Name of the Project Owners: (1) Gaurav Misra, (2) Dr. Ritam Dutta
(1) Gaurav Misra: Gaurav Misra is India's 1st ISTD certified life skills educator acknowledged with 'International Recognition' by CTAUN, United Nations, New York, for his innovative skill development initiatives. He is a Fulbright fellow, ‘Global Leader for Innovation and Knowledge’ scholar, and 2 times Blackboard Award winner. Presently, he is pursuing his PhD in ‘Gamification and Its Implication in Skill Development and Training’. He holds Dip TD from ISTD, PGDBM from LBSIMT, and MA (English) from MJPRU. He has conducted training programs for American Councils, British Council, Fujitsu, upGrad, NCC, USIEF, Reliance Securities, Bajaj Hindusthan, and Eureka Forbes to name a few. As a ‘Fulbright in the Classroom’ grant winner in 2021, he conducted culture-exchange sessions for K-through-College classrooms across the United States. In 2019, he accomplished the multinational leadership program GLIK (Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge) and worked on his award-winning Capstone Project in 4 countries (Japan, USA, Singapore, and Thailand). In 2016, he represented India as a youth leader at the UN Headquarters, New York. In 2015, he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to teach and study at the University of Montana, USA; and was selected for the ‘Distinguished Service and Outreach Award’ for his outstanding service to the university campus and the Missoula community.
(2) Dr. Ritam Dutta: Raised in Kolkata – a city known for its addas, Ritam was introduced to its joys in his school days and was eventually ‘un-schooled’ in his various addas at Jadavpur University, from where he later received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Comparative Literature as well. In 2008, after three years of teaching Business Communication, Ritam moved to the USA as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington. Later, he earned a dual PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and Comparative and International Education from the College of Education, Pennsylvania State University, researching the addas of Bengali college-going youths in Kolkata. Ritam is an interdisciplinary scholar of literature, culture, education and learning in different informal cultural spaces. Adda continues to be his principal area of interest – academic or otherwise.