Alaa S. Abd-El-Aziz is currently the Associate Vice-President (Academic & Research) at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, Canada. Alaa was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Winnipeg in 1990. He moved to the rank of full professor in 1997, the same year he was named a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He's been the recipient of a number of awards, including the Manitoba Outstanding Chemist Award, the Erica and Arnold Rogers Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, and the Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Ian Manners is a Professor and Chair of Inorganic, Macromolecular, and Materials Chemistry and Marie Curie Chair in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol, in the UK. Ian was a Canada Research Chair in Inorganic, Polymer, and Materials Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada, until 2005. He has received a range of awards, including a Corday-Morgan Medal and the Main Group Chemistry Award from the UK, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship from the USA, the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award, the Alcan Lecture Award, and the Steacie Prize in Canada. Ian was elected as Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada (the Canadian National Academy of Science) in 2001.