Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati is Associate Professor (Economics) & Head of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupathi, India. Over the years, he has been working on research areas related to the economics of climate change, environmental economics, behavioural economics, natural resource management, energy economics, and development economics. He has published several research papers in peer-reviewed high-impact factor journals like Journal of Policy Modeling, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Environmental Development, Nature Climate Change, Climate Risk Management, Scientific Reports, Food Security, Land Use Policy, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, International Journal of the Commons, Climate and Development, etc. These studies received financial support from various national and international agencies such as Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN-GCR), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), etc. He is at present contributing to two Indo-Dutch research projects on water-related disasters supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). He is also involved in the DST Center for Policy Research on Energy Transition and Tribal Education, NISER, Bhubaneswar. He served as an EC member on INSEE from 2022-24 and was again nominated as Joint Secretary for 2024-26. He has been nominated as a Research Fellow by the Earth System Governance Network at Utrecht University, Netherlands. He is also acted as a mentor for Saleemul Huq Memorial Scholarship Awardees for loss and damage research, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), U.K.
Rajendra P. Shrestha is Professor of Natural Resources Management at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand and the adjunct professor at State University of Malang, Indonesia. At AIT, he also served as the Dean of the AIT’s School of Environment, Resources, and Development and the Chair of Academic Senate. His research expertise spans various domains, including the human dimensions of land-use change, the intersection of climate change and land issues, land evaluation, land degradation, sustainable land management, environmental sustainability, and geoinformatics applications. His achievements include receiving prestigious accolades, such as the Distinguished AIT Alumni Award, the WASWAC Asian Scientific Award, and among World’s most influential scientists. Prof. Shrestha has established collaborations with governmental agencies, universities, and international development organizations, such as FAO, UNDP, UNEP, IUCN, and SIDA, across the region and beyond, engaging in impactful research initiatives and contributing to capacity-building projects. He has served as a member of a number of professional societies, including IGU’s commissions, WASWAC, and the journal editorial board.
Ganesh P. Shivakoti is Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Natural Resources Management and Founder Director of the Ostrom Center for the Study of Natural Resources Governance (OCeAN) at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand. He is also a visiting faculty member at the School of Life Sciences and a senior research associate at the Center for the Study of Behaviour, Institutions and Environment (CBIE) of Arizona State University, USA. During his tenure as faculty at AIT, he has published more than 115 peer-reviewed journal papers; edited and authored 12 books published by international publishers; and advised 33 doctoral fellows and 80 master theses from 16 countries in Asia. His latest four edited volumes on “Redefining Diversity and Dynamics on Natural Resources Management in Asia”, dedicated to Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, are based on long-term academic collaboration in enhancing the academic capacity of regional universities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam on the issues related to natural resources governance and management
