Dr. Ajay Prasad has his bachelor's and master's degrees from Osmania University and Nagpur University respectively. He did his doctoral in the area of cloud security. He is currently heading the Systems Cluster at the School of CSE at UPES, Dehradun. He specializes in cyber security and allied areas, Network/Data Security Principles, System Programming, Cloud Systems, and Digital forensics. In his academic career of around 23 years, he has been in various leadership roles for more than 10 years at various places. He has contributed to several different MOOC courses at the state and national level. He is a panelist in Cyber Cell Uttarakhand, India where his work was awarded an appreciation from Cyber Police (STF) Uttarakhand Govt on his contributions towards cyber security awareness. He is a regular contributor to society through conduct of Cyber-Awareness Seminars and Key-note Speaker for Government Agencies like STF (Cyber Police), DITAC for the Uttarakhand Government, and as a Member, of Uttarakhand Police Digital Volunteers. He is a section editor in the Peer Reviewed International Scopus Journal, “Space and Culture, India (SACI)”. He also has several publications in the computer science research domains in the form of patents, copyrights, research papers, books, and book chapters. His book on Digital Forensics has been adopted as a textbook at various open universities across India. Professor¿Sushabhan¿Choudhury¿has the scholarly, research, and administrative experience of 31 years¿ as a professor, associate professor or equivalent, and Assistant Professor. He has also worked as Academic Coordinator, Head of the department (SMIT and UPES), UPES-2013-2018,2019-2021, and Dean, School of Technology, NEHU. His research interests span Wireless Sensor Networks, Embedded Systems, Robotics, Automation and Control, IoT, Nanotechnology, and AI & ML. He was also awarded an outstanding achievement at SMIT for setting up a state-of-the-art lab in nanotechnology. He was a CO-PI for a project of Rs. 12 Lakhs¿ granted¿ from Ornate Agencies Private Ltd. He was also the PI¿ for a project granted by DST¿ for the Improvement of S&T Infrastructure in Universities and Higher Educational Institutions (FIST) Program, Granted Rs. 1.14Crore in 50:50 mode.¿ He was¿ also the PI for a project titled¿ “High-performance Polymer-single wall carbon nanotube composites for potential applications to spacecraft, defence and electronics”, amount Sanctioned by AICTE: 20 LAKHS. He is¿ the inventor of ten patents that have been granted and several published¿ patents. Apart from¿ publishing many research papers in Scopus and SCI indexed journals , he has authored six books on Embedded systems and smart agriculture. Prof.¿Choudhury¿has also supervised various project works for undergraduate and postgraduate students on various topics. He has also supervised a number of PhD students in the areas of WSN, Embedded systems, IoT, and AI. Prof. Babu Sena Paul received his B.Tech and M.Tech degree in Radiophysics and Electronics from the University of Calcutta, India, in 1999 and 2003 respectively. He was with Philips India Ltd from 1999-2000. From 2000-2002 he served as lecturer of Electronics and Communication Engineering Dept. at SMIT, Sikkim, India. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati India. He has attended and published over ninety research papers in international and national conferences, symposiums and peer reviewed journals. He has successfully supervised several postgraduate students, doctoral and post-doctoral research fellows. He joined the University of Johannesburg in 2010. He has served as the Head of the Department at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg from April 2015 to March 2018. He is the currently serving as Director to the Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Johannesburg. His research interest lies in Data Analytics, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cyber Physical Systems, Predictive Maintenance and other technologies of the fourth industrial revolution. Prof. Jeetendra Pande is an academic professional with over 20 years of experience in the field of Computer Science & Engineering. He currently holds the position of Professor and Director of the School of Computer Science & IT at Uttarakhand Open University (UOU). Prof. Pande’s academic qualifications include a BE, MTech, and PhD in Computer Science & Engineering. He is known for his contributions to Open and Distance Learning (ODL), having developed multiple MOOCs, including the widely successful “Introduction to Cyber Security” course on the SWAYAM platform, which has attracted over 1,00,000 learners from 48 countries. Prof. Pande’s innovative approaches have earned him prestigious recognition, including the Gold Medal from IGNOU for Innovation in ODL. In addition to his academic responsibilities, Prof. Pande serves as a consultant to various national and international organizations, including the Ministry of Higher Education in Thailand and UCOST in Uttarakhand. His global expertise is enriched by fellowships from esteemed institutions, such as the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) and The Open University of the UK. Prof. Pande has published extensively in Scopus and Web of Science indexed journals and is actively involved in research areas such as cyber security, online education, and the use of Open Educational Resources (OER). He is also the author and editor of several academic books and continues to lead significant projects aimed at improving education through technology and innovation.
