Prof. Gopal Pathak graduated in Civil Engineering from BIT Mesra in 1977. He completed his master’s in civil engineering and Ph.D. from the same institute. In 1980, he joined the Department of Civil Engineering at BIT Mesra as a faculty member and rose to the position of Professor in the year 2000. Apart from his experience in the academic field, he has also held many administrative positions, including HOD of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dean of Student Welfare, Dean of Faculty Development, Dean of Administration and Campus Development, and others. He has also served as Acting Vice Chancellor of the institute. Prof. Pathak has published and presented many technical papers in various national and international journals and conference proceedings in places such as China, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Iran, South Africa, the USA, and others during his professional career. He has also been a visiting professor and scholar at many prestigious foreign universities. To name a few: University of Technology, Sydney, Australia (1997); University of Ningbo, China (2006); Princeton University, USA (2009); International Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering, Burkina Faso, Western Africa (2009); and Stanford University, California (2011). He served as Vice Chancellor of Jharkhand University of Technology, Ranchi, from June 15, 2017, to December 14, 2020, and as Vice Chancellor of Sarala Birla University from December 15, 2020, to July 31, 2024. He has been heading Sarala Birla University as Director General since August 1, 2024.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosazlin Abdullah is a lecturer at the Institute of Biological Sciences (ISB), University Malaya. She has over 18 years of experience in various national and international agricultural-environmental based projects and has demonstrated outstanding research achievement in the field of sustainable soil management, one of the national challenges and is currently at the forefront of research in the field of biochar. She currently serves as the President of the Malaysian Soil Science Society, National Focal Point for the Global Soil Partnership, a Technical Committee of the Centre of Excellence for Soil Research in Asia (CESRA) and a Committee member of Biochar Malaysia Association. She has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles in international scientific journals with a Scopus H-index of 22. She actively contributes to the development of national guidelines and frameworks aimed at advancing sustainable agriculture in Malaysia. Her multifaceted contributions underscore her role as a distinguished figure in academia, research and community engagement.

Dr S K Sarkar is Senior Advisor, Water Resources Division at TERI. He headed the Natural Resources and Climate Programme in (including water resources sector) during 2014-2023. From 1998 till 2003 Dr Sarkar worked as Senior Fellow, TERI in infrastructure (including water resources) division, and during 2005-2007 as Director, Division of Regulatory Studies and Governance in TERI. He is a Doctorate in Economics (1991) from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York. Dr Sarkar is an IAS officer (retired). He is a former Secretary to the GoI in the Ministry of Water Resources. He was also Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, Govt. of India (2013-14). He served other Ministries including Finance Ministry in the Government of India, and worked in various capacities with Government of West Bengal. He worked as Member Secretary, West Bengal Pollution Control Board under State Environment Department during 2003-05 and formulated policies on plastic waste management. He also worked as consultant with the Asian Development Bank and with the World Bank/PPIAF (Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility). Dr Sarkar has got several publications to his credit, has authored and edited books on infrastructure issue and has presented a number of important papers in several conferences.

Dr. Dal Farra is a professor of media arts, experimental music, and transdisciplinary practices at Concordia University, Canada, and the founder-director of the media arts research centre CEIARTE-UNTREF, Argentina. He is the founder of the international symposia Balance-Unbalance (BunB) and Understanding Visual Music (UVM). Dal Farra has been director of the Hexagram Research-Creation Network on Arts, Cultures, and Technologies in Canada, coordinator of the Multimedia Communication national program of the Federal Ministry of Education in Argentina, and a researcher at UNESCO in France for its Digi-Arts project. He designed university and high school programs in art-science. Ricardo created the Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection hosted by the Daniel Langlois Foundation, Canada. He is a board member of ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic/Emerging Art), and an editorial board member of Leonardo (MIT Press), Organised Sound (Cambridge Press), and Resonance (UCalifornia Press). Dal Farra is a composer and artist specializing in transdisciplinary actions with science and emergent technologies.

Dr. S.K.Sharma studied in France and Switzerland, and I am presently a fairly old Environmental Educator at an ISC school in Dehradun, India. I’m engaged in teaching as well research project on the identification of indigenous sources of water and environmental problems due to climate change, leading to water scarcity in India. Poverty remains the biggest hurdle to reaching sustainable development in India. I have authored a textbook entitled “Caring for the Environment” for the ISC students.

Prof. Dr (Mrs.) G.A.S. Ginigaddara is a senior academic and higher education specialist with over two decades of experience in environmental studies, sustainability, educational governance, and research leadership. She has served in senior academic and administrative roles, including as a Vice Chancellor of a national public university. She has extensive experience in quality assurance, curriculum development, and research evaluation across multidisciplinary domains. Her academic and professional work spans climate-related policy studies, sustainability education, and institutional capacity building, with a strong focus on bridging research, policy, and practice in developing country contexts. Prof. Ginigaddara has contributed as a national-level academic reviewer, consultant, and evaluator for higher education and development initiatives, including internationally funded programs. She actively engages in international academic collaborations and serves on scientific and editorial committees, contributing to the advancement of rigorous, policy-relevant research in climate change and sustainability

Dr. Siti Nurshahida Nazli is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Pulau Pinang, Bertam Campus, Malaysia. She holds a PhD in Environmental Health and Safety and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of Queensland, Australia (2023-2025), focusing on children’s environmental health, indoor air quality, and air pollution. Her research interests include indoor and outdoor air pollution, climate-related health risks, environmental and occupational exposures, and science communication. She is actively involved in international research collaborations and is committed to translating scientific evidence into accessible knowledge for communities and policymakers