Dr. Tongmin Sa is a Professor of Agricultural Chemistry Department at Chungbuk National University, South Korea and a Full Member of the Korean Academy of Science & Technology (KAST). He had served as the President of The Korean Society of Soil Science & Fertilizer (KSSSF) and the Dean of College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the International Scientific Center for Fertilizer (CIEC), Asia. He has written 24 book chapters and published over 350 articles in prestigious journals including a recent publication in Nature Reviews Microbiology. He had supervised over 91 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from many countries. He had attained his undergraduate B.S. and post-graduate M.S. degrees from Seoul National University, and a doctoral degree in soil science from North Caroline State University. His expertise lies in investigating the mechanisms of microbe-mediated plant growth promotion and biofertilizer development. He is also recognized for researches on plant-microbe interaction study and microbial diversity changes in agricultural soils under environmental stress conditions. His ongoing research interest include the mechanism underlying the interaction between ACC deaminase producing bacteria and plant ethylene emission for enhancing tolerance against abiotic stresses. His research group is also working in developing potential bioinoculants for alleviation of heat and UV-B radiation stresses on rice plants. He has also collaborated with other well-known international scientists for studying the microbial community profiles associated with major food crops grown around the globe. This will enable the global scientific community to understand the effect of eco-geographical distribution of plant-microbiome and engineer efficient bioinoculants for better crop productivity.

Dr. Udai B. Singh, presently working as Scientist (Plant Pathology) at ICAR-NBAIM, Kushmaur, India. His main research areas are: plant pathology, molecular biology, and biotic and abiotic stress management. Dr. Singh has worked on several GoI sponsored projects as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator and disseminated microbial products/technologies among the farming community. He has developed several microbial bioformulations/technologies for disease management and sustainable crop production. Among them, Bio Pulse, Eco-Pesticide, Green Fungicide, Eco-Green Fungicide, Vardan-1 and Trishool have been validated at KVKs, ICAR-Institutes and farmers fields against seed- and soil-borne diseases of chickpea, lentil, tomato, rice, maize and wheat. He has developed Rapo-composter and standardized the composting techniques using lingo-cellulolytic microbial inoculants for faster decomposition. Apart from this, Dr. Singh has developed comprehensive web-based portal and database which contain information pertaining to microbial culture deposited in NAIMCC, ICAR-NBAIM and provide an interactive platform for easy access of the information on deposited AIMs. Dr. Singh has published 3 books, several research and review articles in the journal of international and national reputes, 20 book chapters, 30 popular articles 6 training manuals, 20 extension folders/leaflets, and 80 abstracts. Dr. Singh is recipient of DST Young Scientist under Fast-Track Scheme, Young Scientist awards, Scientist of the Year Award-2020, Young Achiever award-2020, Best Researcher Award-2020, K.P.V. Menon and Prof. K.S. Bilgrami Best Poster Award and Shri Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Krishi Patrika Puraskar’ of ICAR, New Delhi. Dr. Singh is Fellow of Society for Applied Biotechnology. Dr. Singh has guided 15 M.Sc. and one Ph.D. students. Presently, he is also performing the duties of a curator (Fungi) at NAIMCC, ICAR-NBAIM, Mau.

Dr. S. Krishna Sundari, presently serving as Professor in the Biotechnology Department of JIIT, NOIDA. She has 20 years of Academics & Research experience, working at places of National & International repute such as Teri (The Energy and Resources institute), New Delhi; Institute Nationale Recherche Agronomie (INRA), Champenoux, France; and brief work assignments at ENSAIA, France; Universitae Henrie Poincare, France, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. Educational institutes where worked earlier include Institute of Applied Medicines and Research (IAMR), Ghaziabad, Institute of Home Economics (IHE), New Delhi, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi and Teri – SAS, New Delhi. Krishna Sundari has earned Masters in Life Sciences (specialization in Plant sciences) from Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Hyderabad. Having qualified CSIR-NET, she started her research career with Teri (The Energy and Resources Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi) and obtained Doctorate in Microbiology from Barkatullah University, Bhopal. She has done her Post-Doctoral research at the Europe’s top agricultural research institute and the world’s number two centre for the agricultural sciences namely INRA situated in Chapenoux, France. She harbors research Interest in the area of Microbial Biotechnology with applications for Agriculture, Environment & Industry. She has successfully taken up projects worth more than 2 crores funded by DBT, Govt. of India. She has published nearly 25 papers in international refereed journals and has more than 50 papers in different International & National conferences and book chapters. Prof. Krishna holds membership in international scientific societies such as: International Mycorrhiza Society (CMR, Teri, New Delhi), American Society of Microbiology (ASM, Washington DC), Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI), and presently serving as Exec. Vice President for Asian PGPR Society, Auburn, USA.

Corné Pieterse (1964) is Professor of Plant-Microbe Interactions and Scientific Director of the Institute of Environmental Biology of the Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His research group investigates how the plant immune system protects plants against microbial pathogens and insect herbivores, and how beneficial microbes in the plant root microbiome stimulate plant growth and health. Current research is focused on plant-beneficial functions that are encoded by the root microbiome, the role of plant genes and metabolites (coumarins) that aid in maximizing profitable functions from the root microbiome, and crosstalk between plant defense hormones. With his research he aims to contribute to grand societal challenges, such as food security and sustainable agriculture. In 2010, he was awarded an ERC Advanced Investigator grant by the European Research Council. In 2013 he was elected as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Since 2014 he is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher (World’s top 1% in the field). Nationally and internationally, he fosters plant microbiome research.

Harsh P. Bais (1972) is Associate Professor of Plant and Soil Interface, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, USA. His research group is working on plant-microbe interactions. He was nominated for several awards and honours that include UD Excellence in Diversity Award, UD Excellence in Teaching and Advising Award and CANR Excellence in Teaching and Advising Award. He had published several research papers in peer reviewed journal as well as recipient of shining world research award for the best paper in 2008.

Dr. Dweipayan Goswami is working as Assistant Professor at Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University School of Sciences, Gujarat University Ahmedabad. Recepient of UGC-CSIR SRF at Dept. of biotechnology, P.D.P.I.A.S., CHARUSAT since October-2014 till June-2015. He completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Gujarat University. His works involves plant microbe interaction and studying its microbial metabolites.He did his Ph.D. in Biotechnology, from Department of Biotechnology, P.D.P.I.A.S., CHARUSAT, Changa. Honoured with Joseph Gracis Research Fellowship Award and gold medal for being the part of UGC Research program 2009. He has also qualified CSIR NET LS. He has several papers in high impact journals and also contributed in writing book chapters. He has presented his work in many national and international conferences.

Dr. Harikesh Bahadur Singh Distinguished Professor, Biotechnology, GLA University, Mathura and also Director, Somvanshi Research Foundation, Lucknow, India. Prior to this assignment he served as a Professor at Banaras Hindu University (2006-2019) and Head from Oct. 2014-Sept.2017. His work is in the field of Plant Pathology at different institutions in different capacities (Lecturer, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Associate Professor at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pant Nagar; Scientist, CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow, Senior Scientist & Head, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, India). Honoured with 22 National and International prestigious awards including the CSIR Award for S&T Innovation for Rural Development (CAIRD), New Delhi in recognition of excellent work on the Plant Growth-Promoting Microbial Bioinoculants for enhanced crop productivity by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India (2012), CSIR Technology Award (1999), Industrial Medal Award-BRSI (2007), Vigyan Ratna Award-CSTUP (2012), Panchanan Maheshwari Medal-IBS (2011), Mundkur Memorial Award-IPS (2015), M.S. Swaminathan Award (2016), Dr. C. N. R. Rao Award-BHU (2017), Life time Achievement award for Herbal Crop Protection by V. S. Research Foundation (2018). Guided 24 students for Ph.D., six Post-Doctoral, two Women Scientists and 29 M.Sc.(Ag.) students. Established fruitful research collaborations with academic and industry researchers and published jointly with national and international collaborators in high impact journals and obtained 19 patents (USA, Canada, PCT and 6 Indian patents filed) and five technologies were commercialized. Published >300 research papers, 40 review articles, 81 book chapters, 32 edited books (published by CABI, UK, Springer Nature, Singapore, Elsevier, Netherlands).

Enrique Monte is Professor of Microbiology in the Spanish-Portuguese Institute for Agricultural Research of the University of Salamanca, in Spain. He is a pioneer of Trichoderma biological control. In 1986 he read the first PhD thesis on this subject in Spain and obtained the registration of the first commercial product with Trichoderma as active ingredient in Spain and one of the first four in Europe. He is author of 7 books, 45 book chapters, 116 articles in SCI journals and has also filled 27 patents. His group is an international leader in the Trichoderma-plant molecular cross-talk and is exploring new approaches to unveil the Trichoderma-triggered heritable effects on plant growth and defense. He is listed in Stanford's "World's Top 2% Scientists" Ranking of the most influential researchers in their field worldwide and now he is interested in helping others to make the right decisions when selecting and applying biocontrol agents, and understanding how biocontrol and biostimulants work.

Dr. Shraddha Gang is a competent microbiologist working on soil plant-microbe ecosystem. She completed her Masters and PhD from Gujarat University. Being a gold medalist in Masters, she received DST INSPIRE fellowship during her doctoral study. In 2017, she was selected as research associate in Department of life sciences, Imperial College London where she worked on molecular mechanisms underlying biofilm formation in soil-plant-microbe ecosystem. During this tenure she also achieved UKIERI-British council grant, BBSRC-GCRF-IAA grant at Imperial College London and obtained Gregory fund, UK to deliver standard talk at Eco summit 2016, Montpellier, France She has also published high impact research papers in her field.

Rodrigo Mendes is Head of the Research and Development Department at Embrapa Environment, Jaguariuna, Brazil, and works as principal investigator at the Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology. Mendes is an Agronomist with a PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding obtained from the University of Sao Paulo. He was a Postdoc fellow at the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands, and visiting researcher at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, United States, at the Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom, and at the Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Mendes is executive secretary of the international research program "Back to the Roots", and his studies focus on the interactions of complex microbial communities to understand how the rhizosphere microbiome sustains plant growth and health.

Dr.Annapurna is the Head, Division of Microbiology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India. She obtained her M.Sc. (1982) and Ph.D. (1986) degrees in Microbiology from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India. She has been a pioneer researcher in the field of molecular ecology of legume - Rhizobium symbiosis, Azospirillum, Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and initiated work on soybean rhizobial genetic diversity. She has successfully developed a PCR based diagnostic marker for rapid detection of soybean Bradyrhizobium.Her research initiatives on WGS for symbiotic (Bradyrhizobium yuanmingense KAS-1) and free-living diazotrophs; Pseudomonas stutzeri KMS 55, Bacillus paralicheniformis KMS 80 and Azotobacter chroococcum W5 have opened possibilities for enhancing the N2-fixation potential through biotechnological interventions. Another diazotroph Azotobacter chroococcum HKD 15 strain with an ability to fix N2 constitutively has been developed, which has a great environmental, agronomical and economic significance.Her research into endophytes and soil metagenomics have identified potent biocontrol agents and genes coding for different antibiotics.Under her guidance, application of biofertilizers in unconventional crops has increased especially VAM. She is In Charge for Mass multiplication of VAM in the division. This is proving a viable technology for Protected Cultivation. She is instrumental in commercializing the Biofertilizer Technology in the Division of Microbiology and to-date, the various technologies have been licensed to over 25 companies from IARI, India. She has guided 26 M.Sc. and Ph.D. students and has been PI for many DBT, DST and ICAR funded research programs. She has also been investigator of Indo-Australian, Indo-UK, Indo-US and Indo-German collaborative research projects. She is recipient of IARI Best Teacher Award (for excellence in Teaching), DBT Recognition for Women Leaders in Biosciences, Women Leadership Award by Indian Chapter of Asian PGPR Society, Endeavour Executive Award (Australia), INSA Award (INSA, India), Award for Excellence in PGPR Research (Asian PGPR Society for Sustainable Agriculture) and Eminent Scientist Award (DRASS). She is Fellow of Microbiologist Society of India (FAMSc) and recipient of “Life Time Achievement Award from VIWA (2021). She has edited books on Microbial and Eco-friendly Solutions.

Dr Alok Adholeya Leads The Team On Mycorrhizal Research, Micropropagation Technology, Nanobiotechnlogy And Plant Tissue Culture And Molecular Biology. Dr Adholeya's Career Has Been Largely Devoted To _nding And Developing Ways To Harness The Power Of Microbes, Particularly Mycorrhizae, To Increase The Productivity Of Crop Plants And To Restore Degraded And Industrial Overburden Lands. Dr Adholeya Has Chaired Numerous Advisory Committees On Agriculture And Bioremediation And Is An Invited Speaker At Many International Forums. Currently, He Chairs A Major Task Force On Biological Agents In The Department Of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry Of Science And Technology, Government Of India, Besides Being Member Of The Nanobiotechnology Taskforce In DBT. His Work Has Been Published In Over 170 Research Papers In Reputed National And International Journals And He Is Also A Member Of The Editorial Boards Of Many Of These Journals. He Has Guided 22 Doctoral Students And Many Masters' Students To Date And Has Been An Honorary Professor Of Deakin University, Australia Since March 2010. Many Awards And Honours Have Come His Way, Such As The Young Scientist Award In 1999, And The Biotech Product And Process Development And Commercialization Award 2004 By The Ministry Of Science And Technology, Government Of India. Dr Adholeya Is A Ph.D From The Department Of Microbiology, GB Pant University Of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar And Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India And A Post-Doctoral Fellow At United States Department Of Agriculture, Philadelphia, USA. He Also Worked As Director, Product And Technology Development In Mycorrhizal Applications, Oregon, USA, Between 2014 And 2017.

Professor Tofazzal Islam is an internationally reputed researcher in molecular plant-microbe interactions and agricultural biotechnology. His team uses both classical and frontier research methods for dissecting molecular cross-talks between plant and associated microorganisms. He obtained B.Sc.Ag. (Hons.) and M.Sc.(Ag.) degrees from Bangladesh Agricultural University securing first position in the first class in both the cases. He did MS and PhD at Hokkaido University, Japan. Dr Islam conducted postdoctoral research at Hokkaido University, University of Goettingen (Germany), University of Nottingham (UK) and West Virginia University (USA) under the fellowship programs of JSPS, Alexander von Humboldt, Commonweath and Fulbright, respectively. Prof. Islam discovered a large number (>50) of bioactive secondary metabolites from the host and non-host organisms that are involved in chemotaxis, motility behavior, differentiation, and biorational management of economically important oomycete phytopathogens (e.g., Phytophthora, Aphanomyces, Plasmopara) and fungi. Another important area of his research accomplishment is the discovery of probiotic bacteria and their applications in sustainable agriculture and industry. He has been leading a large group of national and international researchers for the mitigation of worrisome wheat blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Trticum since its first epidemic outbreak in Bangladesh in 2016 using genomics, genome editing and other advanced molecular approaches. He collaborated Prof. Sophien Kamoun, FRS and led many international scientists to rapidly determine the origin of wheat blast in Bangladesh and developed a convenient method for the diagnosis of wheat blast fungus using Cas12a and gRNA. He advocates and practices open data sharing, open science and international collaborative approaches for tackling the plant health emergencies (such as wheat blast) associated with global food security. He is the Editor-in-Chief of two series books, Bacilli and Agrobiotechnology, and CRISPR-Cas Methods that publish by Springer Nature. An elected Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (FBAS), Prof. Islam received by many awards, prizes and medals including a Gold Medal of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, UGC Research Awards, Commonwealth Innovation Award (UK), Transformer Road Show Innovation Award from Islamic Development Bank and among others for his outstanding academic and research accomplishments. He published more than 250 articles in international journals and books with 4,200+ citations (h-index 36, i10-index 97; and RG Score 43.86).

Prof. Hesham Ali El Enshasy is the current Director of Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD), and professor in bioprocess engineering, school of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Chair for Food Division 15A (2016-2017) AIChE, and the current co-Chair for Food, Pharmaceutical& Bio-Engineering Division, Division 15A (Food), American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE). Before joining UTM, he was the assistant director of City for Scientific Research for Research Institutes Affairs (Alexandria, Egypt). Prof. El Enshasy received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology (Ain Shams University, Egypt), Dr. rer. Nat. in Industrial Biotechnology (TU Braunschweig, Germany 1998), M.Sc. Technology Management (UTM, Malaysia). He is also visiting guest professor and honor guest professor to many world class universities in USA, Germany, China, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Algeria. He established many research and industrial platforms for the industrial production of different bioactive metabolites using microbial, mammalian and plant cells in many universities, research institutes and companies. Prof. El Enshasy is active as editorial board member in many scientific journal and he is currently the Editor-in-Chief for Bioscience Biotechnology Research Asia (BBRA). He is also the current editor of book series Industrial Biotechnology (CRC Press, USA). Prof. El Enshasy has more than 250 publications in peer reviewed international journals, book Chapters, and books. He was also invited as keynote, plenary, and guest speaker in more than 70 international conferences in field of industrial biotechnology and BioEconomy.

Dilfuza Egamberdieva is head of Research Joint Lab “Ecosystem and Biomes”, National University of Uzbekistan, Fellow of the Global Young Academy. She pioneered research on the plant and soil microbiome, plant microbe interactions, demonstrating that microbes can be used as a source of natural bioactive compounds, biostimulators, and biological control agents as alternatives to agrochemical. She received her MSc in Microbiology and chemistry from the National University of Uzbekistan and her PhD in Agricultural biotechnology from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany in 2000. She conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Helsinki University of Finland, University of Florence, Italy, at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and as well as Leiden University of Netherlands. She was awarded the SCOPUS-2019 Award “Top Scientist of the Year”, TWAS (The World Academy of Science) Award in Agricultural Sciences (2013). TWAS-TWOWS-SCOPUS Young Women Research Award (2009), L’OREAL-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science (2006), American Society of Microbiology, (ASM) Morrison Rogosa Award (2006), UNESCO-Man and Biosphere (MAB) Award (2005), The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) Young scientist Award (2003). Moreover she received several Fellowships such as President’s International Fellowship for Visiting Professors (PIFI), The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), GEORG FORSTER Research Fellowships, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and German Academic Exchange Program (DAAD). Dilfuza Egamberdieva is also involved in Science Policy and she served on the advisory committee of German Council of Science and Humanities (WR), The Internationalization of German Research and Higher Education Institutions (2017-2018). In 2018, she has been appointed to serve on The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) (2018-2019). This year she was appointed as National Focal Point Representative to the UNESCO-STEPAN (Science and Technology Policy Asian Network) and Board Committee member (2021-2023), as well as an Ambassador of American Society of Microbiology (ASM) to Uzbekistan, (2021-2023). She is a member of several journals’ editorial board, authored six books, and co-authored over 200 publications.

Prof. Martin Romantschuk received his PhD at the University of Helsinki in 1987. He is Professor of Environmental Biotechnology at University of Helsinki and now leads a research group of 8 scientists. The research deals with both basic and applied aspects of environmental biotechnology. One major research topic has been the microbiology of composting including determination of reasons for plant disease suppressiveness in some composts. This issue has been studied in both Finland and in India in collaboration with local research groups. He has supervised 28 PhD theses and published over 130 scientific articles in international scientific periodicals and a number of other scientific publications and book chapters. He is a member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.

Dr. Gupta Vadakattu investigates on aspects of genetic diversity, functional capability and resilience of soil biota in agricultural soils and functional microbial diversity of aquifer systems, specifically genetic, functional and environmental regulators of biological disease suppression in soils, Host-Microbiome interactions, microbial and edaphic factors regulating free-living nitrogen fixation in annual and perennial crops and turnover to carbon, nutrients and biological health of soils. Dr Gupta Vadakattu joined CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra in 1989 following his PhD and postdoctoral studies at University of Saskatchewan in Canada. In Adelaide, he worked with the CRC for Soil and Land Management (1993-98) on microbial-protozoan interactions and their effects on microbial diversity and biological functions. Dr Vadakattu's research showed the significance of maintaining resilient biological functions including N supply and disease suppression in the low-fertility Mallee soils for sustainable production and environmental health. His research was the first to elucidate the exposure pathways for Bt-proteins with soil biota and contributed scientific evidence to the debate on benefits and risks from GM plants in Australian agricultural systems. Dr. Gupta Vadakattu received 2015 J.A. Prescott Medal from Australian Society of Soil Science Inc. He holds full Academic status as Assoc Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide. Dr Vadakattu has developed scoping documents identifying soil biology research priorities for Grains Research Development Corporation and Meat and Livestock Australia and delivered over 100 talks to industry audience.

Dr. Peter McEntee is the Head of Research and Development for New Edge Microbials Pty Ltd., based in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. He has qualifications in Agronomy and Precision Agriculture. His expertise spans the Australian continent, having worked in the vast cattle operations of northern Australia, to the intensive agricultural industries in southern Australia. The research programs and partnerships that Peter oversees are focused on applied aspects of using beneficial bacteria as microbial inoculants to promote plant growth and provide biological disease control. The company’s emphasis is on research and commercial production of legume inoculants, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and biopesticides, to bring proven biological products to market.

Dr BK Sarma Is Professor At Department Of Mycology And Plant Pathology Institute Of Agricultural Sciences, Varanasi Of Banaras Hindu University. He Completed His Ph.D. In Mycology And Plant Pathology (2002), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India And Post-Doc As BOYSCAST Fellow At University Of California, Davis, USA (2007-08). He Was Awarded FTI Award (2016-17), Sashtri Indo-Canadian Institute, Calgary, Canada, Best Teacher Award (2012-13), Institute Of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, Associate Of National Academy Of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, Young Scientist Award (Plant Science) Of Society For Plant Research, India And BOYSCAST Fellowship, Department Of Science And Technology, New Delhi For Conducting Advance Research At University Of California, Davis. He Has Also Guided Nine PhD Students And 20 M.Sc. Students