Hriday Kant Dewan (Hardy) has spent his life making school education (particularly science, mathematics and languages) child-friendly, concept-focused and based on research and reflection. Trained as a particle physicist, he was a founding member of Eklavya Foundation (Madhya Pradesh) and has worked with Vidya Bhawan Society (Rajasthan) and Azim Premji University (Bengaluru). He has been working in the space of teacher development and elementary education for over 40 years and continues to devote his energies for systemic improvement in education, particularly in the public education system. He has contributed to the development of curriculum, materials and programs for pre-service and in-service capacity building of teachers for many states. He has also been engaged in research in school education and teacher education.

Kinnari Pandya is faculty member at the Azim Premji University. She has been involved in conceptualization and implementation of Early Childhood Education efforts of Azim Premji Foundation – the specialization offered in the MA in Education programme at the Azim Premji University, and field initiatives of the Foundation at Telangana, and other states such as Karnataka, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh. She has contributed to several public education system improvement initiatives of the Azim Premji Foundation since 2006. She has been a member of technical committees
on ECCE by Government of Karnataka for ECCE curriculum and teacher capacity development. She is a member of NCTE (National Council of Teacher Education) from March 2020 and contributes to NCERT’s work on ECCE. She regularly writes on issues of early years, inclusive education and teacher education.

Mainak Roy is the CEO of Simple Education Foundation (SEF), a Delhi-based nonprofit dedicated to transforming public education by strengthening government schools and empowering teachers. An engineer by training and a teacher by choice, Mainak co-founded SEF in 2014 after his Teach For India fellowship. He leads the organization’s fundraising, communications, and strategy efforts. Mainak is also an Acumen Fellow and a Dalai Lama Fellow.

Pratik Aggarwal is the Executive Director at ASTHA, where he leads community-based programs supporting children with disabilities and their families in low-income urban communities. His work focuses on early childhood development, school inclusion, and access to social protection, while also building partnerships with non-disability organizations to embed inclusion in mainstream programs.

Rahul Mukhopadhyay is a Visiting Faculty with the School of Education, Azim Premji University. He has researched and published in the following areas related to elementary education in India: ‘Right to Education’, ‘educational institutions and policies’, and ‘quality in education’.

Sujatha Rao is a Founder-Director of Viridus Social Impact Solutions. She is an organizational design and development practioner. Sujatha is deeply committed to the creation of organizations that are fair, just, equitable and purposeful, for people, societies and our planet. She works with civil society organizations and leaders and government institutions to support them in the creation of such workplaces. She also works with educational institutions and education non-profits on designing person-centric and purpose-centric learning ecosystems. She co-hosts The WorkWise Pod, which is a podcast on designing flourishing workplaces. Sujatha has taught at University of Western Sydney, University of Sydney, Azim Premji University, and Indian School of Development Management. She holds a postgraduate degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (PMIR) from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a PhD in Organization Studies from University of Sydney.

Surya is the founder of PRAYOG and has been a Wipro Fellow from 2018 to 2023. He currently focuses on the design and capacity building vertical of the organization. He also engages with diverse stakeholders to keep the library work thriving.

Vena Kapoor is an ecologist and conservationist working in the field of nature learning and outreach and she does this through the Nature Classrooms Program at NCF. She also conducts workshops, talks and walks on the wonderful, fascinating world of spiders, insects and on nature learning.