Dr. Peter P. Mollinga is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Development Studies (ZEF) in Bonn, Germany. Prior to this, he was Associate Professor at the Irrigation and Water Engineering group at Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands. He is also Convener of SaciWATERs, Hyderabad, India. He has worked on irrigation management and reform, and more generally on the politics of water. He is presently involved in land and water management related research in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and India. His academic interest lies in the integration of natural and social science perspectives through the interdisciplinary study of water resources.

Dr. Ajaya Dixit is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nepal Water for Health, a Nepali NGO that has built water supply scenes serving over 700,000 people in Nepal in partnership with community groups. He is also Founder of Nepal Water Conservation Foundation and Editor of Water Nepal a journal addressing interdisciplinary water and development issues. He has taught hydraulics and water resources engineering at Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Engineering until 1989. He has also worked as an analyst on water resources and environment issues in Nepal and South Asia. He has been a member of government of Nepal’s Water and Energy Commission from 1993 to 1997.He is engaged with actors in development agencies and village-based Water Users Groups. His current research is the study of adaptive approaches to floods and droughts in South Asia and the study of impact of Global Environment Change on food systems.

Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed is Professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka. He was educated at University of Dhaka, Carlton University, Ottawa, and Australian National University, Canberra. He has served as the Chairperson of the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka and has been the visiting Associate Professor at Yokohama City University, Japan. His most recent publication is an edited volume on Understanding Terrorism in South Asia: Beyond Statistic Discourses (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Colombo: Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, 2006). Currently he is undertaking research on Sustainable Livelihood in South Asia and on the State of Democracy in South Asia. For more information on Prof. Ahmed, click here

Prof. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay is Professor and Head of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy at the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata, India and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Prior to taking up his present position, he was a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, and Director of Research at the International Academy of Environment, Geneva. Presently he is also the President of SaciWATERs. He has published a number of important research papers on world's mountain systems and water policy in South Asia, in particular on the Himalayan Rivers. His research in the past 25 years has been guided by the objective of generating trans-disciplinary public interest knowledge on critical environmental issues, especially mountain areas and water systems.

Mr. Khalid Husain, the Programme Officer for the UNESCAP. Prior to UNESCAP, Mr. Husain worked at UNDP in New York on the energy and development trust fund as well as on broader global climate change and energy policy issues.

Ms. Kusum Athukorala is a multidisciplinary skilled professional, internationally recognized for her work in IWRM, gender and water. Crossing disciplinary and academic boundaries to water management from her 12 years previous experience as a university teacher in languages and cultural studies, she holds an MSc. in Managing Rural Change, Imperial College at Wye, University of London and is a Wye College and Ford Foundation scholarship holder. She is Partner, Associated Development Research Consultants (ADRC) Sri Lanka; Founder/Core Group Member and Theme Coordinator Advocacy for SaciWATERs, Founder President, Network of Women Water Professionals, Sri Lanka (NetWwater) which in turn is one of the four founder members of the Women for Water Partnership (WfWp) based in Netherlands. She is also the Steering Committee member for Communication and Advocacy for the WfWp). She has also worked as consultant and resource person for a range of national and international organizations including the World Bank, IFPRI, Rockefeller Foundation, Asian Development Bank, FAO, WHO. She has published nationally and internationally and her research areas include water education, governance, river sand mining, water transfers out of agriculture and water pollution.

Dr. N.Shantha Mohan is presently a professor at the School of Social Sciences at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). Prior to this, she has worked as a Research Associate at the Joint Women's Programme (WCSRC-CISRS), Bangalore, as a visiting professor at the R.V.Teachers College, Bangalore, as a research Scientist at UGC, New Delhi and as an assistance professor at ISEC, Bangalore. She has also served as Gender Expert for the Info-Dutch Tungabhadra Irrigation Pilot Project, Phase II. She holds the honour of being nominated by the ISRO Satellite Centre of the Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore to serve as member of the Committee for Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace. She has many publications to her credit.

Prof. Vishwa Ballabh is a Professor in Economics, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur. Prior to joining XLRI, he was Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor at the Institute of Rural management Anand.Professor Ballabh graduated in Agriculture from Pant Nagar and holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He has been a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Inter-national Crop Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and was a Visiting Scholar at the Indiana University, USA and a Visiting Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. He has over twenty years of teaching and research experience. His major area of research interest has been institutions and natural resource management. He is a member of several national and international professional societies in agricultural, natural resource economics and development fields.