Rajib Shaw is the professor in Graduate School of Media and Governance in Keio University’s Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). Earlier, he was the Executive Director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), a decade-long research program co-sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). He is also the Senior Fellow of Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan, and the Chairperson of SEEDS Asia and CWS Japan, two Japanese NGOs. Previously, he served as a Professor in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies of Kyoto University. Professor Shaw is the Chair of the United Nations Science Technology Advisory Group (STAG) for disaster risk reduction; and also the Co-chair of the Asia Science Technology Academic Advisory Group (ASTAAG).

Nibedita S Ray-Bennett is a Lecturer in Risk Management in the School of Management at University of Leicester. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at Kansai University. Dr Ray-Bennett obtained her PhD in Sociology from Warwick University.  She is a sociologist specialising in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and international development and the founding President for the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN). ADN is a global network dedicated to finding theoretical and practical solutions to reducing disaster deaths.

Aslam Perwaiz is the Department Head, Disaster Risk management Systems, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, Thailand. He joined ADPC in 2005 and has worked in the development sector for more than twenty years. He also has extensive experience of disaster risk management in South and Southeast Asia. He works with strengthening the institutional and legal frameworks for disaster risk reduction and with capacity building at national and sub-national levels and has strong interest in water resource and environmental management as well as climate change adaptation and its linkages with disaster risk reduction. Since 2011, he has contributed in engaging private sector in disaster risk reduction activities in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of the Government of Australia.

Guru Balamurugan is working as an Associate Professor since March 2017 (Assistant Professor 2008-2017) in Centre for Geoinformatics, Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Management, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai). He has made significant contributions towards curriculum & infrastructure development, teaching, research and extension activities and developed new courses for M.Sc, M.Phil and Ph.D programmes in school as well as for institute. He has established the infrastructure facilities in the institute right from the base including space and lab setup. He has handled/handling several research projects worth of Rs. 4.2 millions as PI and Co-PI supported by national and international agencies. 

Col. Sanjay Srivastava is the Chairman at the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC); an organisation formed to bridge the gap in impact-based weather, climate change and pollution information services, policy advocacy, lateral use of climatology in agriculture, industries, health, education, tourism etc. Col. Sanjay Srivastava had a glorious career in Army for 21 years. Thereafter he entered the corporate world and has steered Zee TV and Digi Cables Network Private Ltd at a leadership position.

Rohit Jigyasu is a conservation architect and risk management professional from India, who has recently joined ICCROM HQ (Rome) as Programme Officer at its regional centre in Sharjah. Since 2010, Rohit has been working as UNESCO Chair professor at the Institute for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. He is the elected President of ICOMOS-India since 2014 and ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Risk Preparedness (ICORP) since 2010. Rohit has been the Elected Member of the Executive Committee of ICOMOS since 2011 and is currently serving as its Vice President for the period 2017-2020. He is also the Trustee of the Indian Historic Cities Network Foundation (IHCN-F). He is on editorial board of some well reputed journals such as Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, and Disaster Prevention and Management. He has contributed to several international publications.