Dr. Armelle Tsamo Tontsa is a lecturer of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon. She obtained her BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Organic Chemistry from the University of Yaounde 1 in 2007, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Her research interests focus on two main areas: the search for bioactive metabolites from medicinal plants and microorganisms to improve the therapy for parasitic and neglected tropical diseases; and the study of metabolite profiles and nutraceutical potentials of African under-utilized legumes, thereby contributing to their improved consumption and the provision of home-grown solutions to food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa. Her research efforts to date, have led to the publication of more than 20 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. She has so far, disseminated her research findings at more than 10 international and national conferences. Her research achievements have been recognised through the award of prestigious fellowships and awards: Canadian Commonwealth Exchange Program grant, South Africa National Research Foundation grant, and the German Academic Exchange Service for doctoral students and University Academics and Scientists. She assists in the supervision of postgraduate students. Dr TSAMO is a member of various chemical societies and professional organisations including the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and Cameroonian Professional Oriented Women Network (CaPROWN). She is a reviewer for the journal Natural product research, Food research international, Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization and Journal of Agricultural Food and Chemistry.

Dr. Behailu Birhanu is a hydrogeologist based at  Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. He is currently an African Fellow in Groundwater Management at Addis Ababa University in collaboration with the University Oxford under the REACH (water security for the poor) program. Recently, he has tested a data-intensive methodological approach on dynamic integration of surface and groundwater systems by using Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) and three-dimensional groundwater flow (MODFLOW) models. The methodology was applied to simulate the water supply sources of Addis Ababa city, in which impacts of natural (climate change/variability) and anthropogenic stresses (population, water supply expansion schemes) have been evaluated.

Behailu has served as Head, the School of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (Hawassa University, Wondo Genet Collge of Forestry and Natural Resources); Dean, the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering (Addis Ababa Science and Technology University); GIS unit coordinator (Geological Survey of Ethiopia); and Dean, College of Applied Sciences (Addis Ababa Science and Technology University).

As a researcher, he had a chance to be part of national and international level tasks namely: boosting integrated rural water development (funded by Austrian Red Cross), identifying and characterizing groundwater development pathways in Africa to improve the livelihood of small scale farmers (funded by DIFID); evaluating water resources pollution and environmental policy issues, (funded by SOS Sahle); intrinsic vulnerability mapping of groundwater resources (Funded by Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Electricity, Basin Development Authority).

Dr. Binyam Tesfaw Hailu is an Assistant Professor of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics at the school of Earth Sciences, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University (Jan 2016 to Date). He graduated with Ph.D. in geoinformatics from the University of Helsinki, Finland in January 2016 and has an MSc and BSc Degrees from Addis Ababa University in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) (July 2007) and Geology (July 2007), respectively. From November 2017 to February 2020, he was a Georg Forster Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Geo-informatics through the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Marburg, Germany. As an assistant professor: 1) he teaches core courses of Remote Sensing, GIS, Cartography, Spatial programming; 2) Advising thesis works of graduate students (both Masters and doctoral students); 3) Participating in research projects that could be solved through Geoinformatics. His research interest focusses on Remote Sensing and Geographic Information for applications to Geo-sciences, vegetation, and environmental sciences. Currently, he is Principal Investigator (PI) of the two projects i) Bale Mountains project entitled "The Mountain Exile Hypothesis" funded by German Research Foundation: DFG Research unit 2358: https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb19/dfg2358 (2016 to 2023) and ESSA:  Earth observation and environmental sensing for climate-smart sustainable agropastoral ecosystem transformation in East Africa: https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/desira/wiki/essa-east-africa (2020 to 2024). Personal Web links

Dr. Bridget Mutuma is a Lecturer/Research Scientist at the School of Pure and Applied Sciences in Kirinyaga University, Kenya. She has a BSc. degree in Analytical Chemistry from Kenyatta University, (Kenya, 2009), an MSc degree in Material Science and Engineering from Kangwon National University (South Korea, 2013) and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Witwatersrand (South Africa, 2016). Dr Mutuma has extensive postdoctoral experience in nanomaterials, sensor technology and energy storage systems. Her research interest is on the development of core-shell nanostructures/carbon-based nanomaterials and their application in gas sensors, solar cells, supercapacitors and photocatalysis. In particular, she has pioneered research in the design and use of hollow carbons as gas sensing materials. Her current research entails the generation of core-shell nanostructures for the design of gas and electrochemical sensors. Her research findings have been published in over 30 peer-reviewed articles and presented in several national and international conferences. In the last few years, she has mentored and co-supervised BSc Honours, MSc and PhD students in the area of nanotechnology and materials chemistry. Dr Mutuma has been a member of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA); Solar energy project, South African Chemical Society, and the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat). Due to her research achievements, she has received several awards and fellowships; ACS PITTCON travel grant (USA, 2020), CNPq Visiting PhD Research Fellowship (Brazil, 2016), Penny Huddle Memorial Award (Witwatersrand University, 2015) and the Korean Government Scholarship Award (South Korea, 2010), among others.

Dr. Chahir Zaki is a citizen of Egypt. At present, Chahir is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. In this position, Chahir teaches and conducts research on trade policy and macroeconomics. He is also the Director of the French section at the faculty. Chahir works also for the Economic Research Forum (Cairo, Egypt) as a Lead Economist (part-time) and as a consultant for several international organizations (the World Bank, the International Labor Office and the International Trade Center). He holds a B.A. in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, an M.A. in Economics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. He has written numerous studies published in refereed journals on international trade, trade policy, trade in services, applied economics and macroeconomic modeling.

Dr. Charlotte Ndiribe is a plant phylogenetic ecologist. She is a Lecturer in Ecology in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She Studied Botany (BSc. Ife), Biodiversity and Conservation (MSc. Leeds), and Phylogenetic Ecology (Ph.D. Lausanne). She has conducted several research projects on plant biodiversity assessments, and on plant ecology and evolution in the context of environmental change, in different parts of the world. She recently completed a postdoctoral visiting research work at the Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, where with about thirty researchers, she spearheaded initial investigations into the phylogenetic and functional structure of grassland communities in Europe.

Dr. Ndiribe is a collaborator with experts on various plant-related projects both locally and internationally. As a plant ecologist in fascination with the natural world, her broader research centers on the utility of plant species, in all ramifications as the source of life on earth. In this context, their role in carbon sequestration, herbs and medicines, industry, and other invaluable ecosystem services. She has supervised several undergraduate and postgraduate students. She  relaxes  through writing, especially by allowing her knowledge of ecology filter into her literary works. She has published several scientific articles in high-rank internationally visible journals, including a botany textbook, a spatial ecology software, two poetry books, and a fictional collection of short stories. Dr. Ndiribe is a member of many professional associations, such as the British Ecological Society (BES), Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), and is a life fellow of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF). She currently serves as the secretary of a critical working group of the African Standard Organization (ARSO) for the advancement of African Traditional Medicine (ATM) on the continent.

Dr Oluwafemi Adeagbo is an applied socio-behavioural scientist with an academic background in multiple social science disciplines (B.A [Hons] Philosophy, M.A in Migration Studies, and PhD in Sociology. He is a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University College London, UK. He is currently a research fellow at the Center for Healthcare Quality (CHQ) in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, Behaviour at the University of South Carolina, United States. He has won several research awards/grants and was recently recognized by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) as a rated researcher under the young promising researcher category. Femi has an extensive research experience working collaboratively with both local and international institutions on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment projects in rural and urban South Africa. He is interested in gender and sexualities, socio-behavioural aspect of health, research methods & ethics – with experience and expertise in global health, gender relations, LGBT/queer studies, health promotion, mHealth/telehealth interventions, HIV/AIDS prevention & treatment, implementation science, and evaluation of complex interventions.

Dr. Christopher Larbie is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the Coordinator for Graduate Programmes in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Department. He holds a BSc and Ph.D. in Biochemistry focusing on pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of medicinal plants for managing drug-induced liver injury from the KNUST.

He was a Fulbright African Research post-doctoral scientist at the National Centre for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi, USA, from December 2018 to May 2019 under the Distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy, Prof. Dr. Ikhlas A. Khan. He is the PI of the HepatoRenal group and Oxidative Stress Laboratory of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology. His research interest is in drug-induced liver and kidney infections using in vitro and in vivo techniques to identify medicinal plants and neglected indigenous fruits and spices with a potential of protective and curative effects on animal models of liver and kidney infections.

His research interests further include the development of animal models for diabesity (coexistence of diabetes and obesity), site-specific cancers, and clinical evaluation of characterized medicinal products for human diseases. Experimental techniques employed include phytochemical screening for natural products, haematological and biochemical assessment, histological and immunohistochemical assessment of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. He has trained over thirty (30) postgraduate students (Ph.D., MPhil, MSc) in Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Human Nutrition and over sixty (60) undergraduate students with research funding from the KNUST Research Fund, support from mentors, and other personal sources. Dr. Larbie has contributed to over 50 research papers and presented papers at several national and a few international conferences. He is passionate about mentoring the next generation of medicinal plant biochemists and is proud of his past students who are also university teachers, scientists, and in other Universities at various stages of doctoral and post-doctoral programmes.

Dr Shumba is a Faculty Member at the Department of Population Health and School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya since May 2020. She is a global health expert and is passionate about breaking down the barriers that marginalized women and girls face in leading healthy and dignified lives. She believes in upholding the health-related rights of women, girls and children, through contextually sensitive approaches that address drivers at the individual, community and system levels. She holds a PhD and MSc in Global Health from Queen Margaret University, Institute for Global Health and Development, Edinburgh, Scotland, a Doctor of Literature and Philosophy, Health Studies, University of South Africa, and BSc, Health Education and Health Promotion, University of Zimbabwe

Dr Shumba has worked with several global health agencies in Africa and Asia for the last 16 years, leading the design and delivery of complex health and nutrition programs. She has several peer reviewed publications, and is currently supervising three PhD students. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, UK. Her research interests include the design and delivery of complex high quality and scalable interventions for various health priorities and vulnerable populations in fragile settings. She is interested in the application of health systems theories and frameworks to understand how various health service and program models can promote health and well-being, and inform policy and practice.

Cynthia N. Ibeto is an Associate Professor at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). In 2010, she obtained her PhD (Analytical Chemistry) from UNN. She was an Academic Research Fellow of the National Centre for Energy Research and Development, UNN (2008 - 2016) and worked extensively on optimization of production processes and analysis of biofuels. She is an Environmental/Analytical Chemist, has assessed a variety of persistent organic pollutants and is working on adding value to waste materials via bioremediation. She is a member of the UKRI Peer Review College and has received a number of scholarships/awards notably; Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund, Developing World Scholarship 2014; Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship award 2016/2017 and Royal Society of Chemistry Research Mobility Grant 2020. She is the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists Awardee representing Argon for the celebration of IUPAC 100 and International Year of the Periodic Table (2019). She received a Gold Award of Excellence (2019) and Fellowship Award (2020) for significant contributions to Chemical Society of Nigeria and the Chemistry profession. She has served in different capacities as Vice Chairman, Enugu State Chapter - Chemical Society of Nigeria (CSN) (2014-2018) and Technical Secretary (Editor-in-Chief/Technical Editor) Solar Energy Society of Nigeria (2013-2017). She is the Coordinator, Women in Chemistry (Nigeria); Vice-Chairman, Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, UNN and Faculty Advisor, American Chemical Society, UNN Chapter. She has served as Chair of various Scientific Committees, attended many International Conferences, supervised several postgraduate students and co-authored over fifty publications.

Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera is Principal Research Scientist at Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), an adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), and a Wellcome Trust International Intermediate Fellow (2020-2024). Lwetoijera graduated with a PhD in Medical entomology from Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine in 2016, and currently pursuing MBA International Health at Swiss-TPH.

Within 13 years of experience in malaria vectors control research, he has made notable contribution that include: - 34 peer reviewed publications; participated in institutional fund raising of 4.2 million USD; and reviewed over 30 research manuscripts submitted for publication international peer review journals within 5 years after PhD; An Editorial board member of Frontiers in sustainable cities Journal, and Deputy head of Training and Capacity Building department at IHI.

Lwetoijera research interest focuses on alternative vector control tools with potential to target mosquitoes outdoors. Specifically, he is focused on autodissemination technique, genetic based technologies for mosquito control, innovative solutions for malaria control through house improvement. Most importantly, he aspires to establish local and international collaboration around these research themes with potential to foster his career growth and catalyse generation of data-driven solutions.

As the deputy head of training, Lwetoijera coordinates and facilitates the postgraduate training, and has been leading institutional efforts that aim at mentoring and empowering staff with effective finance and project management skills, research communication skills and personal development planning. Lwetoijera is an AREF fellow, a member of PAMCA, BOVA and Gene Drive Networks, and International Society for Urban Health.

Dr. Eleanor Ochodo-Opondo is a medical doctor and research scientist. She currently holds a joint appointment as a senior researcher at the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care in Stellenbosch University, South Africa and as an assistant principal research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya. Her research interests revolve around evidence-informed health care with a focus on diagnostic tests-their accuracy, impact and how their results can be translated to policy and practice. She serves as a methodologist/consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) informing evidence review groups preparing guidelines on HIV and TB diagnostic testing and Covid-19. The National Research Foundation of South Africa recognized her as a promising young researcher in 2018 and nominated her for the 2020 Annual HOPE meeting with Nobel Laureates. She was recently awarded the prestigious 2019 UK MRC/DFID African Research Leader award and 2020 UK NIHR developmental award to advance the science of evidence synthesis and research translation in Africa focusing on collaboration between South Africa, Kenya and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK. In addition, she has been a lead investigator for previous research funded by the Wellcome Trust, WHO and Stellenbosch University. She serves as an academic editor with the Cochrane collaboration (infectious diseases group) and is on the editorial board of PLOS One journal. She supervises MSc and PhD students in Kenya and South Africa and is a past fellow of the African Science Leadership Programme.