Yang is the Co-Founder and Chair of BGI-China. He and his partners have made a significant contribution to the international Human Genome Project, the HapMap Project, and the project referred to as G1K, with many publications in internationally prestigious journals, such as "Science" and "Nature", among others. Yang obtained his PhD from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and had postdoctoral trainings in France and the US. In 2006, he became Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization; in 2007, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; in 2008, TWAS Fellow; in 2009, 2012 and 2014, Foreign Associate of the national academies of India, Germany and of the US, respectively. Since its inception in June 2021, Yang chairs TWAS Advisory Committee on COVID-19.

Xu is Prof. of Chem., Jilin U., Changchun, China. He is a leading personality in the materials sciences and zeolite community of China, Asia and worldwide. His work on the extra large-pore microporous aluminophosphate JDF-20 is a classical illustration of his innovative work. He is currently researching on the formation mechanism and rational synthesis of zeolites and microporous materials. Awards include: Chem. Prize, HLHL Found. for Sci. and Tech Progress, 1995; Natl. Natural Scs. Prize, First awardee (2nd cl.) 2006; (3rd cl.) 1987 and 1999; Awardee, First Cl. Prize for Sci. and Tech. Progress, Min. of Ed., China in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002. He is member, Chinese Acad. of Sciences (1991). He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and 10 books, incl. 'Chemistry of Zeolites and Related Porous Materials: Synthesis and Structure' and 'Modern Inorganic Synthetic Chemistry'.

Can Li has been working on both fundamental and applied research in catalysis and making efforts to reveal the essential relationship between catalytic performance and catalyst structure, and to understand catalysis at various levels including atomic, molecular as well as nanometer scales and to apply these understandings to the designs and the development of practical applications in energy, fine chemicals and environmental sciences. In particular to understand the fundamental of catalysis by developing in situ spectroscopy (e.g., UV Raman, Time resolved vibrational and electronic spectroscopy) to characterize the catalyst structure, and catalytic reactions. Can Li is the Director of Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy. He was elected a Member of the Chinese Academy of Science (2003), a Member of The Academy of Science for Developing Countries (2005), a Foreign Member of Academia Europea (2008), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2008).

Cui is professor, National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology (NIAOT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); president, Chinese Astronomical Society; and associate director, Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy. She graduated from Nanjing University of Science and Technology (1975), and obtained her MSc (1982) and PhD (1995) at Purple Mountain Observatory and CAS Graduate School. From 2001-10, she was associate director, NAOC, and director, NIAOT. Her research focuses on astronomical instruments and technology for astrophysics. From 1985-86, she visited Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, and from 1986-94 she worked at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Germany, for the Very Large Telescope project (VLT). From 1994-08, in China, she built the innovative telescope LAMOST. In 2009, she was elected as CAS academician.

Lee received his B.S. degree from the National Taiwan University in 1959 and Doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1965. After working with Professor Mahan at Berkeley and Professor Herschbach at Harvard as a post-doctoral fellow, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago in 1968. He returned to Berkeley as Professor of Chemistry in 1974. He was University Professor and Principal Investigator at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UC Berkeley, before he returned to Taiwan to serve as the President of Academia Sinica from 1994 to 2006, the highest ranking academic institution in Taiwan. He was elected President of the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 2008 and served from 2011 to 2014. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Doctor Honoris Causa from 41 universities throughout the world.

Lin is research professor in mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and dean of the Science Faculty at Beijing University of Aero/Astronautics. He was previously assistant professor from 1956-59, lecturer from 1960-78 and associate professor from 1979-82 at CAS. He is a prominent figure in numerical analysis in China. He is well-known for his theory of extrapolation of finite and boundary element solutions of partial differential equations. His awards include: First Place Award of Natural Science Prize, CAS; expert at national level with Outstanding Contributions; the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation; and the B. Bolzano Gold Medal for Merits in the field of mathematical sciences. His membership includes: CAS; standing committee, CAS, the Chinese Mathematical Society and the SIAM Fellow.

Mu (Phd 1985, Fudan U.) is an academician and researcher, working in the Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves (KLOCW) – Inst. of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS). He worked as a postdoctorate researcher at Inst. of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). His main contributions are on predictability of weather and climate and stability of geophysical fluid motions. He proposed and applied a new method called CNOP to study predictability, ensemble forecast and adaptive observations of ENSO, thermolhaline circulation of oceans, tropical cyclone, blockings, Kuroshio etc. He established a series of nonlinear stability criteria of atmospheric and oceanic motions. He is a member of CAS (2007); First Class Prize of Nature Scientific Award, CAS (2001); Natl.-wide Excellent Post Doc, Ministry of Personnel (2005); and Ho Leung Ho Lee Sc. and Tech. Prize (2010).