Vishnu D. Rajput, PhD, is working as a Leading Researcher (Associate Professor), Head of the Soil Health Lab at Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. His ongoing research is based on the toxic effects of bulk- and nano-forms of metals metals on plant physiology, morphology, anatomy, ultrastructure of cellular and subcellular organelles, cytomorphometric modifications, and DNA damage as well as investigating the bioaccumulation, bio/geo-transformations, and uptake. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed full-length articles, 18 books (Springer, Elsevier, CRC Press, Nova USA), 70 book chapters (Scopus indexed), and 44 conference articles. His h-index is 21 by Scopus with 1942 citations as of October 2022. He is an internationally recognized reviewer, with over 200 manuscript reviews and has received an outstanding reviewer certificates from Elsevier, Springer, and Plants-MDPI. He is an editorial board member of various high-impact journals. He is a leader of several grants including a mega grant from BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation and a performer/co-principal investigator of several national and international projects. Dr. Rajput has received Certificates of Appreciation 2019 and 2021, a Certificate of Honor 2020, and a Diploma Award 2021 from the Southern Federal University, Russia, for outstanding contribution in academic, creative research, and publication activities. He has also received "Highly Qualified Specialist" status by the Russian government and is included in the list of top 2% of Russian scientists. Abhishek Singh, PhD, is presently a PhD Research Scholar at Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has published one book, three edited books, 14 book chapters (several are Scopus indexed), review papers, abstracts and 30 Hindi-English popular articles in different national and international journals and magazines. He presented a poster presentation at the XIV Agricultural Sciences Congress-2019 NASC Complex, ICAR, New Delhi, and an pral presentation at the 5th Global Outreach Conference, Meerut, U.P. He has been a member of different national and international scientific societies of agriculture. He has an integrated MSc in Plant Biotechnology from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute), Allahabad, India. Tatiana Minkina, PhD, is the Head of Soil Science and Land Evaluation Department of Southern Federal University and also the Head of International Master’s Degree Educational Program "Management and Estimation of Land Resources" (2015-2022 years, accreditation by ACQUIN). Her areas of interest include soil science, biogeochemistry of trace elements, environmental soil chemistry, soil monitoring, assessment, modelling, and remediation using physicochemical treatment methods. She was awarded with a Diploma of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in 2015 for her years of long-term work in developing and improving the educational process and for her significant contribution to the training of highly qualified specialists. ?urrently, she is handling projects funded by the Russian Scientific Foundation, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Foundation of Basic Research. She is a member of several scientific bodies, including the Expert Group of the Russian Academy of Science, the International Committee on Contamination Land, Eurasian Soil Science Societies, International Committee on Protection of the Environment, and International Scientific Committee of the International Conferences on Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements. She has made over 750 scientific publications so far, 389 of them in English. She is an invited editor of an open access journal by MDPI Water, an editorial board member of Geochemistry: Environment, Exploration, Analysis; and Eurasian Journal of Soil Science. Anil Kumar Singh, PhD, is currently working at Dehaat Company, Gurugram, India, as a Remote Sensing GIS Research Lead. His research interest includes remote sensing, satellite meteorology, agrometeorology, and hydrology and watershed management. He has been involved in studying remote sensing applications in agriculture. He has published more than 12 publications, including peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He is also a peer reviewer for several international journals, such as Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Journal of Hydrology, and journals of Royal Meteorological Society. He received his BE degree in Information Technology from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, and his MTech degree in Remote Sensing and GIS from SHUATS University Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. Subsequently, he received PG Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS from IIRS (ISRO), Dehradun, India. He was awarded a PhD degree in Climate Risk Management System for Agriculture from the University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India. He also worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the India Meteorology Department, India, from 2016 to 2020, while pursuing his education. Narendra Pratap Singh, PhD, is currently working as Vice-chancellor of Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is an eminent pulse geneticist who joined as the new Director of the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, in 2014, where he was instrumental in creating world-class state-of-the-art facilities of biotechnology and a pioneer in the application of tools of biotechnology in pulse improvement in India. Previously, Dr. Singh was coordinating and guiding the national chickpea research program as Project Coordinator (chickpea). He also served as visiting scientist at WA Biotechnology Centre, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia, and the Plant Biotechnology Institute, NRC, Saskatoon, Canada. Dr. Singh served as a member of many important committees, including the RCGM subcommittee on grain legumes, advisor/consultant for establishing PG diploma courses in Biotechnology in UP Polytechnics, International Coordinator (Translational Research) of the International Chickpea Genetics and Genomics Consortium (ICGGC), and Senate Member, IIT, Kanpur, India. He has guided a number of PhD and MSc students in the area of genetics and biotechnology. Dr. Singh has published over 150 research/conference papers in national and international journals of repute. He obtained his master’s degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from N.D. University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad, and PhD in Genetics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. Dr. Singh acquired advanced training in the early days of his career in the area of molecular biology and genetic transformation from some of the leading biotechnology laboratories in India and abroad.
