Dr. Ahmed Shafiqul Huque (PhD, University of British Columbia) is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and a former Department Chair at McMaster University, Canada. His research and teaching focus on public policy, public administration, international development governance, and South Asian politics. Over his distinguished academic career, he has published over 15 books-including International Development Governance and Managing Public Services alongside numerous articles in leading international journals. In addition to his previous faculty appointments at institutions like the University of Dhaka and the City University of Hong Kong, Dr. Huque has provided high-level consulting services to organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Dr. Prabhat Kumar Datta, Senior Visiting Faculty Member (Currently Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Xavier Law School), St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, received the Mohit Bhattacharya Lifetime Achievement Award- 2022 from the New Public Administration Society of India, Jodhpur, Rajasthan on December 23, 2022
Dr. Uddhab Pyakurel is an Associate Professor of Political Sociology and the Dean of the School of Arts at Kathmandu University, Nepal. He holds a Ph.D. from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His academic work and extensive research focus closely on state restructuring, political sociology, social inclusion and exclusion dynamics, labor migration, and India-Nepal relations. A prominent public intellectual and author, Dr. Pyakurel has published several books and papers examining structural inequality, including his authoritative monograph, Reproduction of Inequality and Social Exclusion: A Study of Dalits in a Caste Society, Nepal (Springer, 2021).
Dr. Yaamina Salman is a Professor and Director of the Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS) at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan, where she also serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences. Her research focuses heavily on public sector management, civil service reforms, and organizational behavior, with a particular emphasis on institutional complexity, New Public Management (NPM) frameworks in healthcare, and gender barriers in administrative leadership. Widely published in South Asian governance dynamics, she holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Public Sector Management focus) from the University of Edinburgh Business School.
Mr. Madhu Raman Acharya is a seasoned Nepali diplomat, author, and senior administrator who serves as the President of the Public Administration Association of Nepal (PAAN) for the 2026–2027 tenure. Over a distinguished civil service career spanning decades, he has held prominent leadership positions within the Government of Nepal, including Foreign Secretary (2002–2005), Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2005–2009), and Ambassador to Bangladesh, alongside internal roles in the Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs. An expert in international civil service, post-conflict management, and public policy, he has also served globally as a Director for the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and authored authoritative books on administrative governance, including Business of Bureaucracy.
Mr. Mohan Das Manandhar is a prominent policy and political economy specialist with more than 35 years of experience spanning inclusive development, energy policy, and organizational management across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. He is the Chairperson of the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative (SPI) Nepal and has previously served as the founding Executive Director of the Niti Foundation, senior academic advisor to the Nepal Administrative Staff College (NNAS), and a policy advisor to Nepal's National Inclusion Commission. An alumnus of IIT Roorkee and the International University of Japan, his academic footprint includes serving as an Assistant Professor and Interim Dean at Kathmandu University, a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and co-authoring authoritative books on Nepal's public policy, such as Nepal's Economy In Disarray and State and Society: Exclusion and Inclusion in Nepal
Prof. Akhlaque Haque is a Professor of Public Administration in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he directed the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program for over 18 years. He also serves as the President of the South Asia Network for Public Administration (SANPA) and is the Editor for Springer Nature's South Asian Public Administration book series. A former Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Haque’s research focuses on the intersection of information technology, data science, public policy, and social justice. He is widely published in major public administration, urban affairs, and public health journals, and is the author of Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy: Public Administration in the Information Age. Throughout his career, he has held key national leadership roles within the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)-receiving the prestigious Donald C. Stone Service Award and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA).
Prof. Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Center for Policy Research (CPR) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Malaya and centers his academic research on comparative politics, public policy formulation, and ethnic integration dynamics. Beyond his active research agenda which includes policy consultations for bodies like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He has held key administrative positions within USM, including serving on specialized integrity and investigation panels.
Prof. Durga Prasad Chhetri is a Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Sikkim University, Gangtok, India. A recipient of the National Young Political Scientist Award (2017), his research specializes in democratic decentralization, public policy, local governance, and social inclusion in the Himalayan region. He has authored and edited several authoritative works on sub-national governance, including Decentralised Governance and Development in India and the co-edited volume Making Democratic Decentralization Work in South Asia (Springer, 2025).
Prof. Fara Azmat is a Professor in the Department of Management at Deakin Business School, within the Faculty of Business and Law at Deakin University, Australia. She also serves as the Director of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) portfolio for the business school, successfully leading the institution to be recognized globally as a PRME Champion. Dr. Azmat holds a PhD and a Master of Public Policy and Management from Monash University, alongside a Master of Science from the University of Dhaka. Her extensive research and teaching focus heavily on corporate social responsibility (CSR), the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate literacy, and the social inclusion of marginalized communities. Deeply committed to regional progress, she is a founding member of the South Asia Network for Public Administration (SANPA) and has secured significant international grant funding to lead capacity-building and specialized training programs for senior public officials across South Asia.
Prof. Habib Zafarullah is an Adjunct Professor in Sociology within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England (UNE), Australia. He retired from active teaching in 2016 after a distinguished career spanning over 40 years, during which he served as a Professor of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka and as the Chair of the Public Policy Program at UNE. Dr. Zafarullah holds a PhD from the University of Sydney and is a prolific scholar with over 160 publications, including influential books such as Handbook of Development Policy (2021), Colonial Bureaucracies (2014), and Managing Development in a Globalized World (2012). His research expertise encompasses democratic governance, public management, international development, and social policy, with a particular focus on the administrative and political dynamics of South and Southeast Asia. He currently continues his academic engagement through research, higher degree supervision, and affiliations with institutions like Macquarie University.
Prof. Ian Elliott is a Senior Lecturer of Public Administration at the Centre for Public Policy, University of Glasgow, and serves as the co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Public Administration and Development. His research primarily examines the strategic state, public leadership development, and wellbeing approaches to government, heavily drawing from modern public management and governance dynamics. A prominent figure in the field's academic community, he previously served as the Honorary Chair of the Joint University Council (the UK's learned society for public administration and policy) and actively collaborates with public sector entities to deliver high-level administrative training and leadership education.
Prof. Jörn Dosch holds the Chair of International Politics and Development Cooperation and serves as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Rostock, Germany. With a distinguished career across institutions like Monash University Malaysia and the University of Leeds, his primary research focuses on the political economy, international relations, and development frameworks of Southeast Asia, alongside Europe-Asia relations. In tandem with his massive portfolio of published books and articles, Dr. Dosch frequently works as an expert consultant and evaluator for the European Union's development programs, leading numerous official missions to the ASEAN Secretariat.
Prof. Kim Moloney is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at the College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in Qatar. Her academic work lies at the intersection of international organizations, transnational administration, and global policy, with a distinct secondary expertise in the unique public administration and policy management challenges faced by small states. She is the author of Who Matters at the World Bank (Oxford University Press), co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on Global Policy and Transnational Administration, and serves prominently as a Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Australian Journal of Public Administration.
Prof. Patrick Heller is the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology and International Studies, and the Director of the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University. His extensive research focuses on comparative political sociology, social inequality, and the processes of democratic deepening and urban transformation across the Global South, with a primary emphasis on India, Brazil, and South Africa. He has authored seminal books such as The Labor of Development (Cornell University Press) and Bootstrapping Democracy (Stanford University Press), using robust spatial, survey, and field data to track how marginalized urban communities navigate public governance, infrastructure, and civic rights.
Prof. Shariful Alam is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Dhaka International University (DIU), where he also contributes to the Center for Policy Analysis and Advocacy. He holds a PhD from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand, focusing on coastal policy and institutional management, alongside an MSc in Urban Environmental Management from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Blending robust academic tenure with over two decades of international development practice, Dr. Alam has led significant public health and regulatory policy initiatives in Bangladesh, including acting as the in-country coordinator for the Global Health Advocacy Incubator's regional programs.