Dr. Basanta Kumar Das is working as the Director at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Kolkata, India. Dr. Das did his B.F.Sc., M.F.Sc. and Ph.D. from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, post-doctoral work at FRS Marine Lab, Scotland, UK, and University of California, USA. He has been honored with numerous awards and fellowships. He was elected as President of the Section of Animal, Veterinary, and Fishery Sciences for 2023–24 in the 109th Session of the Indian Science Congress (to be held in 2024). He has more than 390 international publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Piyashi DebRoy is currently serving as a Senior Scientist in the Economics and Policy Unit at ICAR – Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute at Barrackpore in Kolkata, West Bengal. She has obtained her Ph.D. in fish business management from ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai. She has expertise in the subject of fisheries economics, environmental economics and gender equity in fisheries and aquaculture. Her research focuses on studying how the socio-economic dynamics of inland fishers and fish farmers is shaped by the demographic patterns, factors, trends and drivers in inland open water fisheries in India.
Dr. Prateep Kumar Nayak is currently an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice in the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Canada. He is the Project Director of the Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Global Partnership for building strong small-scale fisheries. His academic training is in political science, environmental studies, and international development. His research is transdisciplinary with an active focus in combining social and ecological perspectives. Dr. Prateep has published over 60 refereed papers, book chapters, books and over 260 policy, research, review, and technical contributions. He is recognized as a science leader and advocate in the global science-policy-practice forum and serves on international policy, advisory, advocacy and research committees pertaining to biodiversity, climate, development, and conservation.