Dr. Oluyede Ajayi obtained PhD from the University of Hannover in Germany, MSc from University of Ibadan, B.Agric from University of Ife in Nigeria.  

He is a senior-level, multi-lingual professional offering about 20 years post-doctoral experience spanning research, grant management and contract negotiation, and private sector engagement.  

He works at the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) based in the Netherlands from where he leads agricultural development and climate change projects for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions. He previously worked as Research Leader/Senior Scientist in three CGIAR Centres (IITA, Africa Rice and ICRAF) and has over one hundred and ninety (190) publications. He won the “Diamond Author Award” in 2007 & 2008 respectively. His publications have attracted interviews with international media including BBC World (Science) and Farm Radio International.  

He has supervised several PhD students and Masters theses, and has mentored several National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) staff and consultants across ACP. Early in his career, he worked in to strengthen capacity and facilitate access of rural communities to finance in Nigeria.  

Dr Ajayi is a Designated Contact Point (DCP) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC); Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of “Climate Research for Development” (CR4D) of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) & World Meteorological Organization (WMO); Fellow of the University of Leiden Netherlands; Member of the Advisory Board of Brazil-Africa Institute. 

He has lived and carried out research and development activities in several countries in Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, West Africa, Europe and, has managed research/development portfolios in several countries within ACP. He is committed ensuring that research contributes to policy and development planning. 

He is highly proficient in Yoruba, English and French languages, and speaks fair German and Dutch.  

Professor Naidoo completed his PhD at the University of Michigan (USA) in 1994 after which he spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University (USA). He joined the faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT) as lecturer in Chemistry in 1996 and was inaugurated as Professor of Physical Chemistry in 2011.  

In recognition of his expertise in computational science as it is practiced in chemistry, chemical physics and biochemistry Kevin Naidoo was awarded one of the first of 21 South African research Chairs (SARChI) in 2007 for a period of five years in Scientific Computing, twice renewed for 2012-2016 and 2017-2021.  He played a pivotal role in the establishment of South Africa’s only Centre for High Performance Computing, of which he served as the acting research director 2006-2007.  As founding director of the Scientific Computing Research Unit at UCT he established the only South African postgraduate programmes awarding M.Sc.’s and PhD’s in Computational Science.  

His depth and breadth of expertise is internationally sought after as seen from his editorial board membership of the Journal of Computational Chemistry (Wiley, 2004 -), Carbohydrate Research (Elsevier, 2015-) and the Journal of Molecular Modeling (Springer, 2018-). He is regularly invited to review research proposals for major international science and funding agencies such as the ACS’ Petroleum Research Fund, the Czech Academy of Sciences, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. 

Professor Naidoo’s principal scientific interests are the development and application of computational tools for the life sciences with a special focus on cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. As a testament to his breadth and depth of expertise he is most probably the only theoretical chemist to lead a clinical investigation to establish a genetic biomarker for Breast Cancer as discovered by Big Data Analytics. 

Sam Kariuki completed his MSc in 1991 and joined the Centre for Microbiology (CMR), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as an Assistant Research Officer. He obtained his PhD in Tropical Medicine from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1997 and rose through the ranks to become a Chief Research Officer and  then Director of CMR in 2011 and served in this position until April, 2018.  

His research interests are in the epidemiology and molecular characterisation of enteric bacterial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, including for invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis (NTS) and typhoid fever, Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli. He has authored/co-authored over 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 3 text books on Antimicrobial Resistance and Food Safety. As chair of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Partnership (GARP)-Kenya (2009-present), he led the initiative to develop the National Action Plan for reduction and control of Antimicrobial Resistance (Published in January 2011 and updated in May, 2017), and I was a member of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Advisory Committee that advised Ministries of Health and Agriculture on policy on prudent use of Antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine. 

Sam is the Deputy Director, Research and Development, KEMRI.  He is also a Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute International Fellow and a visiting Professor of Tropical Microbiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. He is also a visiting Professor in Tropical Microbiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and a member of the American Sciety for Microbiology. He serves as World Health Organization consultant in areas of food safety, antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease surveillance for the region, and a member of the Advisory Group for Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) (http://www.who.int/foodborne_disease/resistance/agisar_members/en/). 

Dr Nabila Bouatia-Naji obtained her PhD on Human genetics in 2006 from the University of Lille, France. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical Research Council, Cambridge University, UK, she was recruited as an INSERM research associate in 2009. Since 2011, she works at the Paris Cardiovascular research center (PARCC), an INSERM and Université Sorbonne Paris Cité affiliated research center. She is the director of an ERC Starting Grant supported team (2017-2022) and an INSERM labelled (Team3) at the PARCC-INSERM (Since 2018).  

Her research is dedicated to study the genetic etiology of cardiometabolic diseases and has widely contributed to the identification of numerous genetics risk factors through genome-wide association studies and functional genomics. After a solid publication track on the genetics of diabetes related traits, she focused her research on the study of fibromuscular dysplasia that causes hypertension and predisposes to stroke and spontaneous coronary artery dissection, an emerging form of acute myocardial infarction predominantly afflicting women. She uses cutting edge genomic technology and multidisciplinary approaches in wet and dry lab experimentation to address the genetic predisposition to these women specific arterial diseases.  

Dr Bouatia-Naji is a well-recognized scientist who is committed to promote women to embrace scientific research careers, especially at the leadership level. She obtained prestigious and highly competitive funding and awards (Young investigator Chair, French Research Agency 2013-2017, European Research Council Starting Grant 2017-2022, Young investigator award International Conference of Human Genetics, Kyoto 2016). She has published over 56 original articles and reviews, including in high impact journals (e.g Science, Nature genetics, JACC), raised >2.3 Million€ through highly competitive funding schemes.  

Adrienne Lesley Edkins is Associate Professor in Biochemistry and NRF/DST SARChI Chair in Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Eukaryotic Stress Response (since 2015) in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rhodes University. She also holds a Newton Advanced Fellowship (2018-2021) from the Newton Fund of the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences, and is Director of the Biomedical Biotechnology Research Unit (BioBRU) at Rhodes University. She obtained her PhD from the University of Glasgow on the Wellcome Trust PhD programme in Molecular Functions in Disease (2008) under the supervision of Prof Bill Cushley.  

An NRF-rated scientist (Y1, 2014-2019), Adrienne’s research centres on molecular, cell biological and biochemical approaches to understanding fundamental mechanisms of the stress response in normal and disease conditions, with an emphasis on cancer and stem cell biology. She has trained 5 postdoctoral fellows and 39 MSc/PhD students, and produced over 43 peer-reviewed journal articles, 2 science engagement articles, 8 book chapters and 3 edited books in this field (2018). She is an editorial board member for the Cancer Panel of the journal Scientific Reports (2018-2020).  

Adrienne has been recognised for her research with the VC Distinguished Research Medal from Rhodes University (2015) and the South African Women in Science (SAWiSA) Award for Distinguished Young Scientist in the Natural/Engineering Sciences from the South African DST (2018).  

Adrienne is also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Royal Society of South Africa and the South Africa Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB). She served on the Council of SASBMB from 2014-2018.  

Mamokgethi Phakeng began her term of office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town on 1 July 2018, where she had been serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation since January 2017. Previous to this appointment she served as Vice Principal for Research and Innovation at the University of South Africa (Unisa) for five years, after serving three years as Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at the same university. She holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of the Witwatersrand and is a highly regarded B1 NRF-rated scientist with over 60 research papers and five edited volumes published. She has won numerous awards for her research and community work, including the Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa in April 2016. In August 2014 CEO magazine named her the most influential woman academic in Africa and in August 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Businesswoman of the Year Award in the education category. In 2016 she was appointed by the then Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to chair the Human Resource Development Council standing committee on Mathematics and Science Education. Kgethi is founder of the Adopt-a-learner Foundation (www.adopt-a-learner.com), a non-profit organisation that started in 2004 and provides financial and educational support to students from township and rural areas to acquire higher education qualifications.  

Professor Mulder graduated with a Bachelor degree, cum laude, in Chemistry and Microbiology, and a first class Honours degree in Microbiology, followed by a PhD in Medical Microbiology.  She then moved into the field of Bioinformatics and was employed at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Cambridge for 8.5 years, as a Team Leader responsible for development of InterPro and the Gene Ontology Annotation Projects.  

She currently heads the Computational Biology Division in the Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT) (http://www.cbio.uct.ac.za) and is a full member of the Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine. Her research is in the area of bioinformatics of infectious diseases, including pathogen and host genomics and biological networks, African population genetics, human variation and disease, and microbiome studies. Her group also provides bioinformatics support and training to UCT researchers and beyond. She has over 140 publications, and in 2016 was elected to the University of Cape Town College of Fellows.  

Internationally, Prof Mulder is involved in capacity development in Africa, as leader of H3ABioNet, a Pan-African Bioinformatics network for H3Africa. H3ABioNet is a network of 28 institutions in 16 African countries, which aims to build bioinformatics capacity for genomics research on the continent and develop the infrastructure for managing large-scale genomics data. She is a member of more than 6 different advisory boards for international projects and training initiatives and is on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Computational Biology. She plays a leading role in Bioinformatics education in South Africa, the rest of Africa and globally.  

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Dr. Alouini was born in Tunis, Tunisia. He received the Diplome d'Ingenieur from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (TELECOM Paris Tech) and the Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies (D.E.A.) in Electronics with Highest Honors from the Université Pierre & Marie Curie in Paris, France, both in 1993. He received the M.S.E.E. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Atlanta, USA, in 1995, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USA, in 1998. He also received the Habilitation degree from the Université Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris, France, in 2003.  

Dr. Alouini served as a faculty member in the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, then in the Texas A&M University at Qatar, Education City, Doha, Qatar before joining King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia as a Professor of Electrical Engineering in 2009. His current research interests include design and performance analysis of diversity combining techniques, MIMO techniques, multi-hop/cooperative communications systems, optical wireless communication systems, cognitive radio systems, and multi-resolution, hierarchical and adaptive modulation schemes.  

Dr. Alouini has published several papers on the above subjects and he is co-author of the textbook Digital Communication over Fading Channels published by Wiley Interscience. He has also won several awards in his career. For instance, he recently received the 2016 Recognition Award of the IEEE Communication Society Wireless Technical Committee, the 2016 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Engineering Sciences, and the Inaugural Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Science & Technology Achievement Award in Engineering Sciences in 2017.  

Other recognitions include his election as Fellow of the (i) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), (ii) Academy of Engineering &  Technology of the Developing World (AETDEW), (iii) European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA) (Class VI: Technical & Environmental Sciences), and (iv) African Academy of Sciences (AAS). He is also IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communication Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, member for several times in the annual Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge list of Highly Cited Researchers as well as the Shanghai Ranking/Elsevier list of Most Cited Researchers, and a co-recipient of best paper awards in eleven IEEE conferences (including ICC, GLOBECOM, VTC, PIMRC, ISWCS, and DySPAN). 

Kyobutungi is the Executive Director at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC).  She was formerly the Director of Research and has served APHRC in several leadership roles over the past decade, having joined as a Post-doctoral Fellow in May, 2006.

Catherine is an Alumnus of the University of Heidelberg having completed her doctoral studies in Epidemiology in the then Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, under the auspices of the Graduertienkolleg 793 in April 2006. She also obtained a Master of Science degree in Community Health and Health Management in 2002 from the same department. Prior to her graduate studies, Catherine studied Medicine at Makerere University, Kampala after which she worked as a medical officer at Rushere hospital, a rural health facility in Western Uganda for three years. Before and during her graduate studies, she was an Assistant Lecturer and later a Lecturer in the Department of Community Health at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Catherine has served on numerous boards, panels, and expert groups, including the INDEPTH Network Board of Directors and the Advisory Council of the Carnegie African Diaspora Program at the Institute of International Education. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the Kenya Epidemiological Association. Her research interests include migrant health, community participation in health, and the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases.

Catherine is driven by the belief that Africa has the potential to solve its own problems and she tries to make her own contribution, however small.

Prof Yinsuo Jia obtained his PhD in 2006 from University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa); and joined the Institute of Genetics and Physiology, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry sciences (China) and rose through the ranks to become full Professor in 2005. 

His research interests include plant resistance physiology involving the development of water-saving technique and drought-resistant physiology of wheat; crop breeding focusing on the hybrid maize breeding using QPM germplasm and domestic maize resource for high yield, quality and disease-resistance; gathering, utilization and products development of plant germplasm resources including the bioenergy development from plant wastes. 

He was Director of Crop Cultivation Lab and the International Cooperation Research Center in Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Director of Institute of Genetic Physiology, Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, the General Manager of Hebei Jiazuo Agriculture and Technology Co., Ltd., Shijiazhuang, China. At present, he has been the Chief executive of Hebei Richard Agriculture Science and Technology Co., Ltd. 

He has served as a bridge and link between Chinese and African cooperation (translators), widely sought funding from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and conducted research on agricultural and scientific cooperation between China and Africa. He is committee member of Crop Cultivation of the People’s Republic of China and several other professional societies. He has 123 publications and other scientific research fruits up to present. 

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Jean-Bosco Ouedraogo is a parasitologist and medical researcher with over twenty years experience in the field of malaria drug resistance and epidemiological, clinical and vaccine research. He is President of the Association for Science of Health of Burkina Faso and teaches at the University of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso University. He has also served as Regional Director of the Regional Institute of Health Sciences (ICES) in Bobo-Dioulasso since 1997. Professor Ouédraogo was nominated by his peers as the first Executive Secretary of the West African Research Network for Health (ROARES) in November 2010. Prof Ouédraogo serves as a member of several scientific societies, has directed over ten international malariology courses organised by the WHO Regional Office for Africa, and has published over 100 publications in leading journals.

Prof Connell obtained his PhD in 1989 from the University of the Witwatersrand.  

He is currently professor of physics at the University of Johannesburg within the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Science.  He has research interests in Particle Physics, Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Energy, Materials Science, Quantum Physics, High Performance Computing and Applied (innovation) Physics. His rating by the SA Research Funding Agency (NRF) cites him as having “considerable international recognition”. He is a past president of the South African Institute of Physics. He is the founding member of the South African participation in High Energy Physics at the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, where with his group he participates in a Beyond Standard Model search as well as engineering and technical activities. He has published over 150 papers in International Journals and is also an ATLAS author. He has worked for many years at the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF). He is interested in technology for competitive industry and in innovation and has a project on the intelligent sensor based sorting of diamond in kimberlite, which is now being commercialized. A current major activity in the service of the discipline is the development of the South African user base for Light Sources, (these are premier international multi-disciplinary research tools) and the implementation of the roadmap towards the African Light Source.  

Dr. Janice Limson is affiliated to Biotechnology, Rhodes University, where Dr. Janice Limson is currently working as Director & Professor. Dr. Janice Limson has authored and co-authored several national and international publications and also working as a reviewer for reputed professional journals. Dr. Janice Limson is having an active association with different societies and academies around the world. Dr. Janice Limson made his mark in the scientific community with the contributions and widely recognition from honourable subject experts around the world. Dr. Janice Limson has received several awards for the contributions to the scientific community. Dr. Janice Limson major research interest involves Biosensors, Biofuel cells and Nanobiotechnology.

Professor Okonofua obtained the fellowships of the West African College of Surgeons in 1984 and the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1985. He obtained PhD in public health from the Karolinka University in Sweden in 2005. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a Takemi Fellow in International Health at Harvard University, and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science.  He joined the services of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Nigeria) in 1986, and rose through the ranks to become full professor in 1992. 

His research interests include reproductive health, especially maternal, child and adolescent reproductive health. His research focuses on identifying the causal pathways for reproductive health mishaps, and pinpointing innovative solutions through interventional and translational research.   

He has been the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Benin (Nigeria), Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in the two Universities, and Provost of the College of Medical Sciences at the University of Benin. He is currently the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the  University of Medical Sciences in Ondo City, Nigeria.  He has been the Adviser on health to President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, the Executive Director of the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Program Officer at the Ford Foundation. He is the Editor in Chief of the African Journal of Reproductive Health, founder of the Women’s Health and Action Research Centre, the Centre Leader of the World Bank African Centre of Excellence in Reproductive Health Innovation at the University of Benin (Nigeria), and a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has 277 publications (2018). 

Prof. Elmazar obtained his B Pharm in 1970 and M Pharm (Pharmacology) in 1973 from Cairo University, and his PhD (Pharmacology) in 1978 from Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London University.

Elmazar was a Professor and Chairman of Pharmacology Department, Mansoura University (1989), vice Dean (2001) & Dean (2003) of Faculty of Pharmacy, Helwan University, Founding Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, Ahram Canadian University (2005, & 2007 to 2012), Founding Director of the Centre for Community & Consulting Services at BUE (2006).

Prof. Elmazar is a member of several national & international scientific societies, he is also:

- U.S. Citizen Ambassador Program (Birth Defects), Washington.

- An Alexander von Humboldt Fellow

- Fellow of The Egyptian Academy of Sciences, FEAS (2010)

- Fellow of The African Academy of Sciences, FAAS (2018)

- Member of Medical & Nutritional Council, Academy of Scientific Research & Technology - Ministry of Scientific Research June 2010 – Dec. 2015.

- Member of Drug Research Council, Academy of Scientific Research & Technology - Ministry of Scientific Research Jan. 2016 – to date. - Advisor to the Industrial Modernization Center (IMC) – Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade 2006- to date.

- Member of Drug Technical committee from 2011 to 2014, Pharmacology from 2008 to 2015, Bioequivalence, and Non-Reference Drugs Committees, Central Administration for Pharmaceutical Affairs, Ministry of Health & Population, Oct 2011 – to date.

- A Leading Scientist of the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Editor and reviewer of several national & international scientific journals. Prof. Elmazar also has six international Patents.

Major research interests are in reproductive toxicology especially teratology (anticonvalsants, retinoids, foods like potatoes as well as on the mechanism of teratogenicity of caffeine).

Publications: 178 (As per Scopus, 81 International Publications, h-index 21, total citation 1302, cumulative IF 218).

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohey_Elmazar

Andrew Anthony Adjei obtained his PhD in 1997 from the University of The Ryyuus, Okinawa, Japan and then joined the Department of Parasite Immunology, Tucson Medical Centre, USA.  In August 2000, he relocated to Ghana and joined the Pathology Department, University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry (UGSMD) as a Senior Research Fellow and rose through the ranks to become full Professor in 2004. 

His research interests include the Pathogenesis of cerebral malaria; epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis; human papilloma virus types and its association with cervical cancer; transfusion-transmitted pathogens; viral infections (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E), epidemiology of prostate and breast cancers, host-parasite interactions.   

Professor Adjei has been Head of Department of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, Deputy Provost UG College Of Health Sciences (CHS), Director of Research, Innovation and Development (UG), Editor-in-Chief, Ghana Journal of Allied Health Sciences, Coordinator of Research, UG School of Medicine and Dentistry, President of Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists, Project Coordinator, Transdisciplinary Training for Resource Efficiency and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (TRECCAfrica), Project Coordinator, Building Stronger Universities (Partnership between UG and Universities in Denmark), and several other professional activities, 

Currently, he is the Coordinator of the Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Teams, Coordinator of the Worldwide Universities Network, Coordinator of the Australian-Africa Universities Network, Chairman of the Ethics and Protocol Review Committee, Editor-in-Chief, CHS Journal, Chairman of CHS Scientific Conference Planning Committee, Coordinator, MPhil programme in Immunology, and a Professor of Immunology and Pathology at the Department of Pathology.  He has 129 publications. 

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Jean Nachega, MD, PhD, MPH, FRCP: Associate Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Epidemiology, at Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh University. Dr Nachega is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology and International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Professor Extraordinary of Medicine and Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases, at Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.  
 
He received his training in Belgium (University of Louvain), UK (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), USA (Johns Hopkins University & Harvard University). He has over 20 year-experience in patient care, teaching, designing and implementing HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis studies or programs funded by NIH/NIAID, PEPFAR, EDCTP, and Wellcome Trust. He is a lead HIV Investigator within AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) and an ad hoc consultant at WHO, CDC, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as a member of South African Academy of Sciences. 

Prof Hassan was born in Sudan in 1953. He holds BSc (1977) and MSc (1982) degrees in agric. economics from University of Khartoum, Sudan, and MSc (1988) and PhD (1989) degrees in economics from Iowa State University, USA. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Pretoria. He served as Professor and founding Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA) till 2016. Previously worked at the CSIR in S. Africa, CIMMYT International in east Africa, and University of Juba, in Sudan.  

Main research expertise covers the economics and policy of agriculture, natural resources and environmental management with current special interest in environmental accounting, climate change economics and sustainable management of natural ecosystems, particularly the economics and policy of governing the commons. 

Served as member of many national and international Boards & Science Councils including: The UN Committee for Development Policy, The CGIAR Science Council, GEF Science and Technical Advisory Panel, Science Panel and Working Group Co-Chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Climate Change of the UN CFS, Academic Advisory Panel for the World Development Report (WDR 2009) on climate change, Stockholm Resilience Centre Board, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Science Advisory Council, Human Sciences Research Council of SA Board. Research Fellow of the Economic Research Forum (ERF), Senior Fellow of ZEF at Bon University, Senior Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists. Founding Chief Editor of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and associate editor and member of editorial Boards of many international journals and has published over 160 articles and chapters and 14 books. 

Susan Bourne is the Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cape Town. Her PhD, obtained at the University of Cape Town, was a study of organic inclusion compounds undertaken under the supervision of Luigi Nassimbeni.  After a postdoctoral period in Texas, USA, she joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Cape Town and rose through the ranks to become full Professor in 2008.   

Her research interests include the application of physicochemical methods to inclusion compounds and crystal engineering of metal-organic materials, all with the aim of correlating solid state structure with physical properties and reactivity.  She has published over 140 papers and has supervised over 20 postgraduate students.   

She has served as Head of Department, Deputy Dean, and as interim Dean of the Faculty of Science.  She has held several offices in the European Crystallographic Association, and is currently Chair of the Structural Chemistry Commission of the International Union of Crystallography.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the University of Cape Town. 

Tolu Oni is a Public Health Physician and Epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge MRC Epidemiology Unit. She was until June 2018 an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, where she retains an honorary appointment. She leads the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE), and her urban health research takes a pan-African approach to providing evidence to support implementation of healthy public policies, and translation of research findings into policy and practice through collaboration with researchers and practitioners across disciplines and sectors. 

She has published her work on HIV, TB, infectious/NCD multimorbidity and urban health (H-Index 20; Citations 2955) in high impact journals including Nature and PLOS Medicine. Profiled in the Lancet in 2016 (Tolullah Oni: public health specialist with a global ambition. Lancet. 2016;387:1712), and featured in Science in 2018 (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6387/391.full), she has received several awards in recognition of her research including the South African National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Emerging Researcher award, and the Carnegie Corporation “Next Generation of African Academics award. She is a Next Einstein Forum Fellow, a Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies (STIAS) Iso Lomso Fellow, a member of the World Economic Forum Africa Strategic Group, and co-Chair of the Global Young Academy. She serves on several steering committees including the International Science Council Programme on Urban Health and Wellbeing, and the Future Earth Advisory Council. She is an Editorial Board member of several international journals including Cities and Health journal, the Journal of Urban Health, and Lancet Planetary Health. She also works to promote science and research as key drivers of development in Africa through a coordinated approach between science, policy and society role players, to identify creative strategies to address complex population health and broader societal challenges. 

Prof Sokona obtained his PhD in 1981 from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines of Paris and Universite Paris VI Jussieu (France). He is currently Special Advisor for Sustainable Development at the South Centre. With over 35 years of experience addressing energy, environment and sustainable development in Africa. Reflecting his status, Prof Sokona was elected Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2015. Prior to this, Prof Sokona was Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III on the mitigation of climate change for the Fifth Assessment Report after serving as a Lead Author since 1990. In addition to these achievements, Prof Sokona has a proven track record of research coordination, organisational leadership and management, for example, leading the conception, development and initiating the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, as the first Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) and as Executive Secretary of the Sahara and the Sahel Observatory (OSS). Prof Sokona’s advice is highly sought after, and as such, he is affiliated with numerous boards and organisations, including Honorary Professor at the University College London (UCL), Member of Science Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Member of the Advisory Board of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, and as a Special Advisor to the African Energy Leaders Group. In short, Prof Sokona is a global figure, with deep scientific and technical knowledge, extensive policy experience and an unreserved personal commitment to African led development. 

Dr. Omowunmi “Wunmi” Sadik serves as Professor of Chemistry and (inaugural/founding) Director of the Center for Research in Advanced sensing Technologies and Environmental Sustainability (CREATES) at the State University of New York at Binghamton (SUNY Binghamton), where she has been a member of the faculty since (August) 1996. She is also the President and Co-Founder of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) (www.susnano.org), a non-profit, international professional society dedicated to advancing sustainable nanotechnological solutions around the world through education, research, and the promotion of the responsible growth of nanotechnology. Sadik received her BS and MS in chemistry from the University of Lagos (Nigeria) and her PhD in chemistry from the University of Wollongong (Australia). She has held appointments at Harvard University, Cornell University and the Naval Research Laboratory.  Professor Sadik is the author/co-author over 170 scientific publications, and she has given over 400 invited lectures and conference contributions across the world. Sadik holds five U.S. patents for her work on biosensors.

Her inventions are helping to drive changes in many areas such as the early diagnosis of cancer, genetic testing, pain management in hospital patients and environmental analysis. Her team has translated basic research in biosensors to design a portable, fully autonomous, and remotely operated sensing device, known as U-PAC. Sadik has received several honors and awards and is a fellow of several organizations. Sadik is the first person of Nigerian origin to receive the distinguished Harvard University Radcliffe Fellowship. She was chosen as one of 14 members of the 2017-2018 Jefferson Science Fellowship program. As a fellow, Sadik will spend a year as a senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State, providing information on scientific advancements to be used to make policy decisions. She is only the fourth woman and the first female scientist to be conferred with the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) Award, Nigeria’s highest national honor for academicians. Out of the 35 plus PhD students that she has mentored to date, 15 of them have gone on to hold tenure-track faculty positions in the US and around the world. Sadik is recognized for her research innovation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omowunmi_Sadik) and sustainable nanotechnology.

Moffat Nyirenda is a Diabetologist/Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine (Global Non-Communicable Diseases) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and leads the non-communicable disease (NCD) research theme at MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research.

Moffat was among the first graduates from the College of Medicine in Malawi, with “hybrid” training between University College London and University of Malawi. He subsequently trained and worked at the University of Edinburgh, supported by a prestigious MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship award. In 2010 Moffat returned to Malawi where he was Professor of Research at the College of Medicine and Associate Director of Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, before taking up his current position at LSHTM in August 2013. Moffat’s research interests lie in mechanistic understanding of the aetiology of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including i) investigating the association between early environmental insults and the risk of obesity, diabetes and hypertension in adulthood; ii) using cross-cutting approaches to examine the interactions between infection and NCDs; iii) contributing to genomics studies of NCDs in sub-Saharan Africa. Moffat has particular interest in research capacity building in Africa, and is Director of the Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE), funded through the Wellcome Trust’s African Institutions Initiative, which aims to establish a vibrant research culture in medical schools in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Kawango Agot is a Kenyan research scientist. She obtained her PhD and MPH from the University of Washington, Seattle and proceeded to coordinate the trial on male circumcision for HIV prevention at the Kisumu site, Kenya.  She then led community engagement activities to obtain buy-in for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). The organization she founded – IRDO (Impact, Research, and Development Organization) – has provided over 600,000 male circumcisions to date.  In addition to VMMC trials and studies, Dr. Agot has conducted multiple studies on various topics, including on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), multipurpose technologies (MPT) and HIV self-testing. She has worked with other colleagues to explore and promote the concept of secondary distribution of HIV self-tests (HIVST) to promote partner testing and inform sexual decisions. She is studying the impact of HIVST on enrollment of female sex workers into HIV prevention programs and optimal ways of promoting testing among adolescent girls and young women.

Prof Brett I. Pletschke received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1996 at the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) and joined Rhodes University in 2000. Prof Pletschke is currently a Professor of Biochemistry and the previous Head of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rhodes University. 

His research interests lie in the fields of enzyme biotechnology and enzymology - and in how we can use enzymes to generate bioproducts (for the African and South African bio-economies in particular). More specifically, he is interested in cellulose- and mannan-degrading enzymes and the production of biofuels and prebiotic manno-oligosaccharides (MOS). He is also interested in seaweed polysaccharides for addressing diabetes, obesity and cancer, and, lastly, in enzymes which can break down non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) in animal feeds. 

He has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSA). Prof Pletschke has served as the Vice-President (2008-2010) and President (2010-2012) of the South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB). In this capacity, he has acted as a voting member for the SASBMB at the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). He has also contributed several chapters to the UNESCO EOLLS program, which is an integrated on-line compendium of twenty encyclopaedias, which is made freely accessible to disadvantaged individuals and minority groups worldwide.  

He has published more than 85 papers in peer-reviewed international journals or books. He has also hosted and supervised several Postdoctoral Fellows, and has successfully supervised and graduated more than 35 (PhD and MSc) students. 

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Professor Mafongoya holds a PhD in Agroforestry from University of Florida (USA), an MSc in Applied Plant Sciences as well as an MSc Agricultural Development from Wye College, University of London (UK) and a BSc (Hons) Agriculture from the University of Zimbabwe. He has over 30 years’ experience working with various international organizations and universities in the areas of agricultural research, development, education, and integrated natural resources management. He has published 263 papers (117 refereed journal articles, 41 refereed book chapters and 2 books). His total publication record stand at 263. Currently he a Professor and South Africa Research Chair in Agronomy and Rural development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.He has supervised and co- supervised up to date 8 Post Doctorial fellows, 35 PhD students, 36 MSc students and 15 undergraduates. He has worked with Universities in the North and South in supervising these students. He has also done up to date 30 consultancies on integrated natural resource management for UN organizations such FAO, UNEP, UNDP, ILO and international NGO`s such Oxfam,WWF,HIVOS and national governments in SADC. Currently he is a member of several international professional societies. He is a fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences. He has participated in several collaborative research involving CGIARs, Advanced Research Institutes, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems, International Foundations and NGOs. His experience is multidisciplinary,   transdisciplinary, multi-institutional and multi-cultural. For more details a full CV can be provided upon request. 

Professor Leslie Petrik (PhD), leads the Environmental and Nano Science (ENS) group, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape (UWC) and is involved in post graduate research with the focus on nanoscience and nanotechnology and environmental remediation. Novel nanomaterials currently under investigation include electrocatalysts, as well as acid catalysts for energy applications and composite photocatalysts, for application in disinfection of water and removal of organics through advanced oxidation technologies. Prof Petrik is recipient of: UWC Vice Chancellor's Annual Distinguished Researcher Award, in the Natural and Medical Sciences for 2012 Distinguished Women Scientist Award in 2012 by the Department of Science and Technology Women in Science

Prof Ovbiagele obtained his medical degree in 1991 from the University of Lagos (Nigeria); and then 3 subsequent graduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He began his academic career in 2002 as an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UCLA and became a Full Professor at UCSD in 2011.  

He has served as Director of the Olive View-UCLA Stroke Program, Director of the San Diego Veterans Affairs Health Care System Stroke Program, and Chair (Head) of the Department of Neurology at Medical University of South Carolina. He is currently Chief of Staff (Chief Medical Officer) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, as well as Professor of Neurology and Associate Dean at the University of California, San Francisco. 

The programmatic focus of his research is the development, dissemination and translation into practice and community, of evidence-based behavioral interventions to improve stroke outcomes. He led a clinical trial that utilized an intervention to improve post-stroke outcomes in Nigeria and co-led another study aimed at identifying unique environmental risk factors for stroke in Africans. He is currently leading studies examining the feasibility of a smart phone to enhance stroke outcomes in Ghana, impact of stroke risk indices among HIV patients on antiretroviral drugs in Ghana, efficacy of a polypill strategy to enhance stroke outcomes in Ghana, and genetic variants associated with stroke in people of African ancestry. 

He is Founding Editor-in-Chief of eNeurologicalSci (eNS), a scientific journal of the World Federation of Neurology, and he recently served as Chair of the International Stroke Conference Program (the premier scientific meeting on stroke in the world). He has published 450 peer review articles and edited 4 textbooks. He has directly mentored over 45 trainees/faculty members, been elected to fellowship status in several prominent organizations including the American Academy of Neurology and Royal College of Physicians, and in 2008 won the American Academy of Neurology Pessin Stroke Research Leadership Award.   

Prof Ngila obtained her PhD in 1996 from the University of New South Wales (Australia). She started working as a Tutor in Chemistry Department, Kenyatta University (KU) Kenya from 1989; Appointed as Lecturer in Chemistry Department, University of Botswana (UB) 1998; Senior Lecturer, School of Chemistry, University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) 2006; full Professor, Applied Chemistry, University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2011; Appointed Deputy Director of Morendat Institute of Oil & Ga, Kenya Pipeline Company (Kenya) in April 2017. 

Her research interests include the development of water quality monitoring techniques for inorganic and organic pollutants and nanotechnology for water treatment. Her current research focus is on nanocomposite membranes and electrospun nanofiber adsorbents for removal of pollutants in contaminated drinking water and secondary treated wastewater effluents. She has graduated 22 Honours, 33 MSc and 28 PhD students including training of 18 Postdoctoral Fellows. She has over 410 publications comprising of 191 journal articles, 15 book chapters, 17 conference proceedings, 35 Keynote/invited lectures and 155 conference abstracts. She is rated by South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF -rated).

She has previously served as the Head of Department of Applied Chemistry at University of Johannesburg (UJ), and as Deputy HOD. She also acted Director of the UJ Water Node of the Nanotechnology Innovation Centre (NIC) funded by South Africa Department of Science & Technology (DST) through DST/Mintek; and Coordinator of UJ Node for MSc National Nanotechnology Programme for Teaching and Training Platform (NNPTTP). She had previously served as Coordinator of Analytical Chemistry Divisions at UKZN, UB and KU. 

She is the Winner of Kwame Nkrumah Regional Awards for Women (East Africa) 2016, and Winner of South Africa Distinguished Women in Science (WISA) Award 2016. She is a Member of Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) from 2016. She has been a Member of various Chemical Societies. She is the Chair of The AAS Committee on Education and Gender.

Professor Alash’le Abimiku, is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the International Research Centre of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), and a Professor at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore; She has over 2 decades of establishing laboratory infrastructure and science in Nigeria with long-term collaborations with the USA. Prof. Abimiku’s research focuses on the role of HIV subtypes in disease pathogenesis using mother to child model; and effects of co-infections such as TB on HIV pathogenesis as a successful and funded independent researcher. Prof. Abimiku has trained a cadre of Nigerian scientists and is internationally recognized for her leadership in HIV research, and in promoting laboratory diagnostics and medicine in Africa. She played a significant role in the past as a member of the WHO HIV vaccine advisory committee and the African AIDS Vaccine Program. She currently serves as a member of the international scientific advisory group for University of Cape Town, and as Board chair of the African Society of Laboratory Medicine (ASLM).

Eugene Sobngwi is Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Yaoundé 1 and Consultant Endocrinologist at Yaoundé Central Hospital. He is head of the Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Metabolism at the Biotechnology Centre of the University of Yaoundé 1. Professor Sobngwi is also Medical advisor at the Yaoundé Central Hospital in Cameroon, and Vice-president Global of International Diabetes Federation. 

He formerly worked in Paris, France as lecturer/registrar specialist (Chef de Clinique) at Paris VII Medical School and St-Louis University Hospital, France, and at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK as Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology. 

After graduating from the University of Yaoundé 1 in 1996, he specialized in Endocrinology and Diabetes in Paris, and obtained a PhD in metabolism. He also holds an MPhil from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He his Fellow of the graduate school of Newcastle University and received his professorship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism from the French National Board in April 2013. 

He has serves in many international expert committee such as the American Diabetes Association International Committee for the Diagnosis of Diabetes (2008), the IDF Type 2 guidelines revision committee and several WHO expert committees including the expert committee for diagnosis and classification of diabetes, and the committee on the diagnosis of diabetes in pregnancy.  

His main research areas are epidemiology and pathophysiology of diabetes in Africa, clinical trials, and diabetes in pregnancy.  

He is author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters including chapters in the French Textbook of Diabetes and the Oxford Textbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes.