; and IEEE Editor. He is Fellow of all 4 Indian sci. and engg. academies, IEEE, IAPR, IFSA, IRSS & AAIA; and Member of European Acad of Sci & Arts. He has visited 45 countries as keynote/invited speaker.

Patnaik is INSA Senior Scientist and Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies,and was Vice Chancellor, Defence Inst. of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Deemed Univ., Pune, India. He was previously Honorary Professor, Dept of Electronic Systems Engg, Prof., Dept. of Computer Science and Automation, and Convener, Computational Neurobiology Group, IISc. He obtained his PhD (1978) and DSc (1989) in computer science and engineering from IISc. He has been honoured with over 20 awards for contributions to electronics, communications, and information technology including the Technical Achievement Award (1999), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA, Computer Society; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Natl. Award for Engineering and Technology, 1999; and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Award for Innovation in Applied Research, 2002. He is a Fellow of IEEE and all 4 leading science and engineering academies in India.www.lmpatnaik.in.

Paulraj is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, USA. He obtained his PhD in 1973 at IIT (Delhi). He served in the Indian Navy from 1965 to 1991 where he led the development of military sonar systems. He also founded three national level research labs in India. He joined Stanford in 1992 where he pioneered MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) wireless technology that has revolutionized wireless performance and is incorporated into all Wi-Fi and mobile 4G./ 5G systems His recognition includes the 2024 RAE Prince Phillip Medal, the 2023 IET Faraday Medal, the 2011 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the 2014 Marconi Prize, the 2010 Padma Bhushan (Indian national award), the 2017 induction into the US Patent Office National Inventors Hall of Fame and the 2018 China Friendship Award. He is a member of nine academies, including the US National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering and several Indian S&T Academies . He is a fellow of IEEE and AAAS.

Poor (PhD, 1977, Princeton) is the Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, where he served as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 2006 to 2016. His research contributions are in the areas of communications and signal processing, particularly in wireless networking, smart grid, and related fields. His awards include: the IEEE Education Medal, the IET Fleming Medal, the URSI Booker Gold Medal, the IEEE Eric Sumner Award, the EURASIP Athanasios Papoulis Award, the AAES John Fritz Medal, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, and honorary doctorates from five universities. His memberships include: U.S. National Academy of Engineering, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Inventors, Royal Society, U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering, Academia Europaea, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sayed is dean of engineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. He has served as distinguished professor and chairman of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he founded the Adaptive Systems Laboratory (1996). Recognized as a highly cited researcher and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, he served as president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) in 2018-19. An author of over 570 scholarly publications and six books, his research involves several areas including adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, and multi-agent systems. His awards include: 2020 Norbert Wiener Society Award, 2015 Education Award from IEEE-SPS; 2014 Papoulis Award from European Association for Signal Processing; 2013 Meritorious Service Award and 2012 Technical Achievement Award from IEEE-SPS, 2005 Terman Award from American Society for Engineering Education, 2003 Kuwait Prize, and several Best Paper awards from scientific organizations. He is a fellow of IEEE, European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).