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

Blundell is Professor Emeritus and Director of Research in Biochemistry, Cambridge, UK, having been Professor of Biochemistry and Head, School of Biological Sciences, until 2009. He obtained D.Phil at Oxford University in 1967, and held positions at Oxford, Sussex and London before moving to Cambridge in 1996. He is a member of Academia Europaea; Fellow of Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, Indian Natl. Academy of Science and Chilean National Academy; and has hon. doctorates from 16 universities. He was member of advisory group to Prime Minister; founding CEO, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Chair, Royal Commission Environmental Pollution; President, Biosciences Fed., Biochemical Society and Science Council. He co-founded Astex Pharma, sold recently for USD886M.

Anthony Clayton is the Professor of Caribbean Sustainable Development at the University of the West Indies, Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and Affiliated Scholar at Florida International University. He was formerly a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh, Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology (Jamaica), and an International Associate at the University of St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences and Distinguished Fellow of the Caribbean Association of Eastern European Trained Professionals. He has over thirty years of international experience in policy development in national security and policing, energy security, environment and resources, and planning and development. He is the Chairman of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica. In 2015 he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander.

Tata obtained his BSc (hons.) from U. of Bombay, MSc at Indian Inst. of Science (IISc) Bangalore, and docteur ès-sciences at U. of Paris Sorbonne. He is snr. scientist emeritus at the Medical Research Council, UK; previously trustee, Oxford Intl. Biomedical Centre; sci. adviser Avesthagen, India; chairman, Royal Soc. Research Grants and Intl. Awards Schemes. Previously, he was: vis. prof. in biochemistry, King's College, London; vis. prof., UC Berkeley; Fogarty scholar, NIH, Bethesda; and head, Lab. Dev. Biochemistry, National Inst. of Medical Research, London. His awards include: Van Meter Prize; Colworth Medal; Medal, Soc. of Endrocrinology; Jubilee Medal, Indian Inst. of Science; Doctor h.c., Ecole Normale Superieure, France. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, London, Indian Natl. Science Acad. and Natl. Acad. of Science India, and Member, European Molecular Biology Organisation.

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.

Brito Cruz is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil and the Senior Vice-President Research Networks at Elsevier, UK. He graduated in Electronics Engineering and has a doctorate in Physics. He was a visiting researcher at the Quantum Optics Laboratory at the Universitá di Roma, at the Femtosecond Research Lab. at the Universitè Pierre et Marie Curie, and a resident researcher at the AT&T's Bell Laboratories, in Holmdel, New Jersey. He was the Director of Unicamp's Physics Institute, Pro-rector for Research, and Rector of the university. He was the President of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and its Science Director from 2005-2020. He is a member of the Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize Judging Panel and of the UN's 10-Member Committee for Technology for Technology Facilitation for the SDGs. Brito Cruz is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, received the Ordre des Palmes Academiques de France, the Order of the Scientific Merit from the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the Order of the British Empire, Honorary (OBE).

Prance is a Trustee of the Eden Project in Cornwall, and vis. professor at Reading U. He obtained his BA in botany (Oxford, 1960) and DPhil (1963). He began his career with The New York Botanical Garden as a research assistant, becoming senior vice president for science in 1981. He also set up the Garden's Inst. of Economic Botany of which he was the first director from 1981-1988. From 1988 to 1999, he was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He was knighted in 1995, holds hon. doctorates from 15 universities and is a member of several science academies. Honours include: Ordem Nacional do Mérito Cientifico, Grã-Cruz, Brazil, 1995; Internatl. Cosmos Prize, 1995, Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil, 2000; Lifetime Discovery Award, Royal Geographical Society and the Discovery Channel, 1999; Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration, 2000; Order of the Rising Sun, Japan, 2012.

Klein is Carnell Professor of Science and director of the Institute for Computational Molecular Science, at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. He was Hepburn professor of physical science and director, Lab. for Research on the Structure of Matter, Univ. of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Philadelphia. After his PhD (Univ. of Bristol) and postdoctoral work in Italy, England, and USA, he joined the National Research Council of Canada. In 1987, he joined UPenn where he established the Center for Molecular Modeling. He is member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, a fellow of: Royal Society of London; Royal Society of Canada; and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Awards include: American Physical Society Aneesur Rahman Prize for Computational Physics; American Chemical Society Debye Award in Physical Chemistry; and Bernie J. Alder CECAM Prize, European Physical Society.