Lamya Al-Haj is an assistant professor at Sultan Qaboos University, with a PhD in molecular biology from University College London (2014), and an MSc in environmental science and technology from the University of New South Wales (Australia), in 2006, where she received the Boban Marcovic Prize in Environmental Science. Her research is focused on the production of biofuels and HVP’s from microorganisms using genetic engineering tools and production of biodiesel from waste date seeds. She is the recipient of national and international awards: the Sultan Qaboos University's award for outstanding scientific contribution, and the Al Mara award for Innovation and Technology, 2019. At the international level she is the recipient of the Gulf Intelligence-Occidental award 2016, L’Oréal UNESCO award for women in science-Middle East fellowship award (2018) and most recently the Young Global Leader 2020 award from the World Economic Forum. Al-Haj aspires to promote STEM education, R&D and youth development initiatives in the Arab world creating positive change. In past years she has delivered numerous scientific, inspirational and motivations talks targeted to the Arab youth and women.

Elmojtaba obtained a BSc degree in mathematics and computer science (2003), from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He then earned a master’s degree in industrial and computational mathematics (2006), and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics (2010). He was appointed an assistant professor in 2010 at the Department of Applied Mathematics in the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum, where he then served as the head of the Department of Applied Mathematics for three years. In 2014 he joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, as an assistant professor. In addition to his teaching duties at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Elmojtaba is very active in research. His main scientific interest is in the area of biological applications of difference and differential equations. Elmojtaba has participated in about 25 national and international research conferences and has published more than 20 research papers in refereed journals. In 2012, he was awarded the AU-TWAS Prize for Young Scientists, as an acknowledgment of the quality of his research output. Recently he was promoted to the rank of an associate professor.