Professor Meena Upadhyaya

Professor Meena Upadhyaya OBE, FRCPath, FLSW is a pioneering leader in genetics, and is Professor Emerita at Cardiff University. She holds the position of Honorary Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Additionally, she is a Visiting Professor at Gangaram Medical School, Institute of Genetics and Medical Genomics, in Delhi, India. 

Professor Upadhyaya has authored over 200 research papers, and 26 scientific book chapters and has co-edited five scholarly books. As a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and the Learned Society of Wales, she actively contributes to the advancement of their objectives, serving on the councils of these organisations. Furthermore, she has been a member of the Editorial Boards for several leading scientific and medical journals. Globally, Meena has collaborated with esteemed clinicians and scientists. Her expertise has led to invitations to speak at more than 70 international conferences. She has been recognised in Wales Online’s list of 100 Brilliant Women and the 100 Welsh Women list. From 2020 to 2024, she served as a Non-Executive Director on the Civil Service Board for the Welsh Government. She is a Trustee for various organisations, including Race Equality First, Race Council Cymru, and Nerve Tumour UK, and is on advisory board for Monumental Welsh Women and Purple Plaques.

Meena is the founder and chair of the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement Association (EMWWAA) and Ethnic Minority Women in Welsh Healthcare (EMWWH). Additionally, she is a founder and co-chair of both the Welsh Festival of Communities and the Welsh Ethnic Minority Professors Initiative (WEMPI). Meena has co-directed the Heritage Lottery Funded Project titled "70 Years of Struggle and Achievement: Life Stories of Ethnic Minority Women in Wales" and has co-edited the accompanying book published by Parthian Books. She has received numerous accolades, including an OBE, the St David Award, the Theodor Schwann European NF Award, and the Wales Government Recognition Award, as well as the Inspire Wales Award, among others. Meena continues to inspire future generations of scientists, educators, and leaders.

Professor Dipak Ramji

Dipak Ramji is Professor of Cardiovascular Science and Deputy Head of the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University. He is also Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and Honorary Fellow of the Indian Society of Chemists and Biologists. 

He received his BSc (Hons) degree (Biochemistry) and his PhD (Molecular Biology) from the University of Leeds. This was followed by post-doctoral research at EMBL (Heidelberg) and IRBM (Rome) with fellowships from the Royal Society and the EU. His current research is focused on understanding how natural products regulate cellular processes in heart disease and other inflammatory disorders with the goal of attaining deeper mechanistic insights and identifying preventative/therapeutic agents. 

He has published over 150 research articles (h index 44 and i10 index 84 with over 9,600 citations), including 880-page book in 2022 on Methods in Atherosclerosis. He is an Editorial Board member of many international journals, member of the British Heart Foundation Project Grants Committee, reviewer of grant applications for 16 funding organisations, Chair of the Wales Heart Research Institute (WHRI) Cardiovascular Research Fund and has supervised 29 PhD and 2 MPhil students to completion. He has been external examiner for taught programmes at nine Universities (Imperial College London, University of Leeds, University of Bristol, Keele University, University of Limerick, King’s College London, University of Reading, University of Huddersfield, and Sheffield Hallam University). He is very active in promoting ED&I, chairing the Diversity, Culture and Belonging Committee in the School of Biosciences, which recently retained its Athena SWAN silver award.

Professor Venkateswarlu Kanamarlapudi PhD, DSc, FRSB, FRSC, FLSW

Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Swansea University Medical School

Specialities: Small GTPases, Inositol lipids, Actin, Live-cell imaging, Cancer, Cell signalling, GLP-1, Diabetes, LVAD, ECV, Cardiovascular

Venkateswarlu Kanamarlapudi is a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Swansea University Medical School. He obtained a BSc (Biology & Chemistry) from Acharya Nagarjuna University, an MSc (Biochemistry) from the University of Hyderabad, and an MTech (Biotechnology) from IIT-Kharagpur. After working for 3.5 years as a research scientist at AstraZeneca on anti-microbial drugs, he carried out PhD at the University of Sheffield (UK) on the mode of action and mechanisms of azole antifungal drug resistance. Venkateswarlu received a Commonwealth scholarship for his PhD studies. In 1996, he moved to the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Bristol (UK) to pursue post-doctoral research on the regulation of ARF cell signalling by inositol lipids. He was awarded a BBSRC UK David Phillips Research Fellowship in 1999 to continue his studies on the involvement of inositol lipids in the regulation of ARF cell signalling. In 2000, he moved to the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Bristol to set up his own lab as a Proleptic Lecturer. In 2007, he moved to Swansea University (UK) to take up a Research Reader in Molecular Cellular Biology and Pharmacology position in the School of Medicine. Venkateswarlu was promoted to Personal Chair in 2009. His main research interests lie in understanding inositol lipids- and small GTPases-mediated cell signalling in health and disease. Venkateswarlu was awarded 'Doctor of Science' (DSc) by Swansea University in 2016 for the significant and long-lasting contribution made by his publications on ARF small GTPases and inositol lipids in health and disease. Based on his research accomplishments, Venkateswarlu has been elected as a fellow of several learned societies (FRSB, FRSC, FLSW, FABAP, FAPAS, FNABS). His group's recent efforts have also been focused on the diagnosis and development of targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer and the improvement of LVADs and therapy for diabetes.

Professor Yueng Djern Lenn 

Professor in Physical Oceanography at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University.  She is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and the Royal Geographical Society. 

A former NERC Postdoctoral Fellow, she has an MA in Theoretical and Experimental Physics from Cambridge University, an MSc in Radiation Physics- Medical Applications from University College London and a Phd in Physical Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.  Broadly-speaking, Yueng’s research interests focus on how the ocean transports heat, freshwater and tracers around the globe and how ocean-atmosphere interactions impact climate and weather.   Accordingly her expertise lies in the physical oceanography of the polar regions where ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere heat fluxes are the largest making these regions a critical component of the earth’s climate system.   All this research of the polar processes is underpinned by an increasing urgency as these regions are warming 4-6 times fast as the rest of the planet, and have an outsized impact on the lower latitudes. 

Yueng serves on several national and international bodies.  She is a co-chair of the international. ATOMIX working group developing best practices for the measurement of ocean turbulence, operating within the International Science Council-Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research’s  (SCOR) remit. In addition, she has recently joined the UK SCOR committee and the World Climate Research Programme’s CLIVAR North Oceans Regional Panel.  

Beyond research and teaching,  Yueng is a keen science communicator, co-ordinating and developing the STEM outreach of the School of Ocean Sciences and contributing to media interviews on science in the news for the BBC, New York Times and New Scientist.  More recently, she has also founded the Ocean Colours group at the School of Ocean Sciences that discusses matters of racial justice within the marine sciences.

Professor Edwin Egede

Edwin Egede is a Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cardiff University's School of Law and Politics. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela University's Department of Public Law in South Africa. 

He is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). He is also Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), the National Academy for Arts and Sciences of Wales.

He is consultant for intergovernmental organisations such as the African Union, United Nations, and International Seabed Authority, and has extensive interactions with policymakers and practitioners, contributing to external engagement outside of academia by actively participating in high profile professional conferences, workshops, and seminars that shape national and international public policies. He is currently a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Brazilian Yearbook of Law of the Sea (BYLOS) and one of the editors of a six-volume book project on The Law of the Sea - Contemporary Norms and Practice in Africa. He served as Deputy Director of Impact and Engagement at Cardiff University's School of Law and Politics from 2022 to 2024 and was a member of the School's Research Directorate and Committee.

He undertakes interdisciplinary teaching and research in the fields of Law of the Sea, Public International Law, Human Rights in Africa, and International Organizations, particularly the United Nations and the African Union. In these fields, he has published widely and given academic and professional presentations at international conferences, workshops and seminars.

Professor Susan Wong

Professor F. Susan Wong is Professor of Experimental Diabetes and Metabolism at Cardiff University and Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. She is deputy director of the Division of Infection and Immunity, and leads the Immunology theme within the Division. She is also head of the Diabetes Research Group.

She is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is also Deputy chair of the Ethnic Minority Women in Welsh Healthcare (EMWWH). She is a member of the Type 1 Diabetes UK Immunotherapy Consortium

She trained in Medicine, and also obtained her PhD from Kings College London University. After a postdoctoral period at Yale University, she returned to the UK, to Bristol University, with a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellowship. She was appointed Professor of Immunology at Bristol University, subsequently moving to University of Cardiff to her present position. She has many years of research into the causes of type 1 diabetes, focusing on the immune system. As a clinician she also has many years of clinical experience in treatment of all aspects of diabetes mellitus, but focusing mainly on type 1 diabetes.

She has over 200 publications including research articles and reviews. She has contributed chapters to a textbook of Diabetes, a textbook of Medicine, and a textbook of Paediatric Endocrinology.

Her work in diabetes research has been recognized with the award of the Dorothy Hodgkin lecture from Diabetes UK, and the Gerold and Kayla Grodsky award for Basic Research in Type 1 diabetes from Breakthrough T1D. 

She was recently awarded CBE for services to Diabetes and Metabolism.

Professor Rattan Yadav 

Professor of plant genetics and holds a personal chair at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) of the Aberystwyth University.

An elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW), he received his DPhil degree from the University of Sussex and subsequently undertook post-doctoral research at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Philippines before coming to Aberystwyth in 1996.

Professor Yadav's research focusses on capturing and utilising naturally occurring genetic variations present in crops germplasm for 'public good' outcomes. To realise such interests, he collaborates extensively, across the globe, with academics, industry partners and ‘not for profit’ inter-governmental organisations and is passionate about pursuing international development goals via sustainable agricultural development. His work has delivered unique genetic resources, and advanced genetic technologies, that are delivering crops varieties (and their products) providing enhanced food, nutritional, environmental and health security in some of the harshest areas of south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Yadav has published over 155 research articles so far and is an academic editor of PLOS ONE since 2014. He has been, and is currently, a member of several grant awarding panels within the UK (e.g., BBSRC, British Council, Innovate UK) and abroad (European Commission, Swedish Council for Sustainable Development). Professor Yadav was also a panel member of UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) sub panel 6: Agriculture, Food and Veterinary sciences). He currently holds a visiting VAJRA faculty position (https://dst.gov.in/vajra) sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India, at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India.

Professor Omer Rana

Professor of Performance Engineering at the School of Computer Science and Informatics and Dean of International for the Middle East (Cardiff University).

He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW) and of the Higher Education Academy.  He holds a PhD in "Neural and Parallel Computing" from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (London University), an MSc in Microelectronics Systems from the University of Southampton, and a BEng in Information Systems Engineering also from Imperial College (London University). He is the cross-council co-director of the UK National "Edge Artificial Intelligence Hub". He is a member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) International Strategic Advisory Group.  

He previously led the Complex Systems Research Group in the School of Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University and was the Deputy Director of the Welsh eScience Centre. He was the Dean of International for the Physical Sciences and Engineering College at Cardiff University, serving two terms in this role.

He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China (one of the oldest Computer Science faculties in China), Princess Noura University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and University Putra Malaysia.  He participates on the advisory board of Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (Dhahran) and Prince Mugrin University (Madina) in Saudi Arabia. 

He has held visiting positions at a number of international institutions, such as US Department of Energy "Oak Ridge National Lab" (East Tennessee) and Argonne National Lab (Illinois) -- in addition to Universities: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia), Syracuse University (New York State, US), University Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), University of Waikato (New Zealand) and University of New South Wales (Australia). 

He contributed to public understanding of science working with the Wellcome Trust funded "Science Line", in collaboration with BBC and Channel 4.