Programme

Kapil Narula is Senior Analyst, Breakthrough Agenda at the Climate Champions Team where he works on catalysing international cooperation for ambitious climate action. He has over two decades of versatile work experience in international organisations, government, think tank and universities. He works on clean energy transition, climate change and maritime sustainability. He is the author/editor of seven books and more than 100 articles/papers. He has earlier worked as Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations, Advisor (Energy) at NITI Aayog, lecturer at the University of Geneva and worked in the Government of India. He holds an interdisciplinary PhD degree in economics, master’s degree in engineering and has a certification in sustainability and climate risk.

Ajay Shankar is a Distinguished Fellow at TERI and has had rich and varied experience in public service for over forty years. He has served in the Government of India in policy making positions in the areas of industry and energy. He worked for about a decade in the Power Ministry and played a key role in piloting the reform legislation, the Electricity Act 2003 and the major programme for completing the universalization of electricity access launched in 2005 under which over 100,000 villages have since been electrified. He was associated with the preparation of the water and environment sector plants for the 11th plan in the Planning Commission.

Dr Pushplata Singh is working as Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the Nano Commercial Production area of Sustainable Agriculture Division. With 23 years of experience in the Biotechnology sector, Dr Pushplata’ s expertise spans across areas such as Genome wide association studies, Genome analysis, improvement of biofertilizers, nutrient use efficiency, nano-fertilizers, nano-pesticides, application of nanomaterials for pharmaceuticals and other environmental applications. At TERI, she is involved in Nano Research and Commercial production (NCP); Mitigation of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) from agriculture; Improvement of soil organic carbon (SOC), improvement of biofertilizers, development of bio-control formulations, technologies for climate resilient agriculture and development of policies for Agriculture.

Dr Pushplata is a member of advisory committees including, BIS Metallurgical Engineering Department- Nanotechnologies Sectional Committee MTD 33 (mtd33), BioNanoNet (BNN) and International Initiative for Safe and Sustainable Nanotechnology (INISS). She holds a Ph. D. in Interdisciplinary Sciences with a major in Genetics from the University of Delhi, India.

Dr. Bhatia is a Principal Scientist at the Division of Environment Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi having more than 27 years of experience in climate research. She has made significant contributions to quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reactive nitrogen fluxes from agricultural soils, evaluating the impacts of management practices, as well as biotic and abiotic factors on GHG emissions, their mitigation, and enhancing nitrogen use efficiency. Her research has improved the accuracy of GHG emission estimates from Indian agriculture. She has contributed to the development of a greenhouse gas emission module in the InfoCrop crop growth model, which predicts the impacts of management practices and climate change on crop yield and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as Tier 3 GHG inventories and adaptation options. She established a free air enrichment facility to quantify the impacts of climate change and identify adaptation options for crops vulnerable to climatic risks. She has represented the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in global greenhouse gas intercomparison studies within the AGMIP platform.  She serves as an expert consultant for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India (GOI), on National Communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Additionally, she is an expert technical reviewer for national greenhouse gas inventories for the UNFCCC and a reviewer of IPCC reports. She has published more than 100 research papers, with an H-index of 44, i10-index of 103 having more than 8000 citations in international literature.

Dr. Shruti Sethi is a Principal Scientist in the Division of Food Science and Postharvest Technology at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. She obtained her Bachelors’ (Delhi University), Masters’ (G.B.Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar) and Ph.D (Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana) degrees in the discipline of Food Technology. For the past 21 years, she is serving in Agricultural Research Service of ICAR with research, teaching and extension assignments. As faculty member, she has been teaching PG and PhD students and guided/ guiding 6 Ph. D and 9 M.Sc students as Chairperson. Her research interests centre primarily on fresh produce handling and value addition of agri-produce. Presently, her area of work includes safety and quality aspects of whole and minimally processed fruits and vegetables through application of GRAS chemicals, ozone, edible coatings, modified atmosphere packaging; enrichment of foods through vacuum impregnation, natural colourants and waste utilization. Dr. Shruti is Fellow of Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences, New Delhi. She was an invited speaker in the International Food and Nutrition Conference held at Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA. Dr. Shruti was involved in the Indo-Myanmar ACARE program for strengthening the PG teaching in Yezin Agricultural University, Myanmar. She has around 120 research publications to her credit apart from other book chapters, outreach articles and teaching aids.

Dr. Pratap Bhattacharyya is currently working as a Principal Scientist Head of Crop Production Division at ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack, Odisha. His fields of specialization are climate change, carbon dynamics, GHGs emission-mitigation, resource conservation technologies and microbial diversity in rice. He has given a unique concept that lowland rice ecology is a net carbon sink by using advanced Eddy covariance techniques. The spatial and temporal variations of GHGs emission in mangrove-rice ecology in Sundarbans are quantified by him. He is Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India (FNAAS); Fellow of West Bengal of Academy of Science and Technology (WAST); Fellow of IASWC; Fellow of ARRW; got ICAR-LBS young scientist award; Dr K J Tejwani award by IASWC; Mosaic Foundation award; Certificate of Excellence by University of Georgia, USA and also an ICAR National Fellow. He has published more than 150 research articles including research papers, books, book chapters, and popular articles. He has guided 5 PhD and 8 MSc students.

Varun Raheja is a visionary social entrepreneur and accomplished mechanical engineer, renowned for his dedication to transforming the agricultural landscape for small farmers. At the age of 20, Varun co-founded Raheja Solar Food Processing with his mother, pioneering a vertically integrated, decentralized food processing system that empowers small farmers in remote areas. These farmers often face challenges in selling their produce at fair prices or are compelled to discard it.

With a profound respect for nature and an inherent ability to see value in every resource, Varun leveraged his Sindhi heritage and engineering expertise to develop the most affordable and advanced solar dryer. This innovative technology dehydrates excess produce while preserving its natural color, taste, fragrance, and nutrients. The dried products can be stored for over a year without the need for preservatives or added sugar, providing high-quality raw materials for prominent food brands.

India grapples with a staggering food waste crisis, losing over ₹90,000 crores worth of produce annually, with small farmers bearing the brunt. Varun's business addresses this issue by creating a reliable and efficient supply chain, bridging the gap between farmers and food brands. Over the past six years, Raheja Solar Food Processing has created more than 5,000 jobs and supported over 50,000 small farmers, helping them increase their income and significantly reducing food wastage.

What sets Raheja Solar Food Processing apart is its holistic approach: the company not only provides cutting-edge technology but also commits to buying back the dried products from farmers. This minimizes the farmers' risks and ensures a traceable, consistent supply chain for food brands. Under Varun's visionary leadership, the company aspires to become the most trusted B2B brand for clean food ingredient supplies, upholding high standards of quality and reliability.

Varun Raheja's unwavering commitment to sustainable agriculture and innovative food processing continues to make a profound impact, improving the livelihoods of small farmers and contributing to a more efficient and equitable food system.

Dr Pushplata Singh is working as Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the Nano Commercial Production area of Sustainable Agriculture Division. With 23 years of experience in the Biotechnology sector, Dr Pushplata’ s expertise spans across areas such as Genome wide association studies, Genome analysis, improvement of biofertilizers, nutrient use efficiency, nano-fertilizers, nano-pesticides, application of nanomaterials for pharmaceuticals and other environmental applications. At TERI, she is involved in Nano Research and Commercial production (NCP); Mitigation of greenhouse gas emission (GHG) from agriculture; Improvement of soil organic carbon (SOC), improvement of biofertilizers, development of bio-control formulations, technologies for climate resilient agriculture and development of policies for Agriculture.

Dr Pushplata is a member of advisory committees including, BIS Metallurgical Engineering Department- Nanotechnologies Sectional Committee MTD 33 (mtd33), BioNanoNet (BNN) and International Initiative for Safe and Sustainable Nanotechnology (INISS). She holds a Ph. D. in Interdisciplinary Sciences with a major in Genetics from the University of Delhi, India.

Over thirty-four years of experience in the field of energy, environment and sustainable development. Dr Ibrahim Hafeezur Rehman is currently Director, School of Sustainability, NAMTECH which is an ArcelorMittal/NipponSteel – AMNS - education initiative. Earlier for close to a decade Dr Rehman was with VITO till April 2024. Vito, is a leading Flemish government owned, not for profit, international organization. As part of VITO’s International Office he led South Asia and India Operations and was also CEO, VITO Arabia LLC. 

Prior to Vito as a Senior member of TERI Management (Senior Director) Dr Rehman led a team of researchers and implementors; on cross cutting Global Campaigns (Lighting a Billion Lives Program in South Asia and Africa); for Global Research Initiative (As Lead Consultant for UNDP Regional Energy Program for Poverty Reduction for Asia and Asia Pacific); and for Major Research and Implementation Programs in India (Comprehensive Initiative for Bio Fuels; DFID TERI Program on Energy Access); and Evaluation of National Biogas and Cookstove Programs in India; etc.

Dr Rehman has a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry; training in Environment Management from the University of Manchester/Birmingham; and a Doctorate from the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Dr Rehman is also a co-author of some books and has written several scientific (and policy) papers and articles in reputed journals and magazines. Dr Rehman has worked across countries in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Sadhvi Saran is a Strategy and Policy Advisor in the Emerging Technologies Division at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the UN’s specialized agency on technology. A lawyer, with experience spanning the private and multilateral sectors, her work at ITU focuses on international policy related to Internet governance, digital resilience and AI. Sadhvi holds a Master of Laws in International Law degree (LL.M.) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a B.A.,LL.B. (Corporate Law Hons.) from the National Law University, Jodhpur.

Luzango Mfupe is a Principal Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions cluster. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Telecommunications technologies. His research focuses on improving spectrum utilization efficiency and the capacity of national wireless ICT infrastructures, aiming to reduce the cost to communicate, bridge the digital divide in hard-to-reach, low-income rural communities.

Luzango is a renowned expert in Dynamic Spectrum Access and Management. He is a leader and co-inventor of the CSIR TVWS spectrum-sharing technology, which has obtained regulatory approval in South Africa (2021), the United Kingdom (2016), and Tanzania (2022) to lower communication costs.

As a Principal Investigator, Luzango leads a portfolio of RD&I projects and initiatives, funded by South Africa’s national government and international organizations such as FCDO and UNDP. These projects have significantly impacted the development of ICT-focused SMMEs, creating job opportunities for women and youth in underserved communities.

Luzango has contributed to key national strategic policy documents, including the Recommended South African Strategy for 5G and Future and Emerging Technologies and the Findings Documents and Position Paper on the Framework for Dynamic Spectrum Access and Opportunistic Spectrum Management.

In the SADC region, Luzango has advised the Ministry of ICT in Tanzania on TVWS utilization for affordable broadband services in rural areas, facilitated the provision of CSIR TVWS technology to the University of Dar es Salaam, and contributed to the SADC Digital Transformation Strategy in 2018.

Luzango was a visiting scholar at the European University in Cyprus in 2019 and participated in the European Union’s IRACON project activities, successfully supervising postgraduate students.

Since 2019, he has been the Vice Chair of the IEEE DySPAN-SC Working Group P1900.6, developing global standards for “Spectrum Sensing Interfaces and Data Structures for Dynamic Spectrum Access and other Advanced Radio Communication Systems.” He also co-convenes the South African 5G Forum R&D WG.

Luzango is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Tanzania, supervising and training postgraduate students. He has co-supervised PhD and Master’s students from various universities, including Wits, TUT, EUC Cyprus, and AAiT Ethiopia, and mentors CSIR candidate researchers. He has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed conference papers, articles, book chapters, and journals, and several CSIR Technology Demonstrators in innovative digital technologies.

He holds patents on an intelligent channel allocation technique for reconfigurable white space radios, granted in five territories worldwide. He also contributed to developing the global IETF standard “Protocol for Access White Space” databases (PAWS) RFC 7545.

Luzango has spoken at numerous local and international workshops, symposiums, and meetings as an invited and keynote speaker. In 2021, he was co-General Chair and Organizing Chair of the IEEE flagship conference in Africa, AFRICON 2021. In 2023, he was invited by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa to speak about the Fourth Industrial Revolution during the inaugural session of the Parliamentary committee on the 4IR youth campaign.

Luzango is a recipient of several scientific awards, including the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) award in 2019, won under the category “Innovations and their Research and/or Development by teams, individuals, or organizations” for the Smart Spectrum Sharing Team.

Dr. Paul Campling is a hydrologist, specialised in the domain of land and water management and policy assessment. He is currently International Business Development Manager at VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research) coordinating the acquisition and management of European environmental projects. Previously he worked as a Project Manager at the European Environment Agency (Copenhagen) coordinating the IRENA project to develop and report on agri-environmental indicators for the European Union. He also spent 5 years in Nigeria working on a research project concerned with water resources development, for which he completed his PhD. In the last 25 years he has managed several environmental projects addressing different environmental concerns for the European Space Agency (flood monitoring), DG Eurostat (landscape indicators), the Joint Research Centre (permanent grasslands, nitrogen balances), and DG ENV (cost benefit analysis of the Water Framework Directive, alternative water supplies, market-based instruments for reducing air pollution, soil organic matter – best practices and tradeoffs). Paul was coordinator of the Pavitra Ganga project in India that demonstrated improved solutions for waste water treatment, resource recovery (energy and materials) and smart water management (sensors and ICT). Paul is an expert in European environmental policy. Paul originates from the United Kingdom but is now also a Belgian national.

Holds a PhD in Language Studies, with a focus on teaching/learning and foreign language teacher education (UEL, 2013). She is an adjunct professor at the State University of Northern Paraná, where she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses. In the field of university management, she has served as Coordinator of the Language Program, the Center for Languages, Communication and Arts, Institutional Coordinator of the Science without Borders Program, Languages without Borders Program, International Language Center, Teaching Initiation Program, as well as Coordinator of International Relations (2014 – 2022). From 2014 to 2023, she served as executive secretary of the Internationalization and Mobility Chamber of the Brazilian Association of Rectors of State and Municipal Universities (ABRUEM), where she coordinated several international missions, in addition to the National and Latin American Mobility Program (PILA). She was vice-president of the Brazilian Association for International Education (FAUBAI) from 2017 to 2019. Since 2014, she has been the State Coordinator of the Paraná Speaks Languages Program (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese as a language of reception), under the State Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (SETI). Since 2018, she has been the Advisor for International Strategic Projects at the Araucária Foundation, working to expand and strengthen internationalization policies in support of science diplomacy in the state of Paraná. She has had language policy and internationalization projects approved by the British Council and Araucária Foundation, and was awarded by ELAP (Emerging Leaders of America) while participating in diplomatic missions. She has publications, book editing work, and focuses her research on the development and impact of language and internationalization policies.

Dr. Hwanil Park is the Chief Director of the Division of Global Innovation Strategy Research at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Korea. He oversees various scope of projects focusing on the STI policy for the global challenges with perspectives of national, regional and global level. Dr. Park is serving as a Vice chair of Policy Partnership on STI (Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation/PPSTI) at APEC since 2021.

Prior to joining STEPI, Dr. Park served as Specialist at Bureau of Supporting Green Growth at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, RoK (2016). He also worked as Director at the Policy Research Division at the Green Technology Centre in Seoul (2014-2015) and Research Fellow at Samsung Economic Research Institute (2009-2014).

His main research interests are 1) dynamics of markets, environment and economy, 2) science, technology and innovation for sustainable development and climate change, and 3) international cooperation of science and technology.

He received Ph.D and M.A. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. He earned his B.A. in Agronomy at Korea University.

Dr. Burrows currently serves as the Vice President of the Jiangsu Industrial Research Institute (JITRI) in Nanjing, China, where he is responsible for leading the WAITRO Secretariat (World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations) as Secretary General. JITRI is an independent organization funded by Jiangsu Province to accelerate development by priming the pump of industrial innovation, which has now expanded to include Shanghai and the entire Yangtze Delta region under the umbrella of a National Innovation Center (NICE).

Dr. Burrows has 35 years of research experience, including both executive government and industry leadership. He served as Senior Vice President for R&D at the Institute of New Energy, Shenzhen, China, which was a private, non-profit technology development organization. He also worked for KB Science, serving as Chief Research Development Officer. His work there included leading clients on strategy, team science and competitive proposal development for large-scale center proposals.

Paul obtained a PhD in Physics from Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1989, where he worked on the design and fabrication of molecular electronic devices. He was a Research Scientist in the Frontier Research Program at the Riken Institute in Japan and also held research appointments at the University of Southern California and Princeton University, where he was a Research Scholar from 1997 to 2000. He contributed to the early days of Universal Display Corporation (Nasdaq listed in 1996) and is a co-inventor of phosphorescent organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) and stacked, color-tunable OLEDs. He subsequently joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a Laboratory Fellow in the Energy Science and Technology Directorate, where he managed the successful Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (funded at over $5 million) and built a research program in solid state lighting with the DOE along with a > $1 million/year OLED research group at PNNL. He won a Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer award for excellence in technology transfer in 2002 for the thin film encapsulation technology that formed the basis of a second startup, Vitex Systems, sold to Samsung in 2010.

With a professional career that now spans the UK, USA, Japan and China, Paul crosses cultural boundaries and works effectively with a broad range of clients. He has over 110 publications in refereed journals and is a co-inventor of 124 issued U.S. Patents (350 worldwide) in the fields of organic semiconductors, thin film technology and solid state lighting.

Luzango Mfupe is a Principal Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) within the Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions cluster. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering, specializing in Telecommunications technologies. His research focuses on improving spectrum utilization efficiency and the capacity of national wireless ICT infrastructures, aiming to reduce the cost to communicate, bridge the digital divide in hard-to-reach, low-income rural communities.

Luzango is a renowned expert in Dynamic Spectrum Access and Management. He is a leader and co-inventor of the CSIR TVWS spectrum-sharing technology, which has obtained regulatory approval in South Africa (2021), the United Kingdom (2016), and Tanzania (2022) to lower communication costs.

As a Principal Investigator, Luzango leads a portfolio of RD&I projects and initiatives, funded by South Africa’s national government and international organizations such as FCDO and UNDP. These projects have significantly impacted the development of ICT-focused SMMEs, creating job opportunities for women and youth in underserved communities.

Luzango has contributed to key national strategic policy documents, including the Recommended South African Strategy for 5G and Future and Emerging Technologies and the Findings Documents and Position Paper on the Framework for Dynamic Spectrum Access and Opportunistic Spectrum Management.

In the SADC region, Luzango has advised the Ministry of ICT in Tanzania on TVWS utilization for affordable broadband services in rural areas, facilitated the provision of CSIR TVWS technology to the University of Dar es Salaam, and contributed to the SADC Digital Transformation Strategy in 2018.

Luzango was a visiting scholar at the European University in Cyprus in 2019 and participated in the European Union’s IRACON project activities, successfully supervising postgraduate students.

Since 2019, he has been the Vice Chair of the IEEE DySPAN-SC Working Group P1900.6, developing global standards for “Spectrum Sensing Interfaces and Data Structures for Dynamic Spectrum Access and other Advanced Radio Communication Systems.” He also co-convenes the South African 5G Forum R&D WG.

Luzango is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Tanzania, supervising and training postgraduate students. He has co-supervised PhD and Master’s students from various universities, including Wits, TUT, EUC Cyprus, and AAiT Ethiopia, and mentors CSIR candidate researchers. He has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed conference papers, articles, book chapters, and journals, and several CSIR Technology Demonstrators in innovative digital technologies.

He holds patents on an intelligent channel allocation technique for reconfigurable white space radios, granted in five territories worldwide. He also contributed to developing the global IETF standard “Protocol for Access White Space” databases (PAWS) RFC 7545.

Luzango has spoken at numerous local and international workshops, symposiums, and meetings as an invited and keynote speaker. In 2021, he was co-General Chair and Organizing Chair of the IEEE flagship conference in Africa, AFRICON 2021. In 2023, he was invited by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa to speak about the Fourth Industrial Revolution during the inaugural session of the Parliamentary committee on the 4IR youth campaign.

Luzango is a recipient of several scientific awards, including the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) award in 2019, won under the category “Innovations and their Research and/or Development by teams, individuals, or organizations” for the Smart Spectrum Sharing Team.

Holds a PhD in Language Studies, with a focus on teaching/learning and foreign language teacher education (UEL, 2013). She is an adjunct professor at the State University of Northern Paraná, where she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses. In the field of university management, she has served as Coordinator of the Language Program, the Center for Languages, Communication and Arts, Institutional Coordinator of the Science without Borders Program, Languages without Borders Program, International Language Center, Teaching Initiation Program, as well as Coordinator of International Relations (2014 – 2022). From 2014 to 2023, she served as executive secretary of the Internationalization and Mobility Chamber of the Brazilian Association of Rectors of State and Municipal Universities (ABRUEM), where she coordinated several international missions, in addition to the National and Latin American Mobility Program (PILA). She was vice-president of the Brazilian Association for International Education (FAUBAI) from 2017 to 2019. Since 2014, she has been the State Coordinator of the Paraná Speaks Languages Program (English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese as a language of reception), under the State Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (SETI). Since 2018, she has been the Advisor for International Strategic Projects at the Araucária Foundation, working to expand and strengthen internationalization policies in support of science diplomacy in the state of Paraná. She has had language policy and internationalization projects approved by the British Council and Araucária Foundation, and was awarded by ELAP (Emerging Leaders of America) while participating in diplomatic missions. She has publications, book editing work, and focuses her research on the development and impact of language and internationalization policies.

Over thirty-four years of experience in the field of energy, environment and sustainable development. Dr Ibrahim Hafeezur Rehman is currently Director, School of Sustainability, NAMTECH which is an ArcelorMittal/NipponSteel – AMNS - education initiative. Earlier for close to a decade Dr Rehman was with VITO till April 2024. Vito, is a leading Flemish government owned, not for profit, international organization. As part of VITO’s International Office he led South Asia and India Operations and was also CEO, VITO Arabia LLC. 

Prior to Vito as a Senior member of TERI Management (Senior Director) Dr Rehman led a team of researchers and implementors; on cross cutting Global Campaigns (Lighting a Billion Lives Program in South Asia and Africa); for Global Research Initiative (As Lead Consultant for UNDP Regional Energy Program for Poverty Reduction for Asia and Asia Pacific); and for Major Research and Implementation Programs in India (Comprehensive Initiative for Bio Fuels; DFID TERI Program on Energy Access); and Evaluation of National Biogas and Cookstove Programs in India; etc.

Dr Rehman has a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry; training in Environment Management from the University of Manchester/Birmingham; and a Doctorate from the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Dr Rehman is also a co-author of some books and has written several scientific (and policy) papers and articles in reputed journals and magazines. Dr Rehman has worked across countries in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, a former Indian Administrative Service officer (1986 batch), is currently the Chairperson of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. With extensive administrative experience, particularly in energy and environment sectors, he has held key positions including Secretary in the Ministries of Coal and Mines, where he championed sustainable mining reforms. At the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Jain contributed to the Montreal Protocol and waste management initiatives. He has authored two books on natural gas, and his recent work focuses on India's energy security and policy development, including the National Energy Policy (2017-2040). Dr. Jain holds a BA in Economics, an MBA, and a Ph.D. on the role of natural gas in India's energy mix.

Ankur Malyan is an energy and climate policy researcher exploring the near- and long-term aspects of clean energy transitions and mitigation pathways. He is a Manager with RMI India in the Industrial Decarbonisation team working on sectors like steel, ammonia, fertilizers, etc. Additionally, he works on national and sub-national policy advancements around green hydrogen/ammonia across hard-to-abate sectors.

Shri Vikas Narwal is the Managing Director of Indian Ports Association. He also served as Deputy Chairman of the Cochin Port Authority. Previously, he served as the Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh State Agricultural Marketing Board. Mr. Narwal has a graduate degree in Nautical Science from T.S. Chanakya and he has worked in the shipping sector for several years as a Nautical Officer before joining the Indian Administrative Service.

Dorothea Müschenborn has a profound business experience in industry as well as in the public sector. Her expertise lies in management, strategic and operational marketing, business development, project management and research & development. She has been in the management team of several start-ups in the service sector and the chemical industry. Currently, Ms Müschenborn is project coordinator at the office of the hydrogen flagship project TransHyDE, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is dedicated to the transport and storage infrastructure for green hydrogen. Ms. Müschenborn holds an MBA from London Business School and studied chemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany graduating with a Diploma.

With a degree in Civil Engineering followed by an MBA in Marketing, and a Master of Financial Analysis, Daljit Singh Kohli started his career as a self-employed civil engineering consultant. Later he moved to work along with a consultancy group specialized in providing India Entry Strategies for Scandinavian companies. In 2008, he joined ‘New Zealand Trade & Enterprise’ (the economic development agency of the NZ Government) helping New Zealand companies enter and expand in the Indian subcontinent mainly in India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Currently he is the International Representative for India for the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and is responsible for the development of cargo flows between India and Europe through the Port of Antwerp-Bruges along with attracting investments to the Port, thereby contributing to the economic prosperity of the Port, the region of Flanders and Belgium. A true trade facilitator, Daljit brings 20+ years of broad experience and network in many domains and in multiple sectors.

Dr James Walker is Team Lead for Renewable Gases at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Innovation and Technology Centre in Bonn, Germany. He is responsible for co-ordinating IRENA activities concerned with the measures required to enable the scale up of green hydrogen and derivative value chains, and works with stakeholders in member countries to support their efforts. James has previously worked in a range of roles across academic research, consultancy, and in the civil service, always with a focus on the emerging hydrogen economy. Before joining IRENA he managed hydrogen strategy for Ofgem, the energy regulator in Great Britain.

Ruchi Gupta is an experienced clean energy professional with over 13 years of experience working under different capacities for the government, industry, and academia in Energy Transition. She joined VITO as Senior R&D, International Energy and Climate Strategy in July 2022. She is currently leading green hydrogen projects in India and Morocco and involved in the development of an industry decarbonization support tool for SMEs in Wallonia. In her PhD work at the University of Geneva (2017-2022), she focused on three different flexibility options, namely energy storage technologies, grid reinforcement and green hydrogen to support decarbonization and the net-zero carbon goal. In her tenure prior to PhD, Dr. Gupta worked for the Government of India (2011-2017) on policy and strategy formulation, international cooperation, strategic designing to leading programmes, research and modelling, project management, liaising, communications, training, and capacity building in the field of renewable energy and sustainability. She made significant contributions to the work on power sector, renewable energy integration, off-grid rural electrification, electricity market, energy efficiency, sustainable development goals and G20 energy policy. Dr. Gupta was also instrumental in setting up the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. In her role as a consultant, she trained around 200 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Sustainability officers in environmental sustainability. Dr. Gupta earned her master’s degree in environmental sciences from TERI University, New Delhi and her PhD on analysis of flexibility options and sector coupling for integration of clean energy technologies from University of Geneva, Switzerland. 

‘Master in Biology’, University of Ghent. 17 years of experience with the Jan De Nul Group, including 14 years as an expat on civil, dredging, and offshore projects worldwide. Extensive work experience as a (Lead) Environmental (Site) Engineer and (Senior) Project Survey Manager. Proficient with a wide range of topographic and hydrographic equipment, monitoring techniques, data acquisition and processing software, as well as environmental sensors and environmental mitigation techniques. Skilled in overseeing and managing projects from the start-up phase through to completion, including personnel management, client and authority reporting, and handling installations both in the field and aboard dredging and offshore vessels. From January 2024, Manager of the Marine Environmental Department within Jan De Nul Group. 

Vikash is a climate change and sustainability expert working on diversified projects & roles for last 18 years. He has undergone extensive training in the validation and verification of GHG offset projects including the accreditation requirements for the DOEs/VVBs. He has actively been involved in the validation and verification and internal technical review of more than 500 GHG offset projects in under different GHG Programs and under different sectoral scope , more than 500 GHG mitigation activities worldwide, covering a range of sectoral scopes, such as Energy industries (renewable - / non-renewable sources), Energy demand, Manufacturing industries, Chemical industries, Metal production, Fugitive emissions from fuels (solid, oil and gas), waste management, Livestock and Land use & forestry. He was also involved in assessment of baseline & monitoring methodology and standardized baseline. 

Shaurya is a dedicated climate change and sustainable development professional with a focus on creativity, innovation, systems-based approaches, and empirical methodologies. He is a researcher at the Global Centre for Environment and Energy at Ahmedabad University and the Contact Point for the Mitigation Working Group at YOUNGO, UNFCCC. Concurrently pursuing a Master’s in International Relations and a diploma in Environmental Law and Policy, his work spans the science-policy interface of climate change, energy, urban planning, and sustainable development. Shaurya has assisted the Working Group III’s Co-Chair and Technical Support Unit (TSU) on Assessment Report Six (AR6) cycle of the IPCC. His past work includes projects on urban equity, urban housing, and climate strategy at CEPT University, where he earned his bachelor’s in urban planning.

Mr. Anshuman, Director, Water Resources Division of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has been working in the field of water sector since last 26 years. His key qualifications include M. Tech. in energy & environmental management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi.

His expertise in the water sector lies in the areas related to integrated water resource management, water use efficiency, water quality & quantity assessments where he has carried out several comprehensive research studies in context of the source (surface water, groundwater), issues (water scarcity, pollution, use efficiency etc.), sectors (irrigation, domestic & industrial) and stakeholders (Central/state Governments and local communities). His focus work areas include integrated water resources management (IWRM); Water use efficiency (Industry, agri-irrigation and domestic); Urban & rural water supply & demand management studies; Water audits; Water conservation (rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, water bodies rejuvenation etc.); Watershed management; Climate change and water security; Provision of drinking water, Wastewater recycle, reuse & resources recovery; Adequacy & efficiency studies of sewage & effluent treatment plants; Training and capacity building in water & environmental management; Regulatory legislations, Environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies etc.

He has been member of several advisory committees earlier and currently is Member of Task Force of Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (BWUE) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Monitoring Committee for FTT/FTC projects under Ecology, Environment, Earth & Ocean Sciences and Water (E3OW), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Committee for Evaluation of Indo-German Projects; Member of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Sectional Committee for Water Quality for Industrial Purposes, CHD 13; Member of Committee for National Water Mission Awards, Ministry of Jal Shakti; Member of the 'Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)' for SVAGRIHA V3  rating; Member of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) (Under Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India); Member Advisory Board of Water Digest Pvt. Ltd. & Jury Member, Water Digest Water Awards, Organised by Water Digest and UNESCO.

He has executed several related projects, presented several papers at national and international fora and has several relevant national & international publications.

Dr. Hwanil Park is the Chief Director of the Division of Global Innovation Strategy Research at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Korea. He oversees various scope of projects focusing on the STI policy for the global challenges with perspectives of national, regional and global level. Dr. Park is serving as a Vice chair of Policy Partnership on STI (Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation/PPSTI) at APEC since 2021.

Prior to joining STEPI, Dr. Park served as Specialist at Bureau of Supporting Green Growth at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, RoK (2016). He also worked as Director at the Policy Research Division at the Green Technology Centre in Seoul (2014-2015) and Research Fellow at Samsung Economic Research Institute (2009-2014).

His main research interests are 1) dynamics of markets, environment and economy, 2) science, technology and innovation for sustainable development and climate change, and 3) international cooperation of science and technology.

He received Ph.D and M.A. in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. He earned his B.A. in Agronomy at Korea University.

Mr. Anshuman, Director, Water Resources Division of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has been working in the field of water sector since last 26 years. His key qualifications include M. Tech. in energy & environmental management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi.

His expertise in the water sector lies in the areas related to integrated water resource management, water use efficiency, water quality & quantity assessments where he has carried out several comprehensive research studies in context of the source (surface water, groundwater), issues (water scarcity, pollution, use efficiency etc.), sectors (irrigation, domestic & industrial) and stakeholders (Central/state Governments and local communities). His focus work areas include integrated water resources management (IWRM); Water use efficiency (Industry, agri-irrigation and domestic); Urban & rural water supply & demand management studies; Water audits; Water conservation (rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, water bodies rejuvenation etc.); Watershed management; Climate change and water security; Provision of drinking water, Wastewater recycle, reuse & resources recovery; Adequacy & efficiency studies of sewage & effluent treatment plants; Training and capacity building in water & environmental management; Regulatory legislations, Environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies etc.

He has been member of several advisory committees earlier and currently is Member of Task Force of Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (BWUE) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Monitoring Committee for FTT/FTC projects under Ecology, Environment, Earth & Ocean Sciences and Water (E3OW), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Committee for Evaluation of Indo-German Projects; Member of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Sectional Committee for Water Quality for Industrial Purposes, CHD 13; Member of Committee for National Water Mission Awards, Ministry of Jal Shakti; Member of the 'Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)' for SVAGRIHA V3  rating; Member of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) (Under Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India); Member Advisory Board of Water Digest Pvt. Ltd. & Jury Member, Water Digest Water Awards, Organised by Water Digest and UNESCO.

He has executed several related projects, presented several papers at national and international fora and has several relevant national & international publications.

Mr Nitin Desai is a distinguished economist and a well-known voice in public policy for a nationally and internationally, especially in the sustainable development sector. He was in the Planning Commission (1973-88) and later served as the Chief Economic Adviser and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, in the Ministry of Finance (1988-90). He also served as Senior Economic Adviser for the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) where he introduced the concept of sustainable development. He was the Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs in the UN, where his major contributions included the organization of a series of global summits, notably the Rio Earth Summit (1992), the Copenhagen Social Development Summit (1995), the Monterrey Finance and Development Summit (2002) and the Johannesburg Sustainable Development Summit (2002). He oversaw the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development in the UN, and was the first Under Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development.

Dr. Burrows currently serves as the Vice President of the Jiangsu Industrial Research Institute (JITRI) in Nanjing, China, where he is responsible for leading the WAITRO Secretariat (World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations) as Secretary General. JITRI is an independent organization funded by Jiangsu Province to accelerate development by priming the pump of industrial innovation, which has now expanded to include Shanghai and the entire Yangtze Delta region under the umbrella of a National Innovation Center (NICE).

Dr. Burrows has 35 years of research experience, including both executive government and industry leadership. He served as Senior Vice President for R&D at the Institute of New Energy, Shenzhen, China, which was a private, non-profit technology development organization. He also worked for KB Science, serving as Chief Research Development Officer. His work there included leading clients on strategy, team science and competitive proposal development for large-scale center proposals.

Paul obtained a PhD in Physics from Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1989, where he worked on the design and fabrication of molecular electronic devices. He was a Research Scientist in the Frontier Research Program at the Riken Institute in Japan and also held research appointments at the University of Southern California and Princeton University, where he was a Research Scholar from 1997 to 2000. He contributed to the early days of Universal Display Corporation (Nasdaq listed in 1996) and is a co-inventor of phosphorescent organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) and stacked, color-tunable OLEDs. He subsequently joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a Laboratory Fellow in the Energy Science and Technology Directorate, where he managed the successful Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative (funded at over $5 million) and built a research program in solid state lighting with the DOE along with a > $1 million/year OLED research group at PNNL. He won a Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer award for excellence in technology transfer in 2002 for the thin film encapsulation technology that formed the basis of a second startup, Vitex Systems, sold to Samsung in 2010.

With a professional career that now spans the UK, USA, Japan and China, Paul crosses cultural boundaries and works effectively with a broad range of clients. He has over 110 publications in refereed journals and is a co-inventor of 124 issued U.S. Patents (350 worldwide) in the fields of organic semiconductors, thin film technology and solid state lighting.

Mr. Anshuman, Director, Water Resources Division of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has been working in the field of water sector since last 26 years. His key qualifications include M. Tech. in energy & environmental management from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi.

His expertise in the water sector lies in the areas related to integrated water resource management, water use efficiency, water quality & quantity assessments where he has carried out several comprehensive research studies in context of the source (surface water, groundwater), issues (water scarcity, pollution, use efficiency etc.), sectors (irrigation, domestic & industrial) and stakeholders (Central/state Governments and local communities). His focus work areas include integrated water resources management (IWRM); Water use efficiency (Industry, agri-irrigation and domestic); Urban & rural water supply & demand management studies; Water audits; Water conservation (rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, water bodies rejuvenation etc.); Watershed management; Climate change and water security; Provision of drinking water, Wastewater recycle, reuse & resources recovery; Adequacy & efficiency studies of sewage & effluent treatment plants; Training and capacity building in water & environmental management; Regulatory legislations, Environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies etc.

He has been member of several advisory committees earlier and currently is Member of Task Force of Bureau of Water Use Efficiency (BWUE) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Monitoring Committee for FTT/FTC projects under Ecology, Environment, Earth & Ocean Sciences and Water (E3OW), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India; Member of CSIR Committee for Evaluation of Indo-German Projects; Member of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Sectional Committee for Water Quality for Industrial Purposes, CHD 13; Member of Committee for National Water Mission Awards, Ministry of Jal Shakti; Member of the 'Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)' for SVAGRIHA V3  rating; Member of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) (Under Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India); Member Advisory Board of Water Digest Pvt. Ltd. & Jury Member, Water Digest Water Awards, Organised by Water Digest and UNESCO.

He has executed several related projects, presented several papers at national and international fora and has several relevant national & international publications.