Dr.David Kocman

Department of Environmental Sciences

Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI)

Jamovacesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, SLOVENIA

Dr. David Kocman is a Senior scientist and Head of Environmental Informatics group within the Department of Environmental Sciences at Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia. His research interests focus on understanding of physical, chemical and biological processes that influence the environment, with emphasis on anthropogenically perturbed environments. His experience is in environmental data analysis, spatial data acquisition and management, participatory sensing using novel sensing technologies, citizen science approaches and testing of Citizens Observatory concepts for the assessment of exposure of human populations. He was involved in variety of multidisciplinary national and EU funded projects including CITI-SENSE, HEALS, ICARUS, SMURBS and CitieS-Health.

Dr. Nataša Mori

Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research

National Institute of Biology

Ljubljana, SLOVENIA

Dr. Nataša Mori is a Senior Scientific Associate at Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her research field are ecosystem studies of freshwaters. She is primarily interested in functioning and role of transitional areas between different ecosystems (groundwater-river, floodplains, and springs) and the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on the ecosystem structure and processes. Currently, her research focus is oriented towards better understanding of impacts of multiple stressors, including microplastics on river biofilms and aquatic invertebrate communities and bioremediation potential of microorganisms for newly emerging pollutants, especially microplastics.

Prof. Gaytha L Langlois

Professor of Environmental Policy

Bryant University

Rhode Island, USA

Professor Langlois, whose scholarly pursuits include microbial communities associated with coral reefs and oil-stressed ecosystems, the effects of climate change on Arctic ecosystems, and protection strategies for endangered Metasequoia redwoods in China, also has extensive experience in crafting municipal and statewide environmental policies. Her courses focus on broad policy implications, system challenges, innovative technology solutions, and sustainable business practices. Formerly Chair of the Department of Science and Technology from 2008-2014 and again in 2017-2018, Langlois helped to create new academic programs in Environmental Science and Biology, including the M.S. in Global Environmental Studies degree program, and collaborated with colleagues to envision new laboratory facilities, research programs, and faculty recruitment needs.

Langlois was integrally involved in the Bryant’s collaborative learning at a distance program (CLD) in Belarus, and has traveled extensively in China and Tibet as part of Bryant's global education initiatives. She is currently President of the International Society of Protistologists (ISOP) and will serve on the Executive Committee until 2022.

Prof. Rup Lal

FNA, FNASc, FNAAS

NASI Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellow

The Energy and Resources Institute

Prof. Rup Lal is the NASI Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute, IHC Complex, New Delhi. He is the Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi (FNA), Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India (FNASc), Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (FNAAS) and the Fellow, Academy of Microbiological Sciences (FAMSc), India. He has over 40 years long standing experience in teaching, administration and research.He has supervised nearly 70 Ph.D. thesis and mentored more than 120 M.Sc/M. Tech and under-graduate students. Prof. Rup Lal specialized himself in the area of microbial diversity, genomics and metagenomics.Prof. Lal was Editor-in-Chief of Indian Journal of Microbiology (2006-2013) and also serving as a member of the editorial board in various leading scientific journals like mSystems, Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology Reports, BMC Biotechnology, BMC Biochemistry, Microbial Biotechnology and many more. He has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals with 8618 ISI citations and h-index 46. Professor Lal is the recipient of several prestigious fellowships including the Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship(Germany), DBT Overseas Fellowship and Indo-USASM Professorship in Microbiology.Presently, he is the Ambassador of ISME (International Society for Microbial Ecology), The Netherlands to the Indian Ocean Region.

Dr. Bettina Sonntag

Senior scientist and Head of the research group ‘Ciliate ecology and taxonomy’

Research Department for Limnology, Mondsee

University of Innsbruck, Austria

Dr. Sontag is a Senior scientist and Head of the research group ‘Ciliate ecology and taxonomy’ at Research Department for Limnology, University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her research group focuses on the ecology, biodiversity and taxonomy of ciliates mainly in lakes. Particularly to understandthe autecology of ciliates in planktonic food webs, she studies the protists on an alpha-taxonomic levelincluding morphological and molecular state-of-the-art methods. She has more than 40 publications in peer-reviewed journal. There are several ongoing projects in her research laboratory

Prof. R.K. Kohli

Vice-Chancellor

Amity University, Punjab

Professor R.K. Kohli,is the current Vice-Chancellor of Amity University Punjab. He is a recipient of several state and national awards and is the former Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Punjab. He also holds a rare distinction of being a Fellow of all the four official National Science Academies. He is JC Bose National Fellow of Government of India – the highest paid national recognition to any active scientist in India. He was conferred with the first Haryana VigyanRatna Award by the Government of Haryana in 2009, apart from the Punjab Rattan Award in 2008. The Government of UT Chandigarh bestowed upon him the state honour for his research and teaching in Environment on the Independence Day, 1998. He had also been the recipient of Dr. BP Pal National Environment Fellowship- the highest award of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (2001).

He has been decorated consecutively for three terms of five years each as Certified Emeritus Senior Ecologist (the highest global accreditation) and is a member of several Project Appraisal Committees (Plant Sciences) of DST, CSIR, UGC and MoEFCC and NAACto name a few.

Professor Kohli has guided 33 Ph.D. and 29 M.Phil Theses. Besides publishing around 250 research papers, he also has 3 patents to his credit.

Dr. Rajesh Jalota

Senior Environmental officer

Energy and Extractive and Southwest Queensland Compliance unit, Queensland Australia

Dr. Rajesh Jalota is Senior Environmental officer in the Energy and Extractive and Southwest Queensland Compliance unit, in Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES)& Queensland Department of Resources, (DoR), Australia.

Since the last 18 years he has been proactively involved in different capacities including implementation of technical and research skills to deliver sustainable management and protection of Queensland’s Natural Resources and Environment. He has extensive experience in a range of fields covering the entire gamut starting from soil science& survey, database management, carbon sequestration, environmental management,thermal energy, Coal Seam Gas, Sewage Treatment Plants, Waste Collection and Recycling, Quarries, Heavy industry, Coastal, Chemical Storage and Handling, Land Rehabilitation and ending with Community Engagement.

Dr. Kaustubh Sharma

Assistant Director of Conservation Policy and Partnerships1Senior Ecologist

Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, USA

Dr. Koustubh Sharma has been involved in active research and conservation since 2001. He has been working with the Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, USA since 2007, and currently serves as the Assistant Director of Conservation Policy and Partnerships. Since 2014, he also serves as the International Coordinator of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystems Protection Program (GSLEP) whose secretariat is based in Bishkek.

At the GSLEP Program, Koustubh works with a small team with support from international organizations to coordinate this unique alliance that brings together governments of the 12 snow leopard range countries, Non-Government Organizations and Conservationists. At the Snow Leopard Trust, he assists in implementing research, conservation, training and building collaborations across several countries. Koustubh obtained a PhD in Wildlife Zoology from the University of Mumbai in 2006 after pursuing his Masters in Physics in 2001. His conducted the first detailed study of the rare four-horned antelope while working with Bombay Natural History Society in Central India for his PhD. Koustubh’s academic interests lie in population ecology, conservation biology, policy, data visualization, and technology for conservation. He has so far authored about 40 scientific publications and has presented his work in nearly the same number of international conferences

Shri. Kunal Satyarthi

Joint Secretary (Advisor)

National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India, INDIA

Shri. Kunal Satyarthi is Joint Secretary (Advisor) at National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India. He belongs to Indian Forest Service 1997 Batch, Himachal Pradesh Cadre. He has a Master’s degree in Public Policy, from Australian National University, Canberra, AUSTRALIA besides a Diploma in Socio-economic Security for the poor, Institute of Social Studies, NETHERLANDS. He has served in many important positions including as DFO Kullu, DFO Mandi, Project Officer CAT Plan Kinnaur, DD, GHNP in Himachal Pradesh. Besides this he has also discharged duties as Principal, CASFOS, ADG (Media & Ext.) ICFRE, Head Silviculture, Forest Research Institute at Dehradun. Further he has also been Member Secretary, HIMCOSTE, HP State Biodiversity Board, Space Application Centre & HP and Climate Change Centre at Shimla, HP.

Prof. Chirashree Ghosh

Department of Environmental Science

University of Delhi, Delhi, INDIA

Professor Chirashree Ghosh is faculty at the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Delhi, Delhi, INDIA. She topic of research includes Environmental Pollution and Health. She has research interests in Inventory preparation of indoor and outdoor pollutants and their human health impacts. She has worked on tropospheric ozone pollution monitoring and bio-mapping of greenhouse gases for understanding global warming concept with special highlight on the topic of carbon sequestration & carbon mapping. She has also investigated the impact of heavy metal and pesticide toxicity on the bio-magnification/bioaccumulation process of aquatic food chain

Dr. Siva Karuturi

School of Engineering

Australian National University, AUSTRALIA

Dr. Siva Karuturi is currently working as a Senior Lecturer in the School of Enginering at the Australian National University (ANU), Australia. He received his PhD degree in 2013 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in Materials Science and Engineering. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the School of Photovoltaics & Renewable Energy Engineering before moving to ANU in 2014. At ANU, He is leading a research program on the development of catalytic materials and systems for green hydrogen production. His research broadly focusses on the synthesis and upscaling of electrocatalysts and semiconductors, electrochemical characterisations, and design of prototypes for solar water splitting and zero gap electrolysers.

Prof. Michael W. Murray

University of Michigan

Augusta University, USA

Professor Michael W. Murray is an environmental scientist with three decades’ experience working on multiple issues involving the Laurentian (North American) Great Lakes in USA. He spent 24 years with the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office, coordinating and collaborating on projects addressing toxic chemicals (including mercury and PFAS), Lake Erie eutrophication, climate change mitigation and adaptation, Great Lakes indicators, and other topics. He has M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Water Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his research focused on physical-chemical properties and environmental cycling of PCBs. He is currently an instructor teaching environmental science at Augusta University, and is Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, USA.

Dr. Paola Scavone

Principal Investigator, Departamento de Microbiología

Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute, Montevideo, Uruguay

Paola Scavone currently works at the Departamento de Microbiología, Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute. Paola does research in Urinary Tract Infectious, Biofilms, Urology, Infectious Diseases and Cell Biology. Their current projects are 'Infecciones urinarias y bacteriuria asintomática en pacientes sometidos a trasplante renal, "Role of biofilms in the pathogenicity of P. mirabilis UTI", "Nanoparticles for the preventions of biofilms" and " Fosfomycin in the treatment of UTI in children"

Dr. Gayatri Kanungo

Practice Coordinator and Senior Environmental Specialist Environment

Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice World Bank Group, Washington DC, USA

Dr. Kanungo is a Senior Environmental Specialist with the World Bank Group (WBG), in the Environment, Natural Resources & Blue Economy Global Practice, where she coordinates and manages the environment facility portfolioacross various regions globally. Gayatri’s passion has been in designing and implementing multi-sectoral landscape management approaches for sustainable development. She has been working on addressing natural resource managementissues with a focus on land degradation, biodiversity conservation, blue economy and climate resilience, and currently leads and contributes to investment projects and programs in several countries across the globe.
Shecomes with several years of experience on environment related operations, business development, advisory and portfolio management. Prior to her time with the World Bank Group, she worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in India, looking at theconservation of the global public goods. Gayatri is a Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Cambridge Scholar holding a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, U.K. and a Masters in Zoology from the University of Delhi, India.