Prof. Rajeev Varshney is an agricultural research scientist specializing in genomics and molecular breeding with 20+ years of service in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He is serving Murdoch University as a Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; Director, State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre: and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute. Prior to joining Murdoch University, Prof Varshney served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for about 16 years in various science and leadership roles and Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crops Plant Research, Germany for 5 years as a Research Scientist. Prof. Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa & Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops.

Rentala (PhD 1984, University of Hyderabad, India) is a professor at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. In JNU, she was Former Director, Human Resource Development Centre, Director Advanced Instrumentations Research facility and Dean School of Life Sciences. Member of all three Indian science academies, she has received the Hari Om Trust JC Bose award, the young scientist award from IUB, the Career Research Initiative Award from Wellcome Trust UK. She received Biotechnology Career Fellowship from Rockefeller foundation, USA. She received American Society of Microbiology, International Professorship. She has been an invited speaker in many national and international meetings, and has received the President of India, Visitor Group Award 2016, and the 2016 senior women Bioscientist Award, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (DBT).

Agarwal is professor at the Texas A&M U.. He was educated at Banaras Hindu U., India, and the U. of Rochester where he obtained his PhD in 1969. He retired from Oklahoma State U where he held the regents professorship and Noble Foundation chair. His previous positions include dist. scientist and director of the Physical Res. Lab. in Ahmedabad; Indian Natl. Science Acad. Albert Einstein research professor; and professor (1977-95), School of Physics, U. of Hyderabad. His awards include Bhatnagar Award; Max Born Award of the Optical Soc. of America; GD Birla award; RD Birla award; Humboldt Research award, Eminent Faculty award of Oklahoma State U and TWAS Physics Prize. His fellowships include: The Royal Society, UK; 3 science academies of India; American Physical Soc.; Optical Soc. of America. He is also the recipient of honorary doctorates. He is the author of nearly 700 research publications, edited books and monographs. His recent text book "quantum optics" was published by the Cambridge University Press. He is an authority in quantum optics as well in nano photonics and plasmonics.

C.Siva Ram Murthy earned his B.Tech. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from REC (now NIT) Warangal in 1982, M.Tech. degree in Computer Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur in 1984 and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from IISc, Bangalore in 1988. Since September 1988, he has been with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Madras where he is currently the Richard Karp Institute Chair Professor. He has held the INAE Chair Professorship and also short-term visiting appointments at several European and North American universities. He has authored many textbooks, and published research papers over 175 in peer-reviewed international journals and over 175 in refereed international conference proceedings. He is a recipient of Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from IISc, INSA Medal for Young Scientists, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, IBM (USA) Real-Time Innovation Award, JC Bose Fellowship and several Best Paper Awards. He is an elected Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, USA), TWAS - Italy, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), National Academy of Sciences (NASI), and Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE).

Rao is Linus Pauling research professor and Hon. president, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. After obtaining his PhD at Purdue U. and completing postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley, he returned to India in 1959 and has since worked in various capacities at the Ind. Inst. of Science and other institutions. His honours include: 77 honorary causa doctorates; Hughes and Royal Medals of the Royal Society, London; Einstein Gold Medal, UNESCO; India Science Prize; Dan David Prize; Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize; dist. research professor, U. of Cambridge; laureate, Khwarizmi Intl. Award, Iran; Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, by Emperor of Japan, Order of Friendship of Russia, Chevalier De La Legion D'Honneur of France. He was conferred the highest award for materials research, the von Hippel award by the Materials Society in 2017. He is a member of 27 science academies including the Royal Society, US National Academy of Sciences, and Pontifical, Australian, Canadian, Russian, Brazilian, French and Japan academies. He is the recipient of the highest civilian honour of India, Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India).

Dasgupta is Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Univ. of Cambridge and fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Memberships include: fellow, British Academy and the Royal Society; member, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences; hon. fellow, London School of Economics and Trinity College, Cambridge, for. hon. member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; for. assoc., US National Academy of Sciences; and for. member, American Philosophical Society and Royal Swedish Academy of Science. His honours include: Volvo Environment Prize (2002), John Kenneth Galbraith Prize of the American Agricultural Economics Association (2007), Zayed International Prize for the Environment (2011), Blue Planet Prize (2015), and Tyler Prize (2016). He was made Knight Bachelor in 2002, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by, among other universities, University of Bologna in 2012 and Harvard University in 2013.

Barma is Professor Emeritus with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at the TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad and former Director of TIFR. After PhD from the State University of New York Stony Brook (1974), he did postdoctoral work at Michigan State University and joined TIFR in 1976. He has worked in the areas of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, phase transitions, and disordered systems. Between 2002-05, he served as chair of the IUPAP C3 Commission on Statistical Physics and is currently a vice president of IUPAP. Honours include: INSA Young Scientist Award; Bhatnagar Prize; Indian Science Congress SN Bose Centenary Medal; Goyal Prize. He is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi), the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), and the National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), and a recipient of the JC Bose Fellowship. He was conferred the Padma Shri by the Govt. of India.