Dr Abeer Ahmed Qaed Ahmed is a biologist investigating several different microbiology- and nanotechnology-based solutions to problems such as carbon emissions, drug-resistant pathogens, and fossil fuel dependence. She has studied the use of microbial inoculants in agricultural land to increase the carbon sequestration effect and improve soil quality for agriculture, as well as the use of microbes to convert lignocellulosic biomass into pharmaceuticals and other chemical products, as a more sustainable alternative to fossil-based products. Dr. Ahmed also works on understanding the effects of differing environmental and nutritional conditions on microbial biological processes. This can lead to novel methods to treat, attenuate, and diagnose multi-drug resistant microorganisms.

Dr. Ahmed has held research fellowships at North-West University, South Africa (2015) and the University of South Africa (2016-2017). She was selected for the BioVision.Nxt fellowship programme in Lyon France in 2013, and for TWAS/BioVisionAlexandria.NXT in Alexandria, Egypt in 2014. She is an active member of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA), and an executive member of the Yemen Women Association for Science & Technology (YWAST). In addition, she is a full member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

Dr. Dauqan is currently Head of the Medical Laboratory Sciences Department at Al-Saeed University in Taizz, Yemen, where her research focuses on the antioxidant properties of vegetable oils. Dr. Dauqan’s interests are in biochemistry and biotechnology and she has conducted specialist research in sensory evaluation and organic chemistry. She received her PhD from the National University of Malaysia (UKM). Dr Dauqan is a dedicated teacher and an active member of the OWSD chapter in Yemen.

Dr. Fathiah Zakham applies biotechnology and bioengineering to the diagnosis and management of tuberculosis and other emerging infectious diseases. Her main goal is to develop rapid, accurate and cheap tools for the detection of the causal agent of tuberculosis and the control of drug-resistance TB strains, which are dramatically increasing, especially in low and middle income countries. Conventional culture methods for laboratory diagnosis and drug resistance testing require several weeks; the molecular approach is a good alternative in poor infrastructure settings. In addition to her work on TB, she is also using metagenomics technology to identify new zoonotic viral pathogens emerging on the Arabian peninsula, including hemorrhagic fevers. Dr. Zakham is working to implement the appropriate molecular tests for the diagnosis and surveillance of these infectious diseases. Dr. Zakham obtained her PhD in microbiology and molecular biology from Mohammed V University, Morocco, in 2012 and a MSc degree in microbiology and bio-engineering from the University Hassan II. In 2018, she completed a year-long postdoctoral fellowship in the Microbiology institute of University Hospital in Lausanne.

She has received the Young Investigator Award at the international Congress of Internal Medicine 2014 and the 2017 Gro Brundtland Award for professional performance in sustainable development and public health among young female scientsts. She also received the 2017 Fayza Al-Kharafi Award in biological sciences from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). Dr. Zakham is a TWAS Young Affiliate, a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and international societies including the International Society for Infectious Disease, European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Yemeni Society of Biosafety and Biosecurity, and others. Currently, Dr. Zakham is an Institute of International Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) scholar at the University of Helsinki.