Detailed Profiles

Dr. Kwangyun Wohn is a Professor Emeritus at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST). In the past, he has been with several prestigious educational as well as research institutions; Agency for Defense Development as Researcher (for 5 years), Harvard University as Post-Doc Fellow (for 2 years); University of Pennsylvania as Assistant Professor (for 4 years), and KAIST as Professor (for 27 years), and most recently, National Council of Science & Technology as Chairperson (for 3 years) overseeing the 25 major national research institutions including KIST and ETRI.

Major activities and accomplishments include: Director of VR Research Center, a national center of research excellence; Founding President of Korean Society of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); Founding President of Korean Society of Performing Art; Editorial Board of British Computer Society; Founding Dean of Graduate School of Culture Technology at KAIST. While his research interests span a broad range of the intersection between art and science – from theoretical aspects to practicalities – he focuses his research efforts to the applications of virtual reality technology to various cultural artifacts such as stage performances, museum exhibitions, cultural heritage, and educational contents.

Dr. Shailesh Nayak is the Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Chancellor of the TERI School of Advanced Studies, Delhi, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. He chaired the Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) and served as Secretary to the Government of India for the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) from 2008 to 2015, leading programs in climate change, weather services, polar science, geoscience, and ocean technology. His research interests include blue economy strategy, sustainable development, and science diplomacy.

Dr. Nayak earned his Ph.D. in Geology from M.S University of Baroda in 1980. He joined ISRO in 1978 and became the Director of Marine and Water Resources, leading projects on satellite data applications for ocean color, coastal management, and water resources. His work influenced coastal zoning policy.

Dr. Nayak is on the Governing Board of In-Space and the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Zone Management. He has received numerous awards, including the Padma Shri in 2024.

He is President of the Indian Geophysical Union and Indian Mangrove Society, with about 190 published papers and 200 invited talks.

Dr Singh is a Former Ambassador of India to Germany, Indonesia, Ethiopia, ASEAN and the African Union

He Chaired the CII Business Task Force on Trilateral Cooperation in Africa including the Asia Africa Growth Corridor with Japan. He comments on current events on TV and in journals. His report on such cooperation in 2019, focused on private sector engagement to make Trilaterals successful.

He is associated with the social impact investment movement and is working on expanding it in Africa along with other trilateral initiatives, including with Japan, for B2B engagement. He is an independent director of companies achieving social impact. He is also associated with civil society efforts through the Aavishkar Foundation, and the Advisory Council of Nobel Peace Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi.

Dr Joo-Jin Lee is an esteemed advisor at the Korea Space Technology Promotion Association. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. His career includes significant contributions to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), where he served as President.

Dr Lee has received numerous accolades, such as the Presidential Commendation, National Decorations Mokryun-jang and Hyuksin-jang, and Distinguished Service Awards from the IAF and the National Assembly of Korea. His social activities are vast, including leadership roles in the Korea Society for Aeronautics and Space Science, the Alumni Association of Johns Hopkins University in Korea, and the Korea Society for Science & Technology Policy Studies. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea and has contributed to the IAF, UAE Space Agency, and various advisory committees. 

Minister Sang-Woo Lim is the Deputy Chief of Mission, Korean Embassy in New Delhi. He has served in multiple Korean missions abroad, including the United States, Iraq (Erbil Office), the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Brazil. He has also served as Korea’s first resident Ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar from 2018 to 2020.

Prior to coming to India, Minister Lim served as Director-General of North American Affairs Bureau. He also served concurrently as the Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Strategy Task Force and was in charge of drafting Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy was announced in December 2022.

Minister Lim holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Seoul National University, and a Master in Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University. In addition to Korean, his native tongue, he speaks English, French, and learning Hindi.

Dr Seung Cheol Lee is the Director of the Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center, affiliated with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Metallurgical Engineering from Seoul National University, specializing in computational materials science. Following this, he has served as a visiting scientist at Daresbury Laboratory in the UK and Aachen University in Germany.

His research focuses on bridging experimental and computational research in materials science. Dr. Lee has published over 120 papers and holds 22 patents. Notably, he developed specialized software such as CINEMAS for predicting material properties. Additionally, as the leader of the Korea-India Cooperation Center, Dr. Lee actively promotes international collaboration in scientific research.

Dr Kang-Kook Lee is a Professor in the College of Economics at Ritsumeikan University. His research interests encompass economic growth, inequality, financial globalization and the East Asian economy. He graduated from the Department of Economics and the Graduate School of Economics at Seoul National University. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts, with a focus on capital account liberalization and economic development. 

He published several books and numerous papers in academic journals including the Cambridge Journal of economics. As a visiting scholar, he has been affiliated with Columbia University in 2009, the University of Cambridge in 2018, and Seoul National University in 2019. He also serves as a co-editor of The Japanese Political economy. 

With over 25 years of regional expertise, Dr N. Janardhan analyses and unravels the evolving multi-dimensional partnerships between the countries of the Gulf and Asia (and recently Africa).

As Director of Research and Analysis at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, Abu Dhabi, he steers the institution’s strategic policy agenda. He also offers diplomats PGD, MA and executive training courses on Gulf and Asian foreign policies.

Dr Janardhan received his PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and the last of his four books was The Arab Gulf’s Pivot to Asia: From Transactional to Strategic Partnerships (Gerlach).

He is also an Adjunct Faculty at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and Managing Assistant Editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies (Routledge).

Dr Sung Yong KANG is the director of the Center for South Asian Studies in Asia Center at Seoul National University. He is also an associate professor at the Institute of Humanities at Seoul National University in Korea. 

He was educated in philosophy at Seoul National University in the1980s, and he became interested in Indian philosophy. He graduated from the University of Hamburg with a major in Language and Culture of Ancient and Medieval India, a minor in philosophy, and a minor in Language and Culture of Tibet. He received his Ph.D. from Hamburg University in 2003 and worked as research fellow and lecturer in Seoul, Korea. In 2004, he has taken a Research Associate position in the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna. Since 2008 he is working in the Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University as an Indologist and doing his research and publication activities in diverse fields of Indian classics.

Dr. Mohamed I. Fahmy Menza is the Senior Director of Executive Education at the School of Global Affairs & Public Policy (GAPP), The American University in Cairo. 

With over 20 years of expertise in cross-cultural education and virtual exchange, he has developed academic partnerships among 100+ Higher Education Institutions worldwide. 

Holding a PhD in Arab & Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter, his research focuses on political economy, state/society relations, and cross-cultural learning. A recipient of numerous interdisciplinary research awards, he has served as a visiting scholar at prestigious institutions and provided consultancies for organizations like the World Bank and UN-Habitat.

Dr Srinivasan R is the Editor in Chief of the "Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies" (EJSSS) and the Director of the Praghna Centre for Research. 

With over three decades of experience in HR, project management, defense, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement, he is a qualified human rights law instructor and SATS Alumni (ICRC). 

He has presented papers on sovereignty, BRI, regionalism, and Sino-Indian relations at international conferences. He authored "Research Writing: A Complete Guide" and "Peeking at Peking: China, India and the World," and edited volumes on India-Mongolia Relations and Asian Geopolitics.

Dr Daniel Hyunchae Park is a professor of  the Department of Business and Digital Future Convergence Service  at Chonnam National University(CNU) in Korea. He is also working as the director of the CNU management research institute(CMRI) and the specialist program related to Employment and Labor Management. He is also actively involved in two NGOs (the co-representative of Asian Economic & Cultural Institute (AECI) and the director of Institute of Indian Studies, Korea (IISK)) in order to preemptively respond to future social changes in Korea.  He was a 7th dean of graduate school of business in CNU. Before joining CNU, he was the head of LG Life Science India Pvt. Ltd.  The areas of research interest remain at Digital Diaspora studies, Digital Entrepreneurship and Business Strategies for the Sustainability. 

Dr. Byungdug Jun, a professor at Nagasaki University, specializes in remote sensing and photogrammetry, focusing on Earth surface analysis. With broad experience in teaching, research, and administration, he has made significant contributions to Earth and data sciences, advancing spatial data analysis and environmental monitoring. His active involvement in societies like JSPRS, ASPRS, and AGC, along with editorial roles in leading journals, underscores his participation in the global scientific community.

His work at DePaul University and with Nagasaki's Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition reflect his dedication to impactful global research. His various roles and memberships in international geoscience organizations showcase his commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing remote sensing.

Dr Kingshuk Chatterjee is a Professor in the Department of History at Calcutta University and is associated with the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, Kolkata. He has served as a Founding Professor at Shiv Nadar University and as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the United States Naval Academy. 

Dr Chatterjee specializes in Middle Eastern politics, focusing on Political Islam in Iran. He is the author of Ali Shari’ati and the Shaping of Political Islam in Iran and A Split in the Middle: The Making of the Political Centre in Iran (1987-2004). His latest publication, co-authored with Surbek Biswas, is Chambers Book of Indian Election Facts (2024).

Prof. D. Suba Chandran is the Dean of the School of Conflict and Security Studies at NIAS, where he leads the Conflict Resolution & Peace Research and Science, Technology and International Relations programs. 

Prof. Chandran also researches peace and conflict, specifically on "Conflict Peripheries" and the "Peace Gap." He leads the International Peace Research Initiative (IPRI) and represents the Global Partnership to Prevent Armed Conflict (GPPAC). 

He coordinates the NIAS Global Politics initiative, focusing on the contemporary world order and area studies of Pakistan, Europe, Africa, and Maritime. 

Dr Amr Adly is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at The American University in Cairo (AUC). 

He has served as a researcher at the Middle East Directions Program at the European University Institute and as a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. His research focuses on the political economy, development studies, and economic sociology of the Middle East, particularly Egypt. 

Dr Adly has taught at AUC and Stanford University and has managed projects at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He authored "Cleft Capitalism" (2020) and "State Reform and Development in the Middle East" (2012).

Dr Padmini Ram is the Director of Urban Ethnographers. She is an experienced researcher, educator, and public policy consultant with over two decades in social development. 

She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and specializes in public policy, social entrepreneurship, and urban development. As Director of Urban Ethnographers, she provides advisory support to various organizations. 

Dr. Ram has extensive experience in public policy at grassroots and international levels, working with organizations like the UN and CARE. She has taught at Christ University, Anglia Ruskin University, and the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include the informal economy, pro-poor markets, and impact evaluation.

Mr Yashveer Singh founded the Ashoka Young Changemakers program at Ashoka Innovators for the Public, world's largest network of social entrepreneurs & innovators. Ashoka Young Changemakers identifies, selects and builds a global community of Teen Changemakers. 

For his work, Yashveer has been recognized in "Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia" list in the year 2016. He was also awarded prestigious Youth Action Net 2012 Fellowship – as 1 of the 20 young social entrepreneurs representing 16 different countries by International Youth Foundation. Yashveer earned his MBA at University of Oxford, where he was the only MBA student to receive Vice-Chancellor Social Impact Award 2014 for his initiatives as Co-Chair Social Impact, Oxford Business Network (OBN). As the President of Student’s Union BITS Pilani 2006-07, Yashveer co-founded the University VISION 2020 Plan.