Rose Jaquilin PJ Editor

Prof. Sabu Thomas is one of India’s most renowned scientists known for his contributions in polymer science and nanotechnology. He is a scientist, administrator and a teacher of national and international students. He joined Cochin University of Science and Technology, India, to pursue his bachelor’s degree in polymer science and rubber technology. He went on to complete his Ph. D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. After attaining industrial experience, he returned to Mahatma Gandhi University, India, as a lecturer. He currently serves as the Vice Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University. He has guided over 116 Ph. D students. He has received several national and international awards for best researcher and is a member of numerous scientific bodies and committees. He has been honoured with honorary doctorates from University of South Brittany, France; University of Lorraine, France and Siberian Federal University, Russia. He has authored more than 1,200 research publications and 156 books. He has been ranked 114th in the list of the world’s best scientists (Stanford University, USA). He was also selected for the DST Nanomission award 2020. He received Honorary Professorship from Siberian Federal University in 2020. Last year he was honoured with C.N.R Rao Award Prize Lecture in Advanced Materials by Materials Research Society of India (MRSI). He was elected as the Foreign Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc)-2019. In 2022 he was honoured the Bailey Medal Award and in 2021 was awarded the Kairali Lifetime Research Award 2021 by the Kerala government. Prof. Oyedeji is Professor of Organic Chemistry at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, South Africa, where she teaches organic chemistry at both undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as leads a natural product research group. She obtained her Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and her PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her work hinges on natural products chemistry with special interest in finding the medicinal values of terpenoids class of compounds in medicinal plants. Prof. Oyedeji is a recipient of several awards including TWAS (2003), NRF South Africa (2003-2004), National Research Foundation Rated Scientist (2010-2015 & 2016-2021), WSU Established Female Researcher (2017), WSU Vice Chancellor Awards for Excellence in Research (2017), Pre-commercialization innovation product developed (2019), Engagement through Professional/Discipline-based Service Provision (2019) and Engagement through Research and Scholarship (2019). She is a fellow of Chemical Society of Nigeria (CNS), member of Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS), member of South African Chemical Institution (SACI) and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). She is also an affiliated member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Professor Oluwafemi is a fully-fledged academic that is involved in Teaching & Learning, Research, Community Engagement, staff and student mentorship among many other activities. His research interest is in the synthesis of binary, ternary and quaternary semiconductor nanomaterial and nanostructures such as quantum dots, metal nanomaterials, core-shells, doped nanostructures and polymer nanocomposites for different applications which includes biological, (basically for cancer treatment ie imaging, labelling, drug delivery photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy), optical (development of optical devices), environmental (sensing and determination of environmental pollutants), nanotoxicology and water treatment. He is also involved in the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) for value added chain using different South African medicinal plants. This involves isolation, extraction, biological activity testing, and synthesis of nanomaterial using the plant extract and packaging for pharmaceutical purposes. Rose Jaquilin PJ is currently pursuing her PhD degree at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from Kerala University, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. She has nine years’ research experience at Syngene International Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical company in India. Her research areas include bio- and specialty-polymer synthesis, polymer grafting, hydrogel and dendrimer synthesis, controlled radical (ATRP, RAFT), anionic and cationic polymerization techniques. Her current research work includes synthesis and characterization of herbal nanomaterials for different applications.