Mrs. Gouri Basu graduated from Presidency College, Kolkata with Honours in Chemistry. She did her post graduation in Bio-Chemistry from the Calcutta University College of Science. She has taught at St Xavier's College, Kolkata and Loreto House, Kolkata for many years. She has been a consultant with Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, Kolkata for 4 years. She has been an educationist, and among several accolades, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Education, from the Telegraph and Excellence in Science. Teaching from the National Academy of Sciences. She has authored various publications on her researches on the dance forms, folk music, folk theatre and rural arts of India as well as the Kantha traditions of Bengal. Currently, the Director of the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Mrs. Basu is a highly talented individual, who strikes an excellent balance between her plethora of activities.

With fifteen years of teaching and professional experience in prestigious institutions like IIT Kharagpur, Loreto Kolkata, and Kanpur University, Prof. Mainak Ghosh currently holds the office of the Head of the department of architecture, Jadavpur University. His research interest revolves around environmental perception, urbanism, design and culture. Prior to academic career he was part of multinational corporate with consulting experience in the field of design, cognitive and behavioural study or experiential aspects. His notable architectural design ideations include Panchanan Barma Government University and Coochbehar Engineering College in the state of West Bengal, India working as consortium. He has several prominent accolades, publications and projects to his credit. His recent edited book on built environment of Global South is noticeable addition to Springer Nature, Switzerland. He has been invited speaker to the Smart Cities’ Congress in Paris in the year 2015 and his artworks have been exhibited in Berlin. He has travelled exhaustively to North and South America, United Kingdom, Africa and Asia for his project works and allied research.

An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, Ranjan Kumar is the Founder and CEO of the World’s Leading Emotion AI company – Entropik Tech, which he started as a B. Tech student. Ranjan has invested most of his time working with soft computing, neural computing, and deep learning.

He has worked with distinctive firms like ONGC Ltd and ITC Ltd, after which he turned an entrepreneur with Oyeparty.com in 2012. Ranjan has also headed business at Citrus Payments, a fintech company, giving the division exponential growth under his leadership.

Ranjan is an All-India Physics Olympiad champion, and his penchant for fundamentals has been the driving force behind all his endeavors. He is an AI enthusiast, a Neuroscience lover, and a Sales Hustler. His company, Entropik Tech, is a pioneer in reading human emotions and have built AI technologies that understand human emotion through Facial Expressions, Eye Movement, Voice Tonality and Brainwaves - in a fast and scalable manner.

Ranjan is a sought-after thought leader in the space of Emotion AI Tech and Cognitive Science. He aspires for a world that is not just Artificially Intelligent but emotionally perceptive. He firmly believes that if he wasn’t the Founder of Entropik Tech, he would be discovering some interesting facts as a Physicist.

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty is poised nearly as a cult figure among all the legendary Indian Classical Vocalists of today. He is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan (2020) - the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1999-2000) and the National Film Award in 1989. He was the first Indian classical vocalist to be invited by Pakistan and China and by BBC for their Golden Jubilee Celebration of India’s Independence. Inspired by the ideals of his Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Chakrabarty founded Shrutinandan, a school of music. In 2012, he was conferred with the Maha Sangeet Samman and the Banga Bibhushan by Govt. of West Bengal and in 2015, he has received Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Tia Kansara is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and future city sustainability evangelist. She is the youngest entrepreneur to receive the Royal Institute British Architects honorary fellowship and hailed amongst the Top 100 most influential leaders in Tech by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards. Tia is an insightful and passionate leader, dedicated to global transformation through investing in nature. She believes in an economic system with global unity, creating and fostering environments that sustain all life. She holds a Ph.D. from University College London, Energy Institute on designing future cities and energy evaluation. Her publications in peer-reviewed journals cover topics ranging from sustainable cities to human performance, and she presents her findings at conferences internationally and through social media. She has lectured at New Delhi School of Planning; Musashi Institute of Technology; KEA University; McGill University; University of British Columbia; School of Architecture and Planning to name a few. Tia is the co-founder of Kansara Hackney Ltd, the first ISO-certified sustainable lifestyle consultancy, and CEO of Replenish Earth Ltd, a cause and a collective action to protect the global commons. She is also the UCL Bartlett’s Ambassador to the Gulf region and advisor to the Economic Times of India as well as an economist and future cities thought leader with clients including Coca Cola, Bloomberg, the European Commission, Forbes, Formula One, MIT, and Siemens among others.

Partha S. Ghosh, based in Boston, is a renowned strategist and an innovator of Business and Economic models - Dr. Ghosh holds B. Tech from IIT Kharagpur, Masters’ in Chemical Engg. and MBA from MIT, Cambridge and AMP from Harvard. He had a long career of 12 years with McKinsey & Company - out of that last 6 years as a partner. Among his other previous positions, he was the Chairman & the Chief Mentor of Boston Analytics, a firm specializing in providing precision analytical services/financial modeling tools. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Advisors of M&A/Strategic Alliance Advisory firm Access International Partners, and Chairman of Business Intelligence firm Intersoft K.K based in Tokyo.

He is involved as a faculty resource with MIT & Harvard University on strategic management /policy design and leadership, and Tufts University on Globalization & Innovation. He is currently in an advisory role with multiple organizations world wide.

Dr. Prateep Nayak’s academic background is in political science, environmental studies and international development. He does transdisciplinary work with an active interest in combining social and ecological perspectives. Prateep’s research focuses on the understanding of complex human-environment connections (or disconnections) with particular attention to change, its drivers, their influence and possible ways to deal with them. His main areas of expertise and interest include commons, governance, social-ecological system resilience, wellbeing, environmental justice and political ecology. Currently, he teaches international development and environment. In the past, Prateep worked as a development professional in India on issues around community-based governance of land, water and forests, focusing specifically at the interface of research, implementation and public policy. Prateep is a past Trudeau Scholar, a Harvard Giorgio Ruffolo Fellow in Sustainability Science, a recipient of Canada’s Governor General Academic Gold Medal, and SSHRC Banting Fellow.

Nilamadhab Kar is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, in the West Midlands, UK. He has previously worked at Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi; Mental Health Institute, Cuttack; National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore and Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. Dr. Kar has research interest in the field of disaster mental health with a focus on post-traumatic psychiatric disorder and preventive psychiatry. He is the author of more than 125 journal publications and book chapters. He has also written and edited six books. Dr. Kar, besides being a member of the editorial boards of many, regularly reviews for leading medical journals as well. He is associated with Quality of Life Research and Development Foundation and Geriatric Care and Research Organization (GeriCaRe). He is a Life Fellow of Indian Psychiatric Society, Association of Industrial Psychiatry of India, Indian Association of Child and adolescent Mental Health, Behavioural Medicine Society of India, Academy of General Education and Indian Association of Social Psychiatry.

Prof. Damodar Suar, Ph.D., FNAPsy, is the Chairperson, Social Science Research, KIIT Bhubaneswar since March 2021. Before this, he was in IIT Kharagpur (India) for 26 years; Editor of Psychological Studies (Springer) from Jan 2016 - March 2020. His research focuses on Social and Organizational Psychology, Neuropsychology and Science of Happiness. He has authored 155 scientific articles including 20 book chapters, one book, and co-edited three books, handled more than 40 research projects, 35 training programs, and supervised at least 35 Ph.D. students and more than 200 Master's thesis. Prof. Suar has 35+ years of experience in teaching, research, consultancy, training and various levels of administration in reputed institutes such as IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIM Ranchi, National Institute of Social Work and Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar and KIIT (DU) Bhubaneswar. He is the ad-hoc reviewer of psychology and management journals of Emerald, Springer, and Elsevier since 2000 and a Fellow of National Academy of Psychology (FNAPsy) since 2019.

Padma Shri Prof. Debi Prasanna Pattanayak is a Linguist, Litterateur, Educationist and activist. Born and brought up in a Gandhian family in the smallest princely state of India, he had diverse experience in his childhood, as his father was externed from the state for working with Gandhi. He completed graduation at Utkal Christian College, Cuttack, by establishing a record in the University by being awarded the Gold Medal for securing highest marks among BA Hons and MA students. He completed post graduation from Ravenshaw College in 1952, again securing the University Gold Medal. Later, he moved to Cornell University, New York and studied Odia Language, Literature and Culture, Linguistics, Anthropology, Law, three year Diploma in French and completed his Ph.D. in 1961 with Linguistics Major, Anthropology and Applied Linguistics as Minor. He wrote his thesis on comparative reconstruction of Oriya, Assamese, Bengali and Hindi, the first of its kind in Indo-Aryan studies.

Prof. Pattanayak has been in the forefront of language-related activities in India for over three decades. He was the founder-director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore until his retirement. The institute has become a major research center in India, with regional centers in several states. Prof. Pattanayak was also the former chairman of Institute of Odia Studies and Research, Bhubaneswar. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1987 for his contribution to formalize, and adding Bodo language in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India. He also took a major role in leading Odia to acquire the status of a "classical language". Some of his notable works include Multilingualism in India (1990), Language, Education, and Culture (1991), Multilingualism and Mother-tongue Education (1981), among others.

Dr. Joy Sen is a Professor of the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Former Head (June 2017 ‐ July 2020). Prior to that, he had been the former Head of Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure and Design, IIT Kharagpur (Aug 2014 – June 2017). His areas of research are Community and Regional Planning Analyses & Programming and Architecture and Planning related Heritage Studies and Documentation. He has a long working experience with the various Environmental Design programs under DFID Government of the United Kingdom (1995‐96) and ISU‐UNDP program (1987‐89) and IR3S (2011‐12) in the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is the recipient of the NCERT/ AISSE Gold Medal for highest marks in SOCIAL SCIENCES in All‐India level; the Institute SILVER MEDAL for Highest Aggregate in Bachelors of Architecture, IIT Kharagpur; and BEST POST‐GRADUATE THESIS AWARD from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA.

He is currently associated with the two mega projects sponsored by MHRD Govt. of India, i.e., the SandHI ‐ Science and Heritage mega initiative (acronym SandHI) and also PI 2 in the Future of Cities. In SandHI, he is the Principal Investigator (PI) and with Future of Cities as one of the two PIs.

Prof. Dipak Ghosh, a University Gold medalist and a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics, is presently an Emeritus Professor at the Sir C.V. Raman Centre for Physics and Music, and Director (Hony.) of the Biren Roy Research Laboratory for Radioactivity and Earthquake Studies, Jadavpur University. Formerly, he was a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science, Jadavpur University. Prof. Ghosh has received several awards like the S.N. Bose Memorial Medal, C.V. Raman Award by the University Grants Commission etc. in recognition of his in-depth research work. He was the Principal Investigator from India in projects with prestigious research institutes like CERN and FERMI Lab. He has over five hundred publications in reputed international journals and several books to his credit. His research interests include nuclear and particle physics, nonlinear dynamics applied to biomedical problems, and neuro-cognition of music. He has also served as a reviewer for international journals like Physical Review Letters, Physica A, EPL etc.

Since obtaining his Ph.D. from Utkal University, Prof. Narayan Chandra Nayak has continued teaching and research simultaneously for 28 long years. His major research interests include Development and Macro Economics with special focus on Public Policy related to the Indian Economy. So far he has worked on issues like employment intensity of growth, infrastructure and human development, infrastructure and agricultural productivity, participation and public service delivery, forest sustainability and drivers of forest loss, payments for environmental services, socioeconomic and cultural aspects of Ganga River basin, transition rates of education, issues and determinants of FDI, regional inequalities and convergence measures, MFI, mission drift and repayment risks, health financing and healthcare choices among the elderly, cost of dying, giving behaviour and economics of generosity, risk assessment of coastal hazards, assessment of food subsidy scheme in the Indian context and MGNREGA processes, procedures, convergence, distress migration and impact assessment. In pursuance of furthering his research in issues of contemporary relevance, currently, Prof. Nayak is carrying out research on MGNREGA and distress migration, and financial inclusion. Besides, he is supervising students on a wide variety of issues including economics of cyclone: forecasting, measuring welfare loss and identifying coping and adaptation strategies; green innovation, growth and firm performance; food security and household welfare; costing, financing and choices of elderly healthcare; MGNREGA and migration; personal finances and their determinants; etc. In addition to providing research guidance to the students, Prof. Nayak has collaborated with various national and international agencies including UNDP, ICAR, ICSSR, Government of Odisha, Ministries of Rural Development, Environment and Forests and HRD, New Delhi.

Dr. Anway Mukhopadhyay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, India. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor in the Dept of English and Culture Studies, The University of Burdwan, India, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He has authored five academic books, a “lyrical epic” and an innovative work of fiction and has co-edited an anthology of essays on fiction studies. He has contributed chapters to several edited volumes and his research papers, book reviews and creative writing have been published in reputed journals in India, Australia and the USA. His documentary film on Women’s Sanskritic Education in Varanasi, titled Daughters of Sarasvati, is available on Youtube. Recipient of a number of awards including the prestigious Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award conferred by the IBC in 2016, Dr Mukhopadhyay is also an Associate Faculty at the Center for Advanced Studies in South Asia, Lalitpur, Nepal.

His present research focuses on the interface between religion, gender and philosophy. Dr. Mukhopadhyay works on the Indic traditions, in terms of religious cultures, literary, philosophical and scriptural texts and performative traditions. Apart from these, his areas of interest include theories of performing arts, literary and cultural theories, ethnography, philosophy of speech and communication, myth and folklore studies, postcolonial literature, border studies etc.

Dr. Jenia Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Her research interests include urban sustainability, environmental history, political ecology and development studies. In 2013, she was awarded the World Social Science Fellowship on ‘Sustainable Urbanization’ by the International Social Science Council. Dr. Mukherjee has published several papers and chapters in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and has engaged in international projects on urban environmental issues. She was also awarded the prestigious Carson Writing Fellowship (2018-19) by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich, Germany for completing her book project: Blue Infrastructures: Natural History, Political Ecology and Urban Development in Kolkata that has been published in 2020.

This book focuses on Kolkata, formerly the colonial capital of and currently a major megacity in India, in terms of its extensive blue infrastructures, i.e., its rivers, canals and wetlands as an integrated composite whole where she employs historical urban political ecology (HUPE) as the methodological framework by combining urban environmental history and urban political ecology, to study the changing urban environmental equations and its impact on the city and its people.

Dr. Mukherjee has been most recently awarded the Institute Faculty Excellence Award by Indian Institute of Technology of Kharagpur for her contribution to her field in 2021.