A former Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Delhi, India, Suman Khanna Aggarwal, obtained her Ph.D. in Gandhian Philosophy in 1978 and went on to do 3 Post-Doctoral Research Projects in India (1984), Sweden (1987-88) & Canada (1990-91). In 1992, she founded the Gandhian NGO – Shanti Sahyog, which works in 17 South Delhi slums & in Tughlakabad Village, New Delhi, providing Quality Education, Healthcare, Vocational Training, & Legal Aid to the underprivileged – including Domestic Violence Victims. In 2018, she set up the Shanti Sahyog Centre for Nonviolence to promote Gandhi’s legacy of Nonviolent Conflict Resolution and Vision of a World Beyond War.
She has authored three books:
1. GANDHI & THE GOOD LIFE -1st Edition, 1985: 2nd Edition, 1996;
2. GANDHIAN VISION – Status Growth & Development -50 Years of Independence, 1999;
3. THE SCIENCE OF PEACE, 1st edition, 2019, 2nd Edition, 2024.
As a Gandhian scholar, she has lectured extensively in India and abroad and taught courses on Gandhi in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia, for instance, John Hopkins University – USA, McMaster University – Canada, Al Quds University – Palestine / Israel and Scandinavian Universities, amongst others.
She conducts Training & Workshops on Gandhian Philosophy / Nonviolent Conflict Resolution on a regular basis and Teaches an Online Course: Understanding & Applying Gandhi Today.
She has received 17 Awards for her Community Service and Nonviolence Advocacy. The first was in 2018, the Rajiv Gandhi Global Vision Award, and the latest was in 2023, The Women Empowerment, Honouring the Trailblazers of Change Award. She is an External Member of the Internal Complaints Committee (Sexual Harassment at Workplace) in many Corporate, PSU’s, and Government Bodies. A plenary speaker at international conferences, she strongly believes that individual social responsibility, dictated by one’s conscience, can bring about social and political transformation.
E-mail: president@shantisahyog.org
Gita Dharampal was appointed Dean of Research at the Gandhi Research Foundation (GRF), Jalgaon, in November 2018. As a retired Professor and Head, Department of History, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, she acquired an interdisciplinary academic training in literature, philosophy (Manchester, England and Leipzig, East Germany, 1970-74), social anthropology (Cambridge, England, 1975-76) and Indian cultural history (1976- 1980, SOAS, London and Sorbonne, Paris, Doctorate), with a dissertation on early modern French proto-ethnography of South India, and completed her Habilitation (German professorial dissertation) in early modern history (Freiburg, Germany, 1992).
Her publications and research focus on topics ranging from pre-modern transcultural interactions between Europe and India, the maritime cultural history of the Indian Ocean region (1400-1800), medical history, religious-ritual transformations (1500-2000), the socio-cultural and political history of the colonial period, in general, with a special emphasis on Mahatma Gandhi’s movement of political and cultural resurgence.
Besides participating actively in international conferences and giving invited keynote talks, she has held visiting fellowships and professorships at various international institutions, among others, at Stanford University, USA, as well as at Indian universities (Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad). From 2023-2026, she has been appointed a non-ex-officio member of the ICSSR Governing Council. Her language competencies include English, German, French, Latin and basic Hindi. At the GRF, she intends to strengthen the research wing, not only by pursuing intensive Gandhian studies, but also by continuing the historical work of her late father Shri Dharampal (1922-2006), a historian and political philosopher, whose publications have led to a radical reappraisal of conventional views of the cultural, scientific and technological state of Indian society on the eve of the British conquest.
E-mail: prof.dharampal.gita@gandhifoundation.net
Dr. Manindra Nath Thakur is Associate Professor at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, where he teaches Indian Intellectual Traditions in India . He completed his PhD from the University of Delhi (DU), and dedicated nearly two decades to teaching here and was honoured with a Fellowship for Innovative Research at the Developing Countries Research Centre, DU. During his tenure as a Fellow at the Nehru Museum and Library, he focused on researching, New Religious Movements in India.
Beyond his academic achievements, he played a significant role in establishing the Creative Theory Group, which endeavors to shift the centre of intellectual activities from the West to the East. This group annually organises colloquia in collaboration with the India International Centre and RAZA Foundation. Dr Thakur is also the Founder and Trustee of the Foundation for Creative Social Research, which aims to provide a fresh direction to research by addressing issues that impact people’s lives while incorporating innovative perspectives rooted in Indian Intellectual traditions. He also co-founded the Social Healing Project, which promotes conflict resolution and the inter-community dialogue.
Among his notable works, an edited volume titled, ‘Wounded History: Religion, Conflict, Psyche, and Social Healing,’ presents compelling arguments for secularism from an Indian perspective. Another edited volume explores the limits and democratic potential of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Recently, Dr Thakur published a book in Hindi entitled, ‘Gyan ki Rainiti: Bharteey Chintan aur Samaj Adhyayan,’ proposing a paradigm shift in social science by disentangling Western philosophy from social science. Instead, it advocates for a new paradigm that engages in a meaningful dialogue between social sciences and Indian philosophy.
E-mail: manindrat@gmail.com
Dr Satish K Jha is Associate Professor in Department of Political Science at Aryabhata College, University of Delhi. He did his MA and MPhil from University of Delhi and PhD from CPS/SSS, JNU. His area of interest is Comparative Political Theory, Modern Indian Intellectual Tradition, and Indian Politics.
He has published papers in national and international journals and has contributed chapters in many edited books. He is also secretary of Scientists and Technologists for Nonviolent World Order.
E-mail: satish@aryabhattacollege.ac.in
Richard Falk is Chair of Global Law, Queen Mary University London, Faculty of Law. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a law degree from Yale Law School, and a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) from Harvard Law School. After teaching international and criminal law at the Ohio State University College of Law, he was appointed a Professor of International Law at Princeton University and the Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice for several decades. During his long academic career, he taught at Stanford University, the University of Stockholm, and as a Visiting Distinguished Professor at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author or co-author of more than 20 books and the editor or co-editor of numerous others.
Not only has he influenced the views of a generation of scholars in his role as teacher and thinker, but during forty years at Princeton University, Professor Falk was also active in seeking an end to wars, strengthening and upholding fundamental human rights, the promotion of respect for international law, and improved democracy in numerous countries in the world.
Over the past decade, he has been nominated many times for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his ability to bridge the gap between his work as a brilliant scholar and his desire to see peace and security as tangible realities on the ground. His most recent book (2021) is a political memoir, Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim, published by Clarity Press.
E-mail: falk@global.ucsb.ed
Augusto Lopez-Claros is the Executive Director of the Global Governance Forum Vessy, Switzerland, He is an international economist with over 30 years of experience in international organizations, most recently at the World Bank. For the 2018/2019 academic years, Augusto Lopez-Claros was on leave from the World Bank as a Senior Fellow at the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Previously he was chief economist and director of the Global Competitiveness Program at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, where he was also the editor of the Global Competitiveness Report, the Forum’s flagship publication. Before joining the Forum, he worked for several years in the financial sector in London, with a special focus on emerging markets. He was the IMF’s Resident Representative in Russia during the 1990s. Educated in England and the United States, he received a diploma in Mathematical Statistics from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University.
His recent publications include Fiscal Challenges After the Global Financial Crisis: A Survey of Key Issues (2014), Removing Impediments to Sustainable Economic Development: The Case of Corruption (2015), Equality for Women = Prosperity for All (2018, St. Martin’s Press, with B. Nakhjavani) and Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century (2020, Cambridge University Press).Global Governance and the Emergence of Global Institutions for the 21st Century, for which he was awarded (along with Arthur Dahl and Maja Groff) the New Shape Prize by Sweden’s Global Challenges Foundation.
A list of his recent lectures can be found at: AugustoLopezClaros.com.
E-mail: alpezclaros@globalgovernanceforum.org
Christian Bartolf is an eminent German Gandhian scholar, author and curator based in Berlin, Germany. He obtained a doctorate in 2021 and also two university diplomas in Educational and Political Sciences in 1987 from the Free University Berlin. Since 1993, he has been active as President of the Gandhi Information Centre, Berlin (with a focus on research and education for nonviolence). Since 2021, he has held about 100 invited talks at colleges and universities in India, with a highlight being his 25-day lecture tour in September/October 2022, during which he was hosted as guest speaker by a myriad spectrum of academic institutions across 9 states. For details of his Gandhian publications in English, please Visit: https://www.bartolf.info/english/publications.html
E-mail: mkgandhi@snafu.de
Jacob Copeman is Oportunius Research Professor and Distinguished Researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. He is co-editor and author of numerous books including, Gurus and Media: Sound, Image, Machine, Text and the Digital (UCL Press, 2023), The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2012), Global Sceptical Publics: From non-religious print media to ‘digital atheism’ (UCL Press, 2022), An Anthropology of Intellectual Exchange: Interactions, transactions and ethics in Asia and beyond (Berghahn, 2023) and Hematologies: The political life of blood in India (Cornell University Press, 2019).
He is Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded project, ‘Religion and its Others in South Asia and the World: Communities, Debates, Freedoms’.
E-mail: jacobcopeman@hotmail.com
Elisabetta Colagrossi, PhD in Philosophy, is a Research Fellow with Tenure-track as Associate Professor. She teaches History of Religion, with a focus on the History of Religions in the Classical World, and Philosophy of Interreligious Dialogue at the University of Genoa, Italy (DAFIST).
Her areas of interest intersect themes of history of religions, philosophical hermeneutics, and the philosophy of interreligious dialogue. Research topics include religious violence in monotheisms, pluralism, translatability between traditions, and the role of religions in promoting peace and dialogue. Moreover, she explores the Indian tolerant and pluralistic tradition, emphasizing figures such as Ashoka, the Mughals, and Gandhi, assessing their relevance amidst contemporary global religious challenges.
E-mail: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it
Born in Janakpur, Nepal, Hari Bansh Jha is Executive Director of a research organization, The Centre for Economic and Technical Studies, in Kathmandu, Nepal since 1989. He is also a Visiting Fellow at a Delhi-based noted think-tank, Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Dr. Jha was Vice Chairman of the Policy Commission, Madhesh Province in Nepal in 2018-19. Before that in 2016-17, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Indian Council of World Affairs, Sapru House, New Delhi and In 2013, at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, USA. He has also taught business courses to graduate students at Chengdu American Center for Study Abroad, Sichuan University, China. He was a Senior ICCR Fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi (2011-12) and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Asian Studies, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Hamburg, Germany (2011). Between 1976 and 1998, he was Professor of Economics at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Dr. Jha’s areas of interest include planning and policymaking, and regional affairs in Nepal, China, India, and South Asia. He has worked on more than 60 research projects on issues related to Madhesh/Terai, Dalit and indigenous (Janajati) communities, apart from strategic affairs and on border management, conflict and peace, international migration, child labor, human trafficking, agriculture, international trade, micro-financing, environmental health, and sanitation. He organized dozens of workshops and seminars and authored/edited 33 books on national and international affairs. His recently published books are – India’s Economic Miracle and Nepal, Janajati in Nepal, and Nepal’s Madhesh in Turmoil. A prolifc writer, he has been contributing articles on topical issues regularly both in Nepal and abroad.
E-mail: dr.hbjha@gmail.com
Purushottama Bilimoria works in Indian & Cross-Cultural Philosophy, Critical Philosophies of Religion, and Diaspora. He is a Principal Fellow of the University of Melbourne; Lecturer with University of California (Merced and Berkeley), and Visiting Professor/Lecturer University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University.
Until recently Professor of Law and International Philosophy in Jindal Global University, India, he is an Editor-in-Chief of Sophia (journal of philosophy & traditions, Springer), and Sophia Series in Cross-cultural Philosophy Cultures). Recent publications include Routledge History of Indian Philosophy (with A. Rayner, 2019); Contemplative Studies and Hinduism (with Rita D. Sherma, C. Bohenac, 2021); Handbook of Indian Ethics; Gender Justice Bioethics & Ecology (with A. Rayner, 2023); Mind, Self and Body (Springer Sophia, 2023); Engaging Philosophies of Religion: Across Global Boundaries (with G Kopf and N Loewen, 2024).
E-mail: pbilimoria@sfsu.edu; pbilimoria@outlook.com
Prof. John Chathanatt, SJ is a Jesuit priest belonging to the Delhi Province of the Society of Jesus and is Professor (Emeritus) and former Principal of Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. He was a member of the Governing Board of Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, and also the Chairman of the Governing Board of Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, from 2016 to Nov. 2019. He has been the Vice-President and Research Director at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi; and is, at present, the Vice-President of the Jesuit Research and Development Society, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, and also a member of the Ethical Committee of Holy Family Hospital, New Delhi.
He has degrees in Mathematics, Economics, Philosophy, and Theology. He has a Master’s in Economics from Rajasthan University, and another Masters in Theology from Weston School of Theology, Boston, USA. His Ph.D. is from the University of Chicago, USA.
He was an International Visiting Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Centre, Georgetown University, Washington DC, in 2001-2002 and was also a Research Fellow cum Visiting Faculty at Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University at Berkeley, California, USA, 2013-2014.
He has eleven books to his credit and has over 100 published articles in India and abroad; and the recent publication is the edited volume on Christianity in the series, Encyclopedia of Indian Religions published by Springer, Netherlands. At present he is involved in Research and Writing.
E-mail: jchatvj@gmail.com
Prof Bulbul Dhar-James is Head of Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). A Post Doctoral Fulbright Fellow on Global Political Economy and Governance, Prof. Bulbul Dhar-James has done her PhD, on, ‘Politics of Economic Liberalization in Urban Tanzania’, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London as a Commonwealth Scholar. She has an M Phil and MA from the Centre for Political Studies, JNU and a B.A. Honors from the Lady Sri Ram College, University of Delhi.
Her area of research includes Human Rights, Political Economy of Globalization and Governance, African Studies and Gender Empowerment. The areas in which she has been Keynote speaker and Resource Expert include, Globalization and Good Governance, Conceptual framework of Human Rights, Gender Empowerment, Public Administration, Public Policy and Management, Human Rights Implications of Science and Technology, Global Political Economy, Basic Structure of the Constitution amongst others.
Beyond the Academic Expertise, Prof Bulbul is a Resource Person and trainer for Capacity Building Initiatives, Leadership, Personal and Professional Roles (Work-Life Balance) and Gender Sensitization Programs for Universities, Various Ministries, and Institutions of the Govt of India (amongst others Haryana Institute for Public Administration, VV Giri National Labour Institute), British Council, American Center, Corporates and NGO’s. Dr. Bulbul Dhar-James has extensive experience in the field of Political Science and Economic Research.
She has held various roles, including coordinator at JMI, consultant at the National Council for Applied Economic Research, and teaching positions at JNU, LSR, and Delhi University. Additionally, she has participated in UN Human Rights Council events and serves on editorial boards and advisory panels for several international journals, conferences, NGOs, and government committees. She is also a Resource Person and Content Writer for the Ministry of Human Resource Development Program of Post Graduate E-Pathshala in Women’s Studies.
E-mail: bulbuldhar@yahoo.com
Dr. A. K. Merchant is a prominent figure with extensive involvement in various fields. He serves as the General Secretary of the Temple of Understanding India Foundation, as well as holding positions in other organizations such as the Sarvodaya International Trust and Mintra Foundation. Dr. Merchant is an expert in interfaith education and Indian culture and has authored three monographs and numerous articles and research papers on various topics. He has represented the Baha’i Faith Community of India and the Temple of Understanding at international and national conferences and has been an active participant in the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Additionally, he is known for advocating gender justice, environmental issues, world peace, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)Dr. A. K. Merchant is an alumnus of the United States’ State Department International Exchange Program in 2005, focusing on “religious diversity in America post 9/11”. He was invited by H. H. Pope Benedict XVI to a global interfaith conference celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Assisi and the World Prayer Day for Justice and Peace at the Vatican and Assisi in October 2011.
Dr. Merchant actively participated in the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in various cities from 1993 to 2021, and has been invited by H. H. the Dalai Lama to address interfaith conferences and assist with international conferences and seminars in India. He is known for promoting gender justice and has advocated for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and written about Gender Equality, the Environment and Ecology, World Peace, and the UN S D G’s. Dr. Merchant has also served as a Resource Person for promoting discourses on science, religion, and development.
E-mail: merchant.ak@gmail.com
Pooja Sharma is an Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi. An alumnus of Miranda House, University of Delhi, she completed her master’s in economics from Delhi School of Economics, MPhil, and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). An avid Gandhian, her contribution varies in the field of Energy Security and Transition, Renewable Energy, Human Capital, and Gandhian perspective on energy transition.
She is also engaged in CEC UGC live lecture series, on Environmental Economics, Climate Change, and Sustainability. She has published papers in reputed journals and published two books on Gandhian thought, “Through the Lens of Mahatma: Journey of a Migrant” and “Living in Truth: The Gandhian Paradigm.”
E-mail: pooja_cos@yahoo.com
Dr. Savita Singh is a distinguished feminist poet and social theorist who writes both in Hindi and English. She has four collections of poetry in Hindi: Apne Jaisa Jeevan (Radhakrishna Prakashan, 2001), Neend Thi Aur Raat Thi (2005), Swapna Samay (2013), and Khoyi Cheezon Ka Shoke (2021). Her work has been translated into many languages including Frsnch, German, Spanish, and Portugese. She has two collections of poems in French, Je suis la Maison de etoiles (Bilingual. Hindi and French, First published by Daastan, 2008; again by Editions Phloeme, Paris, 2022 with Medha Singh’s Ecdysis and Divya Singh’s Paintings). She has also published two collections in Odia translation: Jeur more Rasta nijra (2011), and has co-eited a collection of peoms of women from different parts of the world, Seven Leaves, One Autumn (2011). She also has a collection of representative fifty poems published, Pachas Kavitayen: Nayi Sadi Ke Liye (2010).
She has received many awards for poetry including Hindi Academy Award, Raza Foundation Award, Mahadevi Verma Kavya Samman, Enuce De Souza Award, and recently, Prestigious Kedar Samman. She recieved a post-doctoral fellowship from Foundation Maison des Sciences de I’homme, Paris to work on Krishna Sobtu’s two novels, Mitro Marjani and Ai Ladki. The research paper, Walking on Dew: A Feminist Reading of Krishna Sobti’s Listen Girl! in edited book Krishna Sobti: A Conversation Between Savita Singh and Roy Bhaskar (Springer, 2021).
Savita Singh is the Foundation Director and Professor at the School of Gender and Development Studies, IGNOU. She is on the Board of Directors of the International Herbert Marcuse Society, USA.
E-mail: savita.singh6@gmail.com