Felix Dapare Dakora is the President of The African Academy of Sciences. He has over 33 years-work experience in Africa and North America where he has been a researcher and has supervised and graduated master’s and doctoral students. His research spans the fixation of biological nitrogen (N 2 ) in legumes and has promised great results. He is currently a Plant and Soil Biotechnology Professor at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria and a National Research Foundation grant holder. Dakora is a recipient of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences; the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award; and is a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He has served on many advisory/scientific committees of major international conferences, including being President of the African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation.

President, Past Dean of the faculty of Informatics and Computer Science, at the British University in Egypt and Prof. of Computer Networks (CN). He is an Emeritus Professor at Ain-Shams University, Computer Systems Department. Prof. Hamad has several posts : Head of Avionics Department (MTC 1992-1996), Vice-Dean for post-graduate affairs, education and student affaires , then environmental affairs (Ain-Shams 1998-2004), Dean of faculty of Information and Computer Science ( October 6 University 2004-2008) , Dean of ICS faculty ( BUE Dec. 2008). His fields of experience: Avionics systems, digital electronics, computer architecture, computer networks, computer graphics, visual information systems, multimedia and digital signal processing. He has published more than 60 papers in international and local conferences, journals and proceedings in different fields of information technology. Prof. Hamad is Vice President of the Egyptian Software Engineering Association (ESEA) - Prof. Ahmed Mohamed Hamad Dean of Faculty of Informatics and Computer Science (ICS) British University in Egypt - IEEE- member (1988) and ACM member (2005).

Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology of the African Union Commission (HRST-AUC)

Mahmoud M. Sakr,President of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) since April2014. He is working actively on restructuring of ASRT with great focus on science, technology and innovation (STI) indicators and policies, benchmarking of national research institutions, empowering of young researchers, science an d society, establishment of national research networks, innovation clusters, knowledge and technological alliances (PPP),, establishment of technological incubators, technology transfer and localization, and deepening of local manufacturing. He supervised the preparation and application of several technological roadmaps and strategic studies, and deeply involved in preparation of Egypt STI strategy 2030.

Prof Ngila joined the AAS on 17th of July 2020 as the Interim ED for 6 months. In her role, provides leadership and strategic direction of AAS’s programmes in order to achieve the Academy’s vision, mission and objectives. She will oversee both the programmatic and operational management of the organization with a focus to sustainably drive the mandate of AAS through the secretariat team, and to represent the academy globally.

Ntoumi has spent the past 15-20 years in developing health research capacities in Africa in general through the Multilateral initiative on Malaria that she led from 2007-2010 and then in Central Africa since 2010 by leading the Central Africa network on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria and the Congolese foundation for medical research in the republic of Congo. She established this institution in the republic of Congo in 2008 and today it is the most efficient (publications and grants record and infrastructure) and organized health research institution in the country.  This leadership has been recognized nationally, regionally and internationally.

She has been highly engaged in promoting and advocating for increased financial support to health research activities conducted in sub-Saharan Africa by African scientists. As a result, her institution has got financial support from the local oil company since 2011. It was the first time in the country to get such support. Most importantly, in 2010 she created the first molecular biology of the unique public university in the republic of Congo and this facility has contributed to train most of the students in health science.

Finally in 2012, her lab has been the first in the country to use the fingerprinting for the identification of individuals (after the explosion that carried out in Brazzaville causing more than 200 deaths).

Dr. Touré obtained his M.Sc. in 1968 from the Agronomic National High School of Rennes (ENSAR), PhD in 1973 from the University of Rennes and held a position of Technical Adviser to the Extinction Department on Education and Training at the Ministry of Agriculture (Morocco).

Over the years, he served in Senegal as Program Leader of the Soil Chemistry and nutrients management program, Director of the national rice research Centre of the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA), Director of the Department of Agricultural and agro-industrial research at the Ministry of Sciences and Technology.

He was the Executive Secretary of the Special Program for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR), Lead specialist for agricultural services  for Africa Region and Team Leader for the Sustainable Land Management Program at the World Bank; Team Leader for land and water resources at the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

He was member of the Executive Committee for the Forum for Agricultural Mechanism (FARA), First Chairman of the Board of Trustees of West African Rice Research and development Association (WARDA), Vice Chairman of the Board of the Trustees of ICIPE and member of the UNDP/FAO scientific and Advisory Committee of locust research. He is a Founding member of the AAS and Fellow of TWAS.

Nyasse is full University Professor of Organic Chemistry with special interests in Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products Chemistry into which, he has published many articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is the Head of the Promotion of Academic Research at the Ministry of Higher Education of Cameroon and Head of the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaounde where is working on selective inhibitors of the glycolytic pathways in the Trypanosomatideae which provoke Sleeping sickness and Chagas Disease. In this context, Nyasse has developed new selective inhibitors with known mechanisms of actions either by synthesis or from extraction from medicinal plants of Cameroon. He serves as a Scientific Adviser to International Foundation for Science (IFS), Scientific Adviser to WHO/TDR & ANDI (African Network for Drug & Diagnostics Innovation), Focal point of GIBEX (Global Institute for BioExploration), Lead Trainer of Trainers of AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development), Consultant to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and OAPI (Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle). Professor Nyasse is also a member of the Adviser committee of PRD College (Poverty-related Diseases) and Global Health Systems; Member of American Chemical Society; Member of European peptide Societ, etc.

Prof De Wet Swanepoel has collaborated on and conducted numerous research studies on using smartphone technologies to provide equitable access to hearing healthcare services, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr Felicitas Zawaira is the Director of the Family and Reproductive Health (FRH) Cluster, a position she was appointed to in July 2015. She leads a team of technical staff working at the Regional Office and in Inter-country support teams in the Areas of Reproductive and Women’s Health; Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition as well as Immunization and Vaccine-preventable diseases.

Felicitas’ professional background is in medicine and she has more than 30 years’ experience of working in the public health arena. She was Director of Maternal and Child health for 7 years and worked as Principal Medical Director for another two years in the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe, coordinating the planning, resourcing and running of preventive and curative services.

Dr Zawaira joined WHO in 1998, working in the country office in Zimbabwe and thereafter in the Regional Office in the areas of HIV and Women’s Health. She has served as Head in the following WHO Country offices: Zanzibar (Tanzania), Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Botswana where she mentored and led WHO teams to produce results.

Felicitas holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and an MD in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Zimbabwe; a Masters in Maternal and Child Health from the University of London and a diploma in Management Methods for International Health from the University of Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr Zawaira is a Member of the Institute of Child Health, London.

Dr John Nkengasong currently serves as the first Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). He is a leading virologist with nearly 30 years of work experience in public health. Prior to his appointment with Africa CDC, he was the Deputy Principal Director (acting) of the Centre for Global Health at the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and Associate Director of Laboratory Science and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch at the Division of Global HIV/AIDS and TB. Earlier in his career (1993 to 1995), Dr Nkengasong worked as Chief of Virology Laboratory at the Collaborating Centre on HIV Diagnostics at the Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium and later joined US CDC in 1994 as Chief of the Virology Laboratory in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Carlos Lopes (born 1960) is a Bissau-Guinean development economist and civil servant. He was executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa from September 2012 to October 2016, and is a visiting fellow at the Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford,and a visiting professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance of the University of Cape Town. In 2018 he was appointed High Representative of the Commission of the African Union.

Lopes took a PhD in history from the Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, and has a research master's degree from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He has honorary doctorates from Hawassa University in Ethiopia and from the Universidade Cândido Mendes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

From 1988, Lopes held various positions with the United Nations. He has been a representative in Brazil and in Zimbabwe, he was director of political affairs in the office of the Secretary-General, he was director for development policy at the United Nations Development Programme, he was director of the United Nations System Staff College and an executive director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. From 2012 to 2016 he was executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Dr Damaris is a molecular biology scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her research interests are in using genomics to understand disease transmission dynamics and inform control strategies. She holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and MSc in Biotechnology. Over the last two years she has been a post-doctoral fellow at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology where her research involved mapping risk factors associated with the emergence and occurrence of visceral leishmaniasis in endemic areas of Kenya. The study focused on understanding vector composition, distribution, vector genetics, parasite screening and characterization in correlation with ecological factors. Prior to this, Damaris’ doctoral studies focused on determining the population genetic structure and insecticide resistance of Anopheles mosquitoes after long-term use of vector control tools in Western Kenya with funding from NIH.

Mary Oyiela Abukutsa-Onyango (born 20 February 1959) is a humanitarian and agricultural scientist from Kenya who specializes in olericulture, agronomy, plant physiology. Abukutsa-Onyango is a professor of horticulture at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology whose work focuses on African indigenous food crops.Abukutsa Onyango has studied how African indigenous vegetables can be used to combat malnutrition in Africa while maintaining a secure form of revenue even during more challenging weather and climate.

Prof. Bahei-El-Din earned his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering in 1972 from Cairo University with distinction and honours. He earned his M.Sc. in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1979 from Duke University at Durham, NC, USA with a major in Civil Engineering and specialty in Solid Mechanics. While a graduate student Prof. Bahei-El-Din worked in several funded projects in composite materials and structures and his Ph.D. was among the first in the U.S. to contribute to constitutive modelling of advanced composites. Before joining BUE in September 2007, Prof. Bahei-El-Din was a tenured professor at Cairo University and visiting professor at Duke University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NC State University and the University of Utah in the USA. Prof. Bahei-El-Din is renowned for his work in composite materials and structures which earned him recognitions and awards from the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt, and NASA and the National Academy of Sciences in the USA. Prof. Bahei-El-Din is the founding director of the Centre for Advanced Materials at BUE.

Prof Diop earned a Third Cycle Doctorate in 1978 from The University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, and a State Doctorate in 1986. He served a yearlong sabbatical as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Division of Biological and Living Resources at The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Miami, Division of Biological and Living Resources, in 1986/87. He is a member of multiple expert and working groups, including at numerous scientific and research institutions. He has published more than 60 peer reviewed articles and seven books as main author or co-author, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize Certificate in 2007 for his contributions to the IPCC. In addition to his research articles, he has also contributed 170 technical documents, research reports, monographs, theses, abstracts and book reviews. He is a University Professor, and has served as one of the Vice-Chairs of the International Lakes Environment Committee Foundation (ILEC) Scientific Committee since November, 2016 and member since Sept 2019 of the High Level Panel Expert Group for a Sustainable Ocean Economy; Sustainable Ocean Initiative of the World Resources Institute. He was named a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and Techniques of Senegal in 2006, a Member of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) in 2009 and a Member of The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Sciences in the Developing Countries (TWAS) in October 2010.

Mrs. Mary Chinery- Hesse is the first female Chancellor of Ghana’s Premier University, the University of Ghana, succeeding Late Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations.

A product of London University, University of Ghana, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland, and the World Bank Institute, she has had distinguished careers in Ghana’s Civil Service and at the United Nations. She continues to be an important voice on economic development issues, an ardent defender of human rights, particularly women’s rights and gender equality, as well as an advocate for African imperatives, mediation and conflict resolution.

She was Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, the first woman to be appointed Deputy Director-General of the ILO, a position with the rank of Under Secretary-General of the United Nations. This gave her the distinction of being the first African woman to attain a position of Under Secretary-General in the history of the United Nations.

She served as Resident Representative of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in several Countries, before her ILO appointment.

On her retirement from the United Nations, Mary Chinery – Hesse was appointment as the Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana in the Cabinet of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

John G. Hildebrand is the Foreign Secretary of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He earned his A.B. degree at Harvard University and his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University. Following faculty service at Harvard Medical School (1969-80) and Columbia University (1980-85), he moved to the University of Arizona in Tucson as founding Head (1985-2013) of the Department of Neuroscience in the College of Science.

Mohamed H A Hassan is President of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Italy and the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS), Sudan; Chairman of the Governing Council of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries, Turkey and Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for International Development (ZEF), Germany.

He also serves on a number of Boards of international organizations worldwide, including the Board of Directors of Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), the Board of Trustees of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt; the Council of Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum, Japan. He was President of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP); founding Executive Director of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS); founding President of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC); Chairman of the Council of the United Nations University (UNU); and Chairman of the Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. After obtaining his DPhil in Mathematics from the University of Oxford he returned to Sudan as Lecturer in the University of Khartoum, and later became Professor and Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences. He has a long list of publications in Theoretical Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy; Wind Erosion, Dust and Sand Transport in Dry Lands. He also published several articles on STI in the Developing World. He is a member of several meritbased academies of science, including, TWAS, African Academy of Sciences, Islamic World Academy of Sciences, Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Belgium, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of Lebanon; Cuban Academy of Sciences; Academy of Science of South Africa and Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Mahouton Norbert Hounkonnou is a full Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the  University of Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin. His works deal with noncommutative and nonlinear mathematics including differential equations, operator theory, coherent states, quantization techniques, orthogonal polynomials, special functions, graph theory, nonassociative algebras, nonlinear systems, noncommutative field theories and geometric methods in Physics.

He is co-author and reviewer of books, referee and associate editor for renowned journals in mathematics, mathematical physics and theoretical physics. He has published more than 150 main refereed papers in outstanding ISI-ranked journals and international conference proceedings in the fields of mathematics, mathematical physics and theoretical physics.

He is a visiting professor at African, Asian, European and North American Universities.

Professor Marcel Jaspars first joined the University of Aberdeen in 1995. His research interests are in the discovery, understanding and use of natural chemical compounds from a range of sources, including reef organisms, deep-sea bacteria and desert microorganisms. He has developed methods to rapidly define the structure of these complex molecules and is working to understand why and how they are produced. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Professor Francisca Mutapi, is an award winning international Global Health Researcher and Leader. She is a professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity, co-Director of the Global Health Academy and Deputy Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit TIBA (Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa), an Africa-led research and training partnership focusing on infectious diseases, at the University of Edinburgh, where is also the Principal’s Senior Advisor on Africa. She holds honorary positions at the Universities of Oxford and Kwazulu Natal. She conducts and leads basic scientific research that has had an extraordinary impact on the policy, practice and control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) globally.  She has contributed to shaping national and global NTD policies by working closely with the WHO, African Union and local governments, impacting millions of lives. She is helping shape research and training in Africa through independent advisory boards. She sits on several advisory bodies including the WHO Africa Regional Director’s Advisory Board, the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (formerly DFID) Science Advisory Group, the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund Strategic Advisory Group, board of Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, Wel