Sadunishvili graduated from Tbilisi State University in 1975 with a diploma in biology/biochemistry at the Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Georgian Academy of Sciences. She obtained her degree of Candidate of Science (1980) and Doctor of Science (1995) in biology with studies on the structure, kinetics and regulation of nitrogen metabolism enzymes. Since then, working as Head of Laboratory at Durmishidze Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology (DIBB), her research topics have expanded by studying structure-function changes in plant cells under contamination stress, microbial diversity, development of bio and phytoremediation technologies based on selected plants and microbial consortia, phytopathogenic bacteria and their specific bacteriophages. In 2013, she was appointed as Full Professor and Head of Department of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Georgia. In 2009, Sadunishvili was selected as Corresponding Member, and in 2015 Full Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. She is an author of five monographs, and above 150 scientific publications, including reviews and book chapters.

Sabiiti is currently prof of Agric and envir.sci at busitema Univ. Former prof. of crop sciences and former dean, Fac. of Agriculture, Makerere U. (MU); former vice pres., Uganda Natl. Acad. of Sciences (UNAS); pres., Assoc. of Uganda Professional Agriculturalists; former, Member TWAS Adv. Comm. on prizes in Agric. Sciences; 1st President for ASARECA Gen. Assembly, member, Former Chairman, Science education for Africa, member, Global Activities Committee/Intl. Former Oversight Council on IAP Science Education; and TWAS Research prof. After obtaining his PhD (U. of New Brunswick, Canada) in 1985, he served as a lecturer at MU and in various capacities at Ugandan and internatl. research institutions. His honours include: Fulbright Scholar.; uganda Independence Medal award; MU Innovations Awd.; Ntare School Lion's Awd.; Mbarara High School Old Boys Awd.; and Presidential Science, Education and Technology Excellence Awd. He is a member of 15 professional societies and fellow of TWAS,UNAS and AAS.

Saad (PhD, 1987, University of Zürich, Switzerland) is Professor of cell biology and immunology at the Arab American University in Jenin, Palestine (AAUP), and past President of the Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baga Algharbiya, Israel. He was: Scientific Director of the Research and Development Regional Centre - The Galilee Society, Israel; Dean of Scientific Research at AAUP, Dean of Scientific Research Center at Al-Qasemi Academic College, Israel; Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Research Centre at Al-Qasemi Academic College, Head of the Higher Education Council of Al-Qasemi Academic College, and member of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education. His prizes include the Best Research Award of the Swiss Surgical Society for the development of versatile biodegradable biomaterials, the Best Research Award of The Israeli Society for Complementary Medicine, and the Hijawi Awards of AAUP for best undergraduate research projects, and Best Researcher at AAUP. He is a member of the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC).

Ruffolo is a professor at Mahidol U. He obtained his PhD in 1991 at U Chicago. He developed a classic transport equation for solar energetic particles and precision modeling of their observed distribution in space. He created new theories of turbulent transport of cosmic rays, including an explanation of solar particle dropouts in terms of solar wind turbulence and topological trapping. He led the establishment of a neutron monitor in Thailand, which detects galactic cosmic rays at the world's highest geomagnetic cutoff energy. He has twice served as a rapporteur of the International Cosmic Ray Conference. He was awarded the Golden Eagle Award from the American Academy of Achievement and the 2017 Outstanding Scientist Award of Thailand. His memberships include the Thailand Academy of Science and Technology and the American Geophysical Union.

Rozikov (PhD, 1995, D.Sc., 2001, Tashkent) is Professor, Institute of Mathematics, Tashkent. His prizes and fellowships include prize of TWAS for Young Scientists; TWAS Young Affiliate; TWAS Research Grant; Prize of Japan Embassy in Tashkent; Medal "Uzbekiston Belgisi", Uzbekistan; Fellowship of IHES, France; NATO Reintegration Grant; The Royal Society grant, Cambridge, UK; Medal "The excellent teacher" of Uzbekistan; CNR-Fellowship grant of Italian CNR; Junior Associate of ICTP, Italy; Visiting professor of University Santiago de Compostela, Spain, University of Geneva, Switzerland, Universite du Sud Toulon Var, France, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, University Paris-Est, Paris, France; DFG grant, Germany; CNRS fellowship, Centre de Physique Theorique, Marseille, France; Residence of IMeRA, Marseille, France; grant of London Mathematical Society; State prize of the government of Uzbekistan; Springer Nature TOP Author Award for high publication activity.

Rosswall is former Executive Director of the International Council for Science (ICSU). He has been Rector of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and is professor emeritus of water in environment and society at SLU. His research has focused on microbial regulation of nitrogen and carbon cycling from the micro- to the global scale. He has played an important role in the development of global change research as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).He was the inaugural Director of START, the capacity building component of the global change research programmes. His memberships include: Academia Europaea; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry; and The World Academy of Arts and Science. He is, among many appointments, past Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and past member of the Steering Committee of the High-level Expert Panel (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)..

Ron (PhD, 2007, University of Texas) professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito. Founding member and current secretary of the Ecuadorian Academy of Sciences. Young Affiliate of TWAS (2008–2013) and member of the Global Young Academy (2010–2013). He is curator of amphibians at the Museum of Zoology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. His research focuses on two main venues: evolution and conservation. In his work on evolution he has contributed to the field of systematics and taxonomy of Neotropical amphibians. In the field of conservation, he has studied to global phenomenon of amphibian population declines. He is Director of the ARCA initiative, a large-scale study to inventory and characterize genetically the Ecuadorian biodiversity. He is editor in chief of FaunaWebEcuador, a web portal that publishes general information of Ecuadorian fauna.

Rolz-Asturias was educated at the U. de San Carlos, Guatemala and UC Berkeley. He is Director, Biochemical Engineering Center, Research Inst., U. del Valle de Guatemala. His previous positions include: Research scientist, Central American Research Inst. for Industry (ICAITI) (1965-69); head, Applied Research Division (1969-89); coordinator and prof., Center for Science and Technology Studies (CECT), ICAITI (1989-94); head and principal scientist, Science and Technology Unit (UCT), ICAITI (1994-96); vice president, Guatemalan Acad. of Sciences (1993-96); Dean, Research Inst., U. del Valle de Guatemala (1997-2000, 2004-09); and lecturer at San Carlos University (1965-80), Rafael Landivar U. (1985-90) and Del Valle University (1985-90). He has been awarded the Guatemala Science and Technology Medal in 2000. He is fellow, Guatemalan Acad. of Sciences and the Latin American Acad. of Sciences.

Roederer (DSc, 1952, U. of Buenos Aires) is prof. emeritus of physics, Geophysical Inst., Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks, and affiliate prof. University of Colorado. He was prof. of physics at the univ. of Buenos Aires, Denver and Alaska (1959-1993), and distinguished visiting prof., Rhodes University, South Africa (1997). He was dir., Argentine Natl. Ctr. of Cosmic Radiation, and Geophysical Inst. of the U. of Alaska; chrmn., US Arctic Rsrch. Commiss.; and sr. advisor, ICTP, Trieste. He has held chairmanships of ICSU associations and commissions and was former Intl. Sec. of the American Geophysical Union. Awards include: Soviet Acad. Medal, 100 Years of Geophysics; 4 NASA awards for contributions to the Galileo Mission to Jupiter; AGU Flinn Award for unstinting service to the scientific community. He is corr. member, Academies of Sciences of Argentina and Austria, and fell. of IUGG, AAAS, the AGU, the Argentine Physical Assoc. and Argentine Geodesic and Geophysical Association. Roederer is also organist.

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.

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.

Rentala (PhD 1984, University of Hyderabad, India) is a professor at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. In JNU, she was Former Director, Human Resource Development Centre, Director Advanced Instrumentations Research facility and Dean School of Life Sciences. Member of all three Indian science academies, she has received the Hari Om Trust JC Bose award, the young scientist award from IUB, the Career Research Initiative Award from Wellcome Trust UK. She received Biotechnology Career Fellowship from Rockefeller foundation, USA. She received American Society of Microbiology, International Professorship. She has been an invited speaker in many national and international meetings, and has received the President of India, Visitor Group Award 2016, and the 2016 senior women Bioscientist Award, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (DBT).

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).

Daya Reddy is Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and previously held the South African Research Chair in Computational Mechanics. He completed a degree in civil engineering at UCT, and a Ph.D. degree at Cambridge University in the UK. The focus of his research is on is research focusing on mathematical modelling, analysis, and simulation, with applications in materials science and biomechanics. Reddy served as the inaugural President of the International Science Council (ISC). He is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the South African Academy of Engineering, and a Member and former President of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is also an elected Fellow of the International Association of Computational Mechanics and of the ISC. He is a recipient of the Order of Mapungubwe, awarded by the President of South Africa for distinguished contributions to science, and of the Georg Forster Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

Rech has been a scientist at EMBRAPA Recursos Geneticos e Biotecnologia, Brazil, since 1981. He obtained his PhD in 1989 at the University of Nottingham, England. He is recognized by his studies on the recombinant DNA technology and its application for development of processes and products with economic and social impacts. His work focuses on the molecular and biochemical mechanisms that governt several types of protein-conformational expression. His awards include: Prize Estado de Sao Paulo Governator; Embrapa Prize for Research Excellence; Commander of the Order of National Scientific Merit, Brazil; and Fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Ratsimbazafy (PhD, 2002, State University of New York, USA and French Habilitation, 2011, University Antananarivo, Madagascar) is a faculty lecturer at the University of Antananarivo. He has published over 200 research papers, review articles and book chapters. Furthermore, he is the co-vice chair, Madagascar section, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) Primate Specialist Group; the director of Houston Zoo, Madagascar Program; and the president of the Madagascar Primate Research Group. Additionally, he is a member of Malagasy Academia and African Academy of Sciences. He has won many international awards and prizes such as: the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (1998); the Galante Award (2002) of the International Primatological Society; and the Disney’s Hero Conservation Award (2015). Recently, he received from the Council of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) the Lifetime Honorary Fellow 2019, which is the highest honor awarded by ATBC. He also received the African Primatological Society Award 2019. In February 2020, he was elected the president of the International Primatological Society.

Raqib, received her MSc degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Dhaka University and her degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine from Karolinska Institute, Sweden (1990-1995). She then returned to Bangladesh in 1995, to join as assistant scientist the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), where she was promoted associate scientist and then scientist in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Raqib received post-doctoral fellowship award from the Ellison Medical Foundation in 2005. She was appointed as the head of the Nutritional Biochemistry Lab in 2008 and was promoted to senior scientist in 2010, and to international senior scientist the next year. Raqib developed an immunological method to diagnose active tuberculosis which was patented in the USA (co-inventor David Sack). Her work on host directed therapy in infectious diseases with Agerberth and Guðmundsson generated first human data of successful clinical recovery, leading to two patents. Her studies on arsenic-mediated immune modulation generated new human data. She has published over 153 peer reviewed articles and mentored several MSc, PhD and post-doctoral students.

Rao is group vice-chancellor for Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani campuses in Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai and Mumbai. Prior to joining the BITS Group in 2023, he had served as director of Indian Institute of Technolog (IIT) Delhi (2016–2021) and as a chair professor for nanoelectronics, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi. Rao, an internationally acclaimed nanoelectronics researcher, has over 480 research papers and 50 patents, including 20 US patents. Among his patents, 15 have been licensed to industries for commercialization. The patent on CMOS-System-on-Chip applications from his group is now used in countless integrated circuits sold all over the world. Rao is a co-founder of two technology startups at IIT Bombay—Nanosniff & Soilsens—which have successful commercial products on the market. He is also well known for establishing major nanoelectronics programmes in India. For his research accomplishments, Rao has been elected a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, India; and Indian National Science Academy. He is a recipient of over 35 awards and honors in India and abroad.

Rao served as the Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology(CCMB) in Hyderabad, India. He is CSIR-Distinguished Scientist and Sir JC Bose National Fellow. President of Society of Biological Chemists (India); President of the Telangana Academy of Science. He obtained BSc from Osmania University; MSc in physical chemistry from Kakatiya University; PhD in Chemistry from University of Hyderabad. Later, he joined CCMB and initiated intact lens spectroscopic investigation. He has developed Red Edge Excitation Shift (REES) for intact biological material. His main research interest is small heat shock proteins, specially αB-crystallin, in health and disease. His research interests include molecular diagnostics, microfluids, nano biology, cell cycle, differentiation and apoptosis. He had visiting positions in USA, Japan and Australia. He is Fellow of all 3 national science academies of India, and has won the Bhatnagar, Ranbaxy and Sreenivasayya Awards of India, and the Rohto Award. Distinguished Alumni of the University Of Hyderabad,

Rao is Linus Pauling research professor and Hon. president, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. After obtaining his PhD at Purdue U. and completing postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley, he returned to India in 1959 and has since worked in various capacities at the Ind. Inst. of Science and other institutions. His honours include: 77 honorary causa doctorates; Hughes and Royal Medals of the Royal Society, London; Einstein Gold Medal, UNESCO; India Science Prize; Dan David Prize; Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize; dist. research professor, U. of Cambridge; laureate, Khwarizmi Intl. Award, Iran; Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, by Emperor of Japan, Order of Friendship of Russia, Chevalier De La Legion D'Honneur of France. He was conferred the highest award for materials research, the von Hippel award by the Materials Society in 2017. He is a member of 27 science academies including the Royal Society, US National Academy of Sciences, and Pontifical, Australian, Canadian, Russian, Brazilian, French and Japan academies. He is the recipient of the highest civilian honour of India, Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India).

Rangappa has developed more than 7,000 synthetic small molecules and implemented some of them against therapeutically important proteins. He served as a postdoctoral fellow, research associate, and visiting professor in more than 10 countries. He is a Fellow of: Royal Society of Chemistry, London; National Academy of Sciences, India; Biotech Research Society of India; and Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, India. He has published over 600 research papers in peer reviewed journals, and holds 13 patents for small-molecule inhibitors of therapeutic targets. Three of his patented compounds namely DMBO, NPB, and AMPC have been sold commercially as pharmacological inhibitors of growth factors, BAD protein, TFF3, NF-κB, CXCR4, c-MET, human methionyl-tRNA synthetases, Wnt/β – catenin, EGFR, TGFβ, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, heparanase and many more therapeutically relavant proteins which are constitutively expressed in various human cancers respectively. His publications received over 15000 scientific citations, with an h-index of 62. He has guided 61 candidates for PhD degree, and presently 3 students are working on their doctoral research under his supervision.