Mayowa Ojo OWOLABI MBBS, MSc,  DrM, MD,  is a Professor of Neurology, and the Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.  He is among the top 10 Nigerian scientists among the global top 2% scientists (2021). He has over 320 publications in peer reviewed journals including the Lancet, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, and Science, with over 61,000 citations with a Google Scholar h-index of 66. He has won over $20 million in grant awards. He developed the seed of life model, stroke levity scale, and the stroke recovery cycle. He leads the largest study of stroke in Africa which is unravelling the genetic and environmental determinants of stroke and its risk factors in Africa. Based on his findings on the dominant modifiable risk factors for stroke in Africans, he has developed the first Afrocentric stroke riskometer model. He was the first to establish the dose-response protective effect of green leafy vegetables consumption against stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in Africans. He is the winner of the 2021 World Stroke Organization Global Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Stroke Research. 

He is the pioneer Regional Vice-President, World Federation of NeuroRehabilitation (sub-Saharan Africa); African Regional Office Director, World Hypertension League, pioneer Director, Centre for Genomic and Precision Medicine, University of Ibadan; and Lead Co-chair, World Health Organization- World Stroke Organization (WSO)- Lancet Neurology Commission on Stroke. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, Royal College of Physicians, Academy of Medical Specialties, and the Nigerian Academy of Science. Prof. Owolabi is Rapporteur of the World Health Organization Technical Advisory Group on Non-Communicable Diseases (Research and Innovation). Through these activities, he is a foremost leader in the global fight against stroke and a frontline leader in the fight against hypertension, stroke and non-communicable diseases in Africa.

Professor Nabil El-Tayeb gained his PhD from Leeds University, Leeds, UK-1986, attended MSc at Aston University in Birmingham, (1982), and received his first degree “BSc” distinction with honor from Helwan University-Cairo-1977.  

Previously, he worked at Engineering Faculty (Helwan University), Technical Military collage (Defense Ministry- Cairo), Mechanical department (Leeds University), and Faculty of Engineering & Technology (Multimedia University, MMU, Malaysia), and Engineering Faculty, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).  

Currently, he is a full professor at The British University in Egypt since 2010, Head of Engineering Quality assurance unit (2018-till now) 

Professor Eltayeb was former director of Research & Postgraduate Studies Programme BUE/2012-2014, and Head of mechanical Engineering Department, BUE (2015-2018) 

According to Stanford University published record (2020), Professor El-Tayeb was among the 2% Top Scientist of the World List  

Professor El-Tayeb has over 120 Research Publications in the International journals and conferences papers at:  Journals of Wear, Tribology International, IMechE Part J: Engineering Tribology, Materials Processing Technology, Materials & Design, Tribology online, Tribology Letter, International Polymer Processing, Tribology Transaction, Applied Composite Materials, Lubrication Science, Machining Science and Technology, Applied sciences, American Journal of Applied Sciences, Surface Review and Letters. 14th Int. Colloquium Tribology, Tribology & Lubrication Eng. Stuttgart/ Ostfildern, Germany 2004, ASME World Tribology Congress III- Washington USA, 2005, Recent Advances in Mechanical & Materials Engineering (ICRAMME 2005) KL, Malaysia, 2005, 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering systems Design and Analysis- Italy-2006, ICOMAST, Malaysia, 2006, ASME International, Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition Orlando Florid-USA 2007, Manufacturing & Electronic Technology- Johor Malaysia 2006, Engineering & ICT (ICEI 2007), Melaka-Malaysia), 8th International Conference on Production Engineering and Design for Development (PEDD8, 2010), In addition, there @50 other papers published before 2000 at National and International journals/conferences. 

Albert Thembinkosi Modi is the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. His academic experience goes back to 1996, when he was first appointed as a Crop Science lecturer, following many years of working as an agronomist for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of publicly traded Corteva Agriscience (the agriculture business of DowDuPont). After completion of a PhD in Seed Science at Ohio State University (USA) he continued to grow his impact as a researcher and teacher of Crop Science at the university of KwaZulu-Natal, where he developed and introduced curriculum is Seed Science and Technology as well as Sustainable Agriculture. This led to his ability to establish a research group focusing on water-energy-food nexus, including establishment and launch of the Moses Kotane Institute for Science and Technology in KwaZulu-Natal in 2008.

His national and international recognitions include membership of the New York Academy of Sciences, Third World Academy of Science (TWAS), Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), Green Matter Senior Fellow, Chairperson of the South African Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Association (SAALSDA),  President and Fellow of the South African Society of Crop Production, Chairperson of LEAP-Agri (an EU-Africa international research development forum), Deputy Chairperson of National Agricultural Research Forum (South Africa), WRC Award for Human Capacity Development in Water and Science Sectors, International Alumni Award (College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the Ohio State University, USA), University of KwaZulu-Natal Distinguished Teacher and Top 3 Researcher Awards, Fellow of the Mangosuthu University of Technology. He has been on  South African Advisory Committee for Genetic Experimentation. He is a registered member South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP; Registration No. 400582/15). In 2018, he established the Centre for Transformative Agricultural and Food Systems (https://ctafs.ukzn.ac.za/) which plays a significant role in his efforts to take university research to the rural communities for  the purposes of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and influence government policy (see https://youtu.be/QTh15JtA2Ds and https://youtu.be/SWa9_paVGOQ)  

Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuenté is Professor of Parasitology at the University of Yaoundé I, with broad interest in the epidemiology, ecology, and control of parasites. He is the Founding Director of the research Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology, Coordinator of the National Programme for the Control of Schistosomiasis and Intestinal Helminthiasis, Inspector for Medical and Paramedical Services at the Ministry of Public Health, NTD Ambassador, Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) Ambassador, and Chair of the GSA Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group. He has over 35 years of extensive experience in various aspects of research and control of schistosomiasis, STH and other NTDs, including project/programme development, management, implementation, leadership, resource mobilization, partnership development and capacity building. Through his scientific discoveries, he contributed to a better knowledge of the reproductive biology of schistosomes and its implications on the epidemiology of schistosomiasis, and he provided new insights on the precision mapping of schistosomiasis and the transition from control to elimination. He provided strategic direction and built high political commitments for the control and elimination of NTDs in Cameroon, with significant achievements. Between 2012-2015, he joined the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa where he worked as focal person for preventive chemotherapy NTDs, and focal point for the China-Africa collaboration for the elimination of schistosomiasis in Africa. He provided technical assistance to African countries and significantly contributed to the establishment of the Institution-based Network on China-Africa Cooperation for Schistosomiasis Elimination. Professor Tchuem Tchuenté is a member of the Expanded Board of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine, a life member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and of several other international professional societies and Advisory Committees. He is a member of the World Health Organization Advisory Group on STH and Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination. He serves on the editorial board of several international journals and has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers. He received several awards and distinctions, and was raised to the dignity of Commander of the National Order of Valour of Cameroon in 2016. 

Pr. Souleymane Mboup, born in 1951 in Senegal, is a virologist with world-renowned expertise in HIV/AIDS and other infectious tropical diseases. He lives in Dakar and leads IRESSEF as the founder and CEO. His first degree is in Pharmacy, followed by training in microbiology in Tours and Harvard.  

His research has played an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He is credited as one of the discoverers of the HIV-2 virus, the closest known human virus related to the prototypic AIDS virus, HIV-1. His work first demonstrated that HIV-2 was highly prevalent in Senegalese women in 1985, and that it had been circulating in Africa since the 1960s. Although his contributions on HIV are widely known, he has developed a growing interest in arboviruses, malaria, multi resistant TB, hepatitis, Ebola, and other tropical infectious diseases. These are major and soaring public health problems exceedingly difficult to control. Today, these represent the WHO and The Global Fund’s top public health priorities for prevention and control. 

From 1986 to 2017, as top microbiologist at the Cheikh Anta Diop University, he managed the Laboratory of Bacteriology and Virology and transformed it to become one of the most advanced diagnostic laboratories of its kind in Africa. 

Recently, he founded the Institut de Recherche en Santé, de Surveillance Epidémiologique et de Formations namely IRESSEF that presently hosts over 120 scientists., a testament to the commitment of a humble man who devoted his life to saving lives around the continent. 

In recognition of Souleymane's immense contribution, a new bacterial genus was baptized after his name (Mboupella massiliensis). Another genus very close to the latter has also been called Pseudomboupella with two species massiliensis and timonensis. 

Pr. Mboup’s works, Ethics and personal achievements make him a worthy and deserving new member of African Academy of Sciences. 

Nageh Allam received his PhD in materials science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University and pursued his postdoctoral studies at both Georgia Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After his postdoctoral tenure at GaTech and MIT, He joined the faculty at The American University in Cairo (AUC), where he is currently a tenured Professor of materials science and engineering and the Director of the Nanotechnology graduate program.  He is the founder of the AUC Energy Materials Laboratory (EML) and the co-founder of the Solar Energy program. Allam’s research is multidisciplinary in nature as it is at the interface between nanoscience, physics, and chemistry. It deals with the development of a set of synthetic and fabrication techniques to obtain well-designed nanostructured materials with composition, size, and shape control for use in energy conversion and storage, water desalination, sensors, electronic waste recycling, biofuel, biofertilizers, biomedical applications, among others. The research comprises both experimental and theoretical activities. He has published more than 250 papers in reputed peer-reviewed international journals and has authored more than 100 conference articles. He is the recipient of the Ford Foundation international graduate fellowship, RAK-CAM postdoctoral fellowship, the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Yong Scientist Award, the Abdel-Hamid Showman Foundation Award in Applied Sciences, the State of Egypt Encouragement Award in Advanced Technological Sciences, the State of Egypt Excellence Award in Advanced Technological Sciences, and the AUC Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award. Allam has been recognized as one of the top 2% impactful Scientists in the recent Stanford University Report (Elsevier 2020 and 2021). 

Holder of Doctorate in Medicine (MD) and Bachelor in Socio-anthropology at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Ph.D in epidemiology from the Rome University “La Sapienza”, Italy, Dr Sodiomon Bienvenu. Sirima is expert on clinical trials and one of the Africans pioneers in conducting ICH-GCP compliant Malaria vaccine trials. He has evolved from the position of rural district medical officer up to Executive Director of a leading national malaria research Center. Since January 2020, he is Chief Executive Officer of “Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé” (GRAS), a leading non-governmental health research Institute founded since 2008, accredited by the Burkina Faso Ministry of Science and Technology. Up today he has conducted more than fifty epidemiological/community-based studies and ICH-GCP compliant clinical trials funded by most of the important agencies and pharmaceutical companies across the World supporting research on tropical/ infectious diseases. This have generated over 190 peer review scientific publications and led to significant policy changes in malaria control strategies making him a key opinion leader in the malaria research field.  

Dr Sirima is an internationally recognized expert in the development of drugs and vaccines against infectious diseases. He has been or continues to be member or chair of scientific advisory/experts/stakeholders Boards/committees of several institutions including the WHO Scientific Committee on Malaria Vaccine (MALVAC), WHO/TDR Steering Committee for Implementation Research, WHO/TDR/MIM (Multilateral Initiative on Malaria), African Malaria Network trust (AMANET), Malaria Medicine Venture (MMV), European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), European and Developing Countries clinical trial Partnership., GSK Ebola vaccine Joint Steering Committee. He serves on Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB) for several drugs and vaccines trials against malaria, diarrheal diseases, and human African trypanosomiasis diseases, etc... He has mentored many Africans young researchers who are now independent.  

Dr Sirima current research projects include typhoid, schistosomiasis, shigella, and malaria vaccines/drugs clinical trials. 

Ahmed Elwakil was born in Cairo, Egypt. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics and Communications from Cairo University and his Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, University College Dublin in May 2000. He was with the Egyptian Nuclear Research Centre till 2007 and then joined the Department of Electrical, Sharjah University, Emirates, where he is currently a Full Professor. He was a Visiting Professor/Researcher at Istanbul Technical University (Istanbul, Turkey), University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada), Queens University (Belfast, UK), Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia) and  Imperial College London (2017). He is an Adjunct Prof. at the Nano-electronics Integrated Systems Center at Nile University, Egypt. and is also an Adjunct Prof. at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. 

Prof. Elwakil's research interests are interdisciplinary among several areas mainly Circuit Theory, Electronic Circuit Design, Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos Theory, as well as Fractional-Order Circuits and Systems with diverse applications. He is the author and co-author of over 320 publications in these areas and holds 3 US patents. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Int. J. of Circuit Theory and Applications (Wiley) and an Associate Editor for the Int. J. Electronics and Communications, Elsevier. 

Prof. Elwakil is an Associate Member of the Centre for Chaos Control and Synchronization at the City University of Hong Kong and has served as an instructor for a number of courses organized by the United Nations University (UNU) and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), where he was also an Associate member. He was a keynote speaker at many international conferences and a Lead Guest Editor for many special issues. He received the Egyptian Government first class medal for achievements in Engineering Sciences in 2003 and 2009 as well as the Excellence award in Engineering Sciences in 2015. More details can be found on his webpage: www.ahmed-elwakil.org. 

Professor of numerical analysis at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. He earned his M.Sc. in Mathematis, Faculty of Science, Cairo University . He was a channel system Ph.D. student between Cairo University, Egypt, and TU-Munich, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in "Optimal Control of Variational Inequalities, the Dam Problem". He was  the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University ( May 2012-May 2018). Prof. Sweilam  published more than 150   publications and supervised more than 33  thesis' for Ph.D., M.Sc. He is  referee and editor of several international journals, in the frame of pure and applied Mathematics.      Professor Sweilam awarded Cairo University prize for the distinct researches in Mathematics (2004). Moreover, he awarded Cairo University Award for Excellence "Basic Science – in Mathematics", (2012).  Recentltly, he awarded 325 YEARS OF FRACTIONAL CALCULUS AWARD. The First Online Conference on Modern Fractional Calculus and Its Applications Biruni University, Istanbul, Turkey, December 4-6, 2020. In 202, he  Awarded Obada prize for the distinguished researcher in Mathematics. 

His main research interests are numerical analysis, optimal control of differential equations, fractional and variable order calculus, bio-informatics and cluster computing, ill-posed problems. 

Important Profile Links:- 

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6507922829 

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7428-5799 

https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/641006/overview 

http://portal.sci.cu.edu.eg/compm/peoplen.php  
http://math.sci.cu.edu.eg 

http://scholar.google.com.my/citations?user=2MsYmk0AAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Hassan Azzazy is a tenured Distinguished University Professor and Chairman of the department of Chemistry at the American University in Cairo. He is the director of the international medical laboratory scientists training program. Before joining AUC, Dr. Azzazy was a postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Dr. Azzazy received his B.Sc. and a post-graduate diploma in Biochemistry both from Alexandria University and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX (1994).  

Dr. Azzazy holds board certifications in Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics from the American Board of Clinical Chemistry, Washington, DC. He is certified as a Specialist in Chemistry by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP, Chicago), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Chemistry. He is the Vice-President of the National Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Committee and the Chairman of Egypt Chapter of ASCP. 

He has over 30 years of biomedical research experience with a focus on developing novel diagnostics for detection of infectious agents and cancer markers, optical chemosensors for detection of environmental toxins, biodegradable nanofibrous wound dressings, and drug delivery nanocarriers.  

Dr. Azzazy has received many awards including State Prize in Laboratory Medicine (Egypt), Global Innovator Award (Texas Christian University), Arab Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award (UAE), Shoman Award in Medical Sciences (Jordan), Life Achievement Award (American Society for Clinical Pathology), and State Merit Prize in Advanced Technological Sciences (Egypt), Research Award (Alexander von Humboldt Award, Germany). 

Dr. Azzazy is an inventor on several patent families granted by USPTO and EU patent office. He is a strong advocate of technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship and has co-founded two biomedical startup companies which have won multiple prestigious awards and received competitive incubation packages from top regional and international business accelerators.

Osama Badary is currently the Vice Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, British University in Egypt (BUE). Chairman of NODCAR, 2013-2019. Head of Clinical Pharmacy Department at Ain Shams University 2006-2013. Publications of over 100 original articles, book chapters and more than100 Master and Ph.D. supervisions. Chairman of the Egyptian Clinical Pharmacy Fellowship Board. Vice President of the Arab Academy for Development of Pharmaceutical Skills. Selected among the top 2% of world Scientists list published by Stanford University 2020 and 2021. Fellow of the AvH, DAAD, UICC and AACR. Winner of Yamagiwa-Yoshida (YY) prize 1999, Shoman Prize 2000 and Egypt National State Merit Prize 2017. Member of task Force AMA and AU Model Law, and WHO QMS and Bench Marking teams. Member of the African TWGPRR NEPAD Technical Committee.

Menale Kassie is a Principal Scientist and Head of the Social Sciences and Impact Assessment Unit at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology. Before joining icipe, Menale worked for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and for a government organization in Ethiopia. Dr. Menale Kassie holds a Ph.D. in Development and Resource Economics from the School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. He has 16 years of research experience with sound knowledge in impact assessment, project development and management experience, and leadership. 

Menale Kassie has published 88 articles in scholarly journals in impact assessment, one heath economics, and gender analysis. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including:-  

1. The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Siwei Cheng Award in Economic Sciences (2020). 

2. Listed in the world's top 2% of Scientists List created by Sandford University (2021). 

3. Ranked among the top 5% of authors in the field of Economics in IDEAS, the largest bibliographic database dedicated to the discipline. 

4. Appointed as a Specialty Chief Editor of the Insect Economics section of the Frontiers in Insect Science Journal (2020).  

5. Elected as an Associate Fellow to the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (2020).  

6. Received the icipe outstanding professional staff award  (2019).  

7. Research Committee Member of the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, (2018–2022)

Prof Andre Pascal Kengne is a scientist and medical doctor with a speciality in internal medicine. He received his basic and specialist training from the School of Medicine of Yaounde 1 university in Cameroon. He then completed a PhD in Medicine with major concentration on cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention, from the School of Medicine and George Institute for Global Health at the University of Sydney, in Australia in 2009. He joined the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in 2011 as the first Director of its Collaborative Research Programme on CVD and Metabolic Diseases, and was promoted in 2013 to lead the newly established and consolidated NCD Research Unit of the organization. He holds conjoint appointments as Professor at the Department of the Department of Medicine of the University of Cape Town, and Extraordinary Professor at the Department of Global Health of the Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

He is a senior fellow of the George Institute for Global Health (Australia), and the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care (Holland). His areas of research include chronic diseases epidemiology and prevention in developing countries, decision making in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. He is the developer of the ADVANCE risk model to estimate cardiovascular disease risk in people with diabetes, and pioneer of task-shifting as an approach to improve access to prevention and control of non-communicable disease (NCD) in resource-constrained setting. He is co-author of over 550 peer-reviewed articles, many book chapters and monographs; and board member of several journals, including the leading International Journal of Epidemiology. He is member of several professional bodies, and leading expert groups, and has received several distinctions as a researcher, the most recent being the the Sir Alberti Award for Excellent in research on diabetes in Africa, awarded in 2017. 

Francesco Petruccione studied Physics at the University of Freiburg i. Br. and received his PhD in 1988 and the “Habilitation” degree (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in 1994. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in Durban (South Africa). In 2007 he was granted the South African Research Chair for Quantum Information Processing and Communication. At present, he is the interim Director of the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor Big Data and Informatics of UKZN, and Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Physics of the Stellenbosch University..Prof Petruccione is an elected member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and a Fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has published about 250 papers in refereed scientific journals. He is the co-author of a monograph on “The Theory of Open Quantum Systems " (more than 9000 citations according to Google Scholar), that was published in 2002, reprinted as paperback in 2007, and translated in Russian. In 2018 he published a monograph (with Maria Schuld) on "Supervised Learning with Quantum Computers” that was already translated into Japanese. The second extended edition was published in 2021 under the title “Machine Learning with Quantum Computers”.He is the editor of several proceedings volumes and of special editions of scientific journals. Prof Petruccione is a member of the Editorial Board of the journals "Open Systems and Information Dynamics", "Scientific Reports", "Quantum Machine Intelligence”.

Prof. Mekheimer born in Egypt 1963, received a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Ain Shams University Cairo (1984), M.Sc. in Thermo-Elasticity from Al-Azhar University (1990), completed his doctorate in Bio-fluid Mechanics at Al-Azhar University in (1994). Currently, he is a professor of Applied Mathematics and Vice Dean of Research and Post-graduate Studies at the Faculty of Science (Men), Al-Azhar University, Egypt. He is leading an active group in his field of interest "Bio-Fluids". The roles played by Prof. Mekheimer, have many facets: In the scientific research part he has embarked on some fundamental aspects of the peristaltic transport of physiological fluids, blood flow in stenotic arteries, and atherosclerosis catheterization. Many of his student's research earned the prize of the best M. Sc Thesis. & Ph D. Thesis from the Egyptian Mathematical Society (2008, 2012, 2013,2019, 2020). He is Advisory Board Member of the International Islamic Institute for Population Studies and Research, Al-Azhar University 2020, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Azhar Bulletin of Sciences Journal, and Associated Editor of International Journals (Journal of the Egyptian Mathematical Society (JOEMS), SN Applied Sciences, Frontiers in Mathematical and Statistical Physics).

Due to the high quality, high competitivity, and importance of the research of Prof. Mekheimer he has been highly cited (3647) and H-index (33) Scopus Citation Overview: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6602385344. Consequently, he has earned one of the State highest prizes namely the State Awards of Excellence Prize of Basic Science awarded by the ASRT (Academy of Scientific Research and Technology ) of Egypt 2018, besides other certificates from the Egyptian Mathematical Society (2008, 2012, 2013,2019, 2020) as well as other prizes from Taif University Saudi Arabia, namely the citation prize for Engineering and Basic Science branch 2012, 2013, and 2014 and OBADA-PRIZE for distinguished researcher 2020-by Natural Science Publishing cooperation. Also, the Order of the Republic-First Class Medal ” Science & Arts” from the Egyptian State 2019. Recently Prof Mekheimer was induced in the “Top 2% of world scientists” list published by Stanford University U.S.A., according to the updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicator, 2020 & 2021 

Diabate Abdoulaye is a vector ecologist. He owned a PhD degree from the University of Montpellier, France and spent 4 years as a postdoc fellow at NIH in the US. His research activities proceed along with two different but complementary directions. First, it involves insecticide resistance and its management and second, it is focused on population biology, ecological studies on phenotypic variation within and between populations of mosquitoes and analyses of its genetic and environmental sources. He is particularly interested in mosquito male biology and related transgenic and sterile male’s approaches to control vector diseases. He has been an invited speaker in several prestigious universities including the Harvard University and has given inspirational talks at the Grand Challenges annual conference in London 2016 and in Addis Ababa 2019. He is the recipient of the Royal Society Pfizer award in 2013, the PAMCA life achievement Award in 2019 and the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize in February 2020. He was awarded the Grand Challenges Star in global Health grant, the MRC/DFID African Leader Scheme grant and recently the prestigious Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award in Science. Currently he is the group lead of the Vector Biology Department at IRSS, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, the country lead of the project Target Malaria and the Director of the World Bank and the AAU funded center of excellence on vector borne diseases ITECH-MTV

Emelda leads the Population Health Unit within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. Emelda has 20 years of Population and Public Health research experience. She has evolved the science of impact evaluation, epidemiology, population health, statistics, data analytics and operations research focusing on research capacity mentorship in the Africa region. Her work has focused on leveraging epidemiological data to improve the understanding of disease mechanisms and strengthen programme implementation of new tools and innovations to achieve a greater impact on health in Africa. Emelda has applied her epidemiological science to many important public health topics that plague the African continent: malaria, HIV, RSV, health access, under-five mortality, emerging infectious pathogens and anaemia. She is focused on embedding herself in the policy process in-country and is passionate about improving routine data in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Before her current position, Emelda was a Program Officer/Gates Fellow within the Global Health Team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has previously worked on projects that have evaluated the public health impact of malaria control and anti-retroviral treatment programs while at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation-IHME and developing primary health care strategies at Philips Research Africa.

Emelda serves on the BMC Medicine Editorial Board, the PLOS Global Public Health Editorial Board, and the TDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).   She is interested in science mentorship and capacity building within Africa. Emelda has a PhD in Epidemiology, has been awarded several internationally competitive Wellcome Trust (UK) Fellowships and is widely published.

Walter Jaoko is a physician, a professor of medical microbiology and tropical medicine and the Director of KAVI-Institute of Clinical Research, at the University of Nairobi. He is also an Extraordinary Professor of Medicine at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Bioethics and Law in the Department of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

He holds a Bachelors’ degree in medicine from University of Nairobi, a Masters’ degree in Tropical Medicine from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, a PhD in Medical Microbiology from University of Nairobi. 

He has conducted clinical research in infectious diseases transmission, treatment and control. In this regard, he has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. His areas of interest has been in understanding the risk factors for HIV transmission, HIV superinfection, preventive HIV vaccine research and development, among others.  Currently, his research focuses on the use of monoclonal antibodies for prevention of HIV transmission, and on research and development of second generation COVID-19 preventive vaccines.

He also has 16 years management experience as Deputy Director and Director of an Institute, and previously as Chairman of the Department of Medical Microbiology at University of Nairobi, and is a member or chair of several Boards, including being the vice-chair of the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials of the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board.  

Furthermore, he has a keen interest in research ethics, and through a Fogarty Grant by the USA National Institutes of Health he obtained Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Ethics from Stellenbosch University, and has most recently qualified with a Masters’ degree in Global Bioethics from Anahuac University. Walter Jaoko is a member of the research ethics committee of Strathmore University, a private university in Nairobi, Kenya.

Prof Joseph KAMGNO, 56 years old, is Medical Doctor from the University of Yaounde I, with a Diploma of Epidemiology from Pasteur Institute in Paris, a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Paris VI.

He is the Founding Director of the Center for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT). He is also teaching epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Yaounde I where he is Head of Department of Public Health. He started his career at the Centre Pasteur of Cameroon where he worked until 2005 when he created the CRFilMT. Within the framework of this Research Centre, he has conducted as PI several large-scale research projects including descriptive epidemiological studies, clinical trials, public health program evaluations, development of diagnostic tools and clinical impact of some infectious diseases such as onchocerciasis, loiasis and lymphatic filariasis. Joseph KAMGNO is fellow of the Cameroon Academic of Sciences. He was awarded in 2015 the Islamic Development Bank Price for Sciences and Technology in recognition of his contribution at the socioeconomic development of his home country Cameroon. His main domains of research are onchocerciasis, loaisis, lymphatic filariasis (mapping, clinical trials, diagnostic tools, and post Mass Drug Administration impact evaluation). He has also done some work in the domain of epilepsy, malaria and Soil Transmitted helminths. He is author and co-authors of 120 publications in peer review journals, his H index is 31 in 2021.

Dr. Farida Fassi is a Professor of Mohammed V University in Rabat at the Faculty of Science. In 1996, after completing her BSc in physics from Abdelmalek Essaâd University in Morocco, she went to Spain to continue Higher Education. In 1999, she obtained her MSc from the University of Valencia in Spain. After MSc, she earned her Ph.D. In 2003, she awarded the European Ph.D. in particle physics in recognition of her contribution in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. She then granted with a post-doc from CSIC to continue working on the ATLAS experiment.

In 2007, she elected for an Advance Research fellowship offered by CNRS to work in the CMS experiment at “Institut de physique nucléaire de Lyon” (IPNL) and CCIN2P3 in France. She was the French´s Tier-1 contact person at CERN and research scientist at IPNL.  

She worked through several research positions at CSIC and the Spanish Center for Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics. She contributed in the LHC experiments, ATLAS and CMS, that led to the major scientific discovery of the 21th century; the Higgs Boson.

Since 2013, she is the Distributed Analysis Support coordinator for the ATLAS experiment. She also has a pivotal role in the Exotic Top and Higgs physics working groups at the ATLAS collaboration. She is Linked Doctor at CSIC and visiting scientist at IFIC.

Her research interests lie generally at connecting theoretical particle physics with experimental results, focusing on the search for new phenomena and investigating the Dark Matter nature.

She is co-founder of the “African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics”. Her aspiration is to set up the foundation and framework to ensure structured growth, learning culture and draw the participation of African Physicists in defining the most impactful physics priorities for Africa.

Professor Luc Salako Djogbénou obtained a PhD in Medical Entomology and Parasitology from the University of Montpellier, France. He was a Post-doctoral fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). He has been LSTM fellow staff since 2013. He is currently Professor, Director of the Regional Institute of Public Health of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Deputy Head of the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research Centre newly created by him. He was Director of the Laboratory of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases. 

His research activities are related to the control of human vector-borne diseases such as Malaria, Lymphatic Filariasis, Dengue and the understanding of the biology, genetics and genomics of both pathogens and vectors. He worked intensively on the insensitive Acetylcholinesterase against organophosphates and carbamates in Anopheles gambiae in West Africa. These findings were relevant for implementing an indoors residual spraying strategy based on carbamates and organophosphates compounds used in several countries. He is also interested in how social practices relating to the pesticide used by populations in Africa impact sustainable control of diseases vectors. He is currently researching to determine the impact of the genetic profile of both vector and parasite on malaria transmission in endemic areas in Sub-Saharan.   

He is currently the PI of a Public Health Intermediate Wellcome Trust grant. He is also the Co-PI for the Global Challenges Research Fund grant, the German Research Foundation grant, and three Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grants. He previously held grants with the Wellcome Trust, IRD, WHO/TDR, IDRC, IAEA, ANR France, and the MIM.  

He has helped train 3 Post-Doctoral scientists, 23 master and PhD students, and 11 students are currently under his supervision. The evolvement and success of young African scientists are very important to him.

Yalemtsehay Mekonnen is a Professor of Cell and Human Physiology. She is an academic staff in the Department of Biology at the College of Natural and Computational Sciences of the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She has extensively published in different peer reviewed scientific journals on topics of respiratory physiology, medicinal plants and other related topics. She has advised many MSc and PhD students. In leadership positions she was involved and has initiated a number of national and international research networks and collaborations. She has also mentored young professionals specially women over the last three decades.

She was awarded research grants and fellowships nationally from Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission and Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization and internationally from the British Council, the International Foundation for Science, Third World Academy of Sciences, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. She had a number of short research stays in German universities namely; University of Heidelberg, Martin Luther University Halle, University of Kassel, University of Hohenheim, in England in London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and in Japan in Primate Research Institute in Inhyoma City. She has presented extensively her research results in national, regional and international scientific and professional meetings and conferences.

She received the 2015 the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards for high achievement for women in science. She has been appointed as Ambassador Scientist by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany as part of a worldwide network for excellence in science since 2016. She is elected as a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) as of January 2022.

Prof. Amany Mohamed Fekry is a professor of physical chemistry, department of chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University in 2017. I have more than 100 publications in different international journals, a review, 3 book chapters and 1 book. I Have attended 12 national and international conferences. My H-index is 33 with 2538 citations. I have supervised more than 20 MSC, Ph. D. students. I have reviewed more than 100 articles in different international journals. Stanford University identifies me in the top 2 % of Scientists worldwide in 2020 and 2021.

I have been awarded an international award called Obada-Prize for distinguished researchers – 2021 winners. I have been awarded University Encouraging Award (Basic Sciences), Cairo University, 2010; Country Encouraging Award (Basic Sciences), Egypt, 2012 and Academic Excellence Award (Basic Sciences), Cairo University, 2020. I have been granted STDF (Egypt - France cooperation) for a research stay in Electroanalytical group (ELAN) in the Laboratory of physical Chemistry and Microbiology for the environment (LCPME), Lorraine University, Nancy-France. I have got a postdoctor in  GeoResources Lab, Lorraine university - France on experimental and theoretical studies on the flotation of oxidized minerals, Fine Future Project – GeoResources Department, Lorraine University, Nancy-France till now.

I’m a member of the Corrosion Association from 2005 to 2010, Polymers Association in 2018. I’m selected as a member on the Basic Sciences Council from the qualitative councils of the Academy of Scientific Research from 11 june 2018 to 10 June 2021 and I’m selected again for this membership at 29 september 2021. I’m a member of the NSP Scientific Academy (international): Ref. No. NSP-151134 at December 2020-2021. My research work contributes mainly to solving many biological and industrial problems. My main subject is to prepare advanced nanoparticles and nano-coatings; and their applications in different areas like Corrosion, Sensors, Fuel cells and catalysis. I know different techniques like Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy, Potentiodynamic polarization, Cyclic Voltammetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy etc.

Dora Ngum Shu Mbanya is Professor of Haematology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS), University of Yaoundé I (UYI), and the General Manager of the National Blood Transfusion Service in Cameroon. She is holder of an MD in General Medicine (Cameroon); PhD in Medicine/Haematology (Newcastle upon Tyne, England) and a “Dîplome Universitaire” in Transfusion Medicine (Université d’Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire). She is Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, UK and the current President of the Africa Society for Blood Transfusion. She is member to several scientific and professional bodies locally and internationally, and has served as Vice Dean in charge of Studies and Student Affairs in the FMBS, UYI, and Dean of Medicine at the University of Bamenda, Cameroon.

The thrust of Professor Mbanya’s research has been in blood transfusion medicine (clinical use of blood; transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) like hepatitis B, C, Syphilis, and HIV. Her team, with external collaborators identified a new subgenotype of hepatitis B virus (A3), hepatitis delta and C strains. They identified the horizontal transmission of the group N, HIV-1 and an HIV-2 intergroup recombinant strain. They showed primary drug resistance in drug-naïve HIV-infected people, and demonstrated wide HIV-1 genetic diversity in Cameroon. These findings have contributed in the production of diagnostics assays for detecting diverse HIV strains in clinical specimens.

She also has interest in general haemostasis; her PhD established a reliable in vitro model for examining the role of endothelial cells in hypercoagulability. She created the haemophilia treatment centre in Yaoundé, revolutionising haemophilia care in Cameroon.

These research activities have led to 4 book chapters and 142 peer-reviewed journal publications, and to many international recognitions (Member of WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Blood Transfusion, and of several Working Parties of the International Society for Blood Transfusion) among many other nominations.

Prof. Anton Du Plessis is applications scientist at Object Research Systems, Montreal, Canada (remotely). He is based in South Africa and as academic he also holds an Associate Professor position at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, with additional affiliations with Nelson Mandela University and Central University of Technology, South Africa. He is an experienced scholar in the fields of additive manufacturing and X-ray tomography, with specific interests in quality control and process optimization, lattice structures, new applications involving image analysis of tomographic images for all kinds of materials, and biomimicry especially for engineering design. He is deputy editor of the journal Additive Manufacturing Letters and acts on the editorial board and as editor on numerous other journals including Additive Manufacturing, Advanced Engineering Materials, Scientific Reports, Scientific African, 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, amongst others. He is on the scientific committee of numerous international conferences and organizations including the international association for computed tomography (IntACT). He supports researchers and students and collaborates widely in the above topics, with international collaborators in Norway, Italy, US, Canada and Australia, amongst others. He has published over 130 international journal papers and won numerous awards for this research. He is also a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Professor Esther Titilayo Akinlabi is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and currently serving as the Director of the Pan African University Life and Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI), Ibadan, Nigeria. Prior to joining PAULESI, she started at UJ as a Lecturer in November 2010, grew through the academic ranks and was promoted to the position of Full Professor in May 2016 owing to her exceptional research publication output, supervision of students, and the attraction of external grants to the university. She had the privilege to serve as the Head of Department of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Science and as the Vice Dean for Teaching and Learning at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research interest is in the field of modern and advanced manufacturing processes – Friction stir welding and additive manufacturing. She has successfully graduated 30 PhD and 42 Masters students. Her research in the field of laser based additive manufacturing include laser material processing and surface engineering. She also conducts research in the field of renewable energy, and biogas production from waste. She is a rated National Research Foundation (NRF) researcher of South Africa and has demonstrated excellence in all fields of endeavors. Her leadership, mentorship and research experience is enviable as she guides her team of postgraduate students through the research journey. She is a recipient of several research grants and has received many awards of recognition to her credit. She is an alumnus of the prestigious South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS), registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). She is also a member of Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). Prof Akinlabi has filed two patents, edited two books, published seven books and authored/co-authored over 600 peer reviewed publications.

Dr Fairouz Malek is a senior scientist and physicist with experience in nuclear research, particle physics and cosmology. She is currently working at CERN (European Organization for Particle Physics) on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and contributed to this century's major discovery in particle physics, the Higgs boson. Prior to that, she participated in a heavy ion collision experiment at CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron, an experiment that contributed to the discovery in 2000 of the quark-gluon plasma state, QGP. She also participated in a NASA space experiment, AMS, to search for antimatter in space. She was born and raised in Algeria where she completed her university studies in physics. After the Master at the Houari-Boumedienne University of Algiers, she had the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies in nuclear physics at the University of Grenoble in France. After her doctorate, she obtained a full research position at the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) in France. In parallel with her research, she served as team leader of the LPSC Grenoble group participating in the CERN ATLAS experiment. During her tenure, the group contributed to the design, the prototyping and the construction of the Liquid-Argon electromagnetic calorimeter and to the analysis of Higgs physics, the Top quark physics and the search for signals beyond the Standard Model in models with additional dimensions. In 2010, she was called upon to lead the French National Grid Infrastructure (LCG-France) to provide the highest performing computing and grid technology for LHC experiments. She is also a French contact-member of the future circular collider study project, the FCC. In addition to her academic activities, she served at the C13 of IUPAP and IGPD of EPS committees, dealing with physics for developing countries. In 2019, she co-founded the African Strategy for Fundamental Physics and its Applications (ASFAP). 

Professor Jill Farrant holds a South African Research Chair in “Systems Biology Studies on Plant Desiccation Tolerance for Food Security” in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, South Afric.  She is an acknowledged world leader in the field of plant desiccation tolerance (holding a rarely given A rated status by the South African National Research Foundation), working predominantly (but not exclusively) on the desiccation tolerant “resurrection plants”. Her research is multidisciplinary, utilising techniques involved molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology and physiology to understand protection mechanisms, and regulation thereof, associated with desiccation tolerance, and those associated with biotechnology to test informed genetic alteration(s) for the production of extremely drought tolerant crops. She has further utilized the metabolomic make up of resurrection plants for applications in the cosmetic industry, being Scientific Advisor for the Giorgio Armani Skincare range Crema Nera Extrema.   She has received considerable recognition for her research,  having achieved 10 national and international awards, including being the 2012 L’Oreal-UNESCO Laueratte for Africa and Arab States, and award  that ‘recognizes women whose exceptional careers in science have opened up new and sometimes revolutionary ways of improving human well-being’ Jill has 151 peer reviewed publications, 16 book chapters, over 200 conference proceedings, and has graduated 36 MSc students and 30 PhD students during the 28 years she has been an academic.  As further testimony to the esteem in which Farrants work is held is that she has been invited to attend and deliberate in the Hegra conference of Nobel Laurreates, aimed at identifying the ten decisive actions we must take over the next decade for humanity to thrive in the 21st century.  Her work has been the subject of several local and International documentaries, which can be found on her website http://www.mcb.uct.ac.za/mcb/people/staff/academic/farrant. 

Jean Claude Mbanya is Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Director Biotechnology Center and Postgraduate Dean Doctoral School of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of Yaoundé 1 and Consultant Physician at the National Obesity Centre at the Yaoundé Central Hospital. He is Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, England, Fellow and Dean of Biological Sciences, Cameroon Academy of Sciences, Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences. He has a wide span of expertise, but his current focus is on clinical application of basic research and equity of access to care and education and the integration of diabetes and NCD in the primary health care activities of developing countries. Output from his scientific research and service career has been published in 3 books, 33 international book chapters and 256 publications in international peer-reviewed journals with a ResearchGate Score of 47.96, an h-index of 64 and citations of 22,258. His Scopush-index is 51.As President IDF, he championed the convening of the first ever United Nations High Level Summit on non-communicable diseases held in 2011.

He was the 2004 recipient of the American Diabetes Association Harold Rifkin Award for Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes; 2010 recipient of the Most Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer Memorial Lecture and Award of the University Diabetes Outreach Programme (UDOP), Jamaica; the 16thDr Mohan’s DSC Gold Oration Award, Chennai, India in 2009; the Philip Sherlock Awardof UDOP, Jamaica, for his outstanding international service in the field of diabetes in 2009, and the Lifetime Distinguished Award Dr Mohan’s DSC, Chennai, India in 2012. He has served on the WHO Expert Committee on the Classification and Diagnosis of diabetes, WHOAfrican Advisory Committee on Health Research and Development and the WHO ExpertAdvisory Panel on Chronic Degenerative Diseases. Prof Mbanya in 2011 was conferred the degree of Doctor philosophiae honoris causaby the University of Oslo for significant scientific contribution and work of outstanding quality furthering the scientific endeavour.

Professor Tawfik is the founding director of the Egyptian Center for Theoretical Physics (ECTP), the founding director of the World Laboratory for Cosmology and Particle Physics (WLCAPP), and the research director at "ICSC-World Laboratory" in Erice, Italy.  Professor Tawfik is serving in several committees and panels for education, scientific research, and development. In 1999, He has earned Dr.rer.Nat (Ph.D.) at Philipps Universität zu Marburg, and in 2012 "Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)” in “physics and mathematics” at Uzbekistan National University. Tawfik has accomplished successive academic posts at Marburg, Stuttgart, Trier, Bielefeld (Germany), Hiroshima (Japan), MTI and Nile universities (Egypt). As youngest in all disciplines he was elected as UNESCO-TWAS (Trieste-Italy) fellow in 2012 and am presently serving as council member representing the Arab World. He was also elected as Fellow of Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), and thereby serving as member of National Committee for Physics, Network Nuclear Sciences (NNS), and Egyptian Network for High-Energy Physics (ENHEP). In 2021 Professor Tawfik was elected as fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). Dr. Tawfik is the leader of an Egyptian team joining STAR experiment at RHIC, another team for CBM experiment at FAIR, and a third one for CMS experiment at LHC. So-far, he has published 3 titles and 200 scientific papers, reports, and reviews covering various disciplines. He was pioneering to initiate and actively participate in ambitious outreach programs aiming at public understanding and popularization of science, for which he was awarded with national and international prizes. His scientific research covers wide discipline of quantum chromodynamics and cosmology. This ranges from non-perturbative calculations and phenomenology of high-energy particle physics to their possible implications on the early viscous Universe and fundamental topics, such as modified general relativity, quantum gravity, nucleosynthesis, stars collapse, and acceleration mechanisms for ultra-relativistic cosmic rays. Professor Tawfik is well recognized for a) his pioneering research on strong and electroweak epochs of the early Universe, especially the challenging solutions of ultrarelativistic fluid dynamics, b) his generic (non)extensive statistics, which extends almost all types of superstatistics including extensive Boltzmann-Gibbs and nonextensive Tsallis q-statistics, c) his novel minimal length approach, which reforms the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the fundamental theory in quantum mechanics and therefore also reforms the theory of general relativity and thus the entire evolution of our Universe, d) his fundamental description of the nuclear collisions, especially their chemical and thermal freezeout stages, and the hadron-quark deconfinement, e) his sophisticated estimations for the mass spectrum of 16 mesonic states by means of non-perturbative effective approaches based on the theory of strong interactions, the quantum choromodynamics, and f) his precise estimation of the hadron and parton properties, at finite temperatures, densities, and magnetic and electric fields, which are likely in high-energy collisions and interstellar objects, etc. His contributions to computational science are also remarkable, especially to computational algorithms and grid computing. The importance of this research goes beyond the field of physics to other scientific disciplines such as mathematics, statistics, informatics, as well as applied and industrial fields in addition to its social impacts. 

Professor Sileshi Gudeta Weldesemayat is an Ethiopian national with over 25 years of experience in agricultural research for development (AR4D) in Africa. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Since 2017 he has also been Deputy Coordinator of Design, Performance and Evaluation of Experiments in the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Forest Ecology and Management. He holds a BSc degree in Biology, MSc degree in Agriculture and PhD degree in Ecology. Previously he worked as a Lecturer at the Alemaya University of Agriculture in Ethiopia (1987-1997), Research Associate at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya (2000-2001), a Scientist (2002-2011) at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) based in Zambia and Malawi. From 2011 to 2014 he was the regional representative of ICRAF for the southern Africa region, where he managed the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme and he developed a vibrant multi-stakeholder AR4D program called Building a Large Evergreen Agriculture Network for Southern Africa implemented in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa. He was nominated as AAS Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Fertilizer Trees and his exemplary leadership in promoting green technologies to counter land degradation, climate change impacts and improving productivity and food security in Africa. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers in journals and book chapters. He has also coedited a book entitled Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics in 2008 and co-authored two books entitled Termite Management in Agroforestry in 2016 and Bamboo: Climate change adaptation and mitigation in 2020.

Professor Chedly Abdelly obtained his Doctorate of State in Natural Sciences from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (1997). He coordinated several national and international research projects. He is internationally recognized as an accomplished ecologist and eminent halophyte specialist. He serves as CEO of the Tunisian National Agency for the Promotion of Scientific Research since 2017, CEO of the Centre of Biotechnology of Borj Cedria, CBBC, 2011-2017; Director of the laboratory of Extremophile Plants (2010-2018) and the Laboratory of Plant Adaptation for Abiotic Stresses (2002-2010).

Professor Chedly Abdelly has actively and remarkably contributed in the field of Biological Sciences, with particular emphasis on the characterization of the of plant responses to abiotic constraints using physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters, addressing plant behavior to combined environmental constraint, the valorization of extremophile plants in the rehabilitation of marginal areas and the characterization of extremophile plants in order to identify promising species which combine stress tolerance and economic potential, new sources of biomass for human nutrition and the production of energy biomaterials and biomolecules of interest

He has an outstanding proven track record of publications in distinguished journals (440 publications, h index 62, 14,617 citations) and edited the book "Biosaline Agriculture and High Salinity Tolerance". Besides 03 patent inventions, he supervised 73 PhD thesis and 37 Master students. He obtained several prestigious prizes: the Presidential Prize of the Graduation Diploma from the Higher School of Teaching (1980), the Presidential Award for the Best Researcher in Biotechnology (2016); the National Order of Merit for Science and Education (2017), the Presidential Award for the best Laboratory (2018) and Continental Prize for scientific excellence "Kwame Nkrumah" (2020). Finally, he was elected as full member of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts (2019) and Fellow African Academy of Sciences ‘FAAS’ (2020).

Shane Norris is a Research Professor within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Shane is the Director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU), and Director of the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Council’s Centre of Excellence in Human Development (CoE-HUMAN). He is the President of the Africa Chapter of the International Society of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Shane’s research focuses on lifecourse epidemiology with a specific interest in the development of intergenerational-risk for obesity and diabetes. His expertise includes nutrition and body composition and longitudinal-cohort study methodologies, and nutrition and body composition across the lifecourse. Shane is working with several scientists across Africa to both better understand and develop interventions that improve maternal and child health outcomes.

Prof. Collet Dandara is an Academic & Researcher in Human Genetics, with special skills in teaching, student supervision, mentorship of both students and colleagues and proposal writing for grants applications. Field of research is Pharmacogenomics, & Genetic Susceptibility to disease. Has extensive experience in designing courses/lectures and teaching Genomics. Has supervised to graduation at least 18 MSc students (by research), 11 PhD students and has hosted at least 7 Postdoctoral Research Fellows, and more than 25 Honours students; contributing massively to human capacity development. Has consciously trained a majority of female scientists and attracted students from the previously disadvantaged groups. Was recognised as a Finalist in the NSTF-Bilton Awards, in 2014, in the category of Human Capacity development. Is regularly approached to assist with external examination of courses and student theses, as testimony to national and international recognition in skills.  Has published >150 publications in internationally peer-reviewed journals and accumulated an H-index of 29 (Google Scholar) or 24 (Scopus), and is considered, one of the leading experts in Pharmacogenomics Research on the African continent and internationally. Has a good understanding of the higher education system in South Africa & internationally, including the funding landscape.  I have previously served the Advisory Committee Sub-Committee on GMOs, of the Dept. of Agriculture, South Africa (2008-2013). Integrally involved in transformation and was previously the Chair of the Transformation and Equity Committee in the faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. Serves on the South African Young Scientists Academy (SAYAS) selection committee. Internationally, Professor Dandara was nominated as a Young Affiliate of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). A Director in the African Pharmacogenomics Network (APN). Currently serves as a Board member of the SAMRC (2020-2023).

Dr. Nelly Mugo is a Senior Principal Clinical Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington (USA), Department of Global Health. She is actively engaged in clinical trial research; her interest is in sexually transmitted infection with focus on HIV and cervical cancer prevention research. She is a reproductive health specialist, with over 27 years of clinical experience and 2 decades in clinical research. In collaboration with scientists from Kenya, Uganda and USA specifically, the University of Washington, she has led qualitative and quantitative studies of ART for HIV prevention, cervical intraepithelial lesions, PrEP, fertility intention, and contraceptive use among HIV serodiscordant couples at the Thika, Kenya site and at the Coptic Hope clinic, Nairobi.

She leads the clinical research team ‘Partners in Health Research and Development’ (PHRD)- KEMRI research team in Thika, conducting high-impact HIV prevention research. They conducted the proof of concept Partners PrEP Study, the landmark clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among serodiscordant couples, followed by the demonstration project of integrated PrEP and antiretroviral treatment for serodiscordant couples. This work laid the foundation for PrEP implementation in Kenya and globally. The team is currently implementing the Partners Scale up project to assess delivery of PrEP in public health facilities and a clinical trial on HIV self-testing to reduce frequency of clinic visits for oral PrEP users.

Specific to cervical cancer prevention, her work includes HPV pathogeneses studies among female sex workers in high density low income settings in Nairobi, evaluation of cervical cancer screening interventions for HIV-infected women and HPV vaccine immunogenicity among HIV-infected adolescents. She provided clinical care for women with precancerous lesions at the Kenyatta National Hospital and provided mentorship and training for undergraduate and post graduate medical students for over a decade. She is currently a protocol-chair for an HPV vaccine single dose trial currently being implemented in Kenya at 3 clinical trial facilities (The KEN-SHE study) and a member of the ‘Single Dose HPV Vaccine Consortium’.

Dr. Nelly R. Mugo has contributed to various National AIDS Control and STI Program (NASCOP), Department of Reproductive Health (Kenya), WHO forums and guidelines committees. She has over 160 publications in peer-reviewed journals.