Dr. Carmela C Oracion is currently the Director of the Ateneo Center for Educational Development. She completed her Doctorate degree in Education, a dual award program, from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the University of London. In her present post, she is deeply involved in the development of public schools in the Philippines, most of which face very challenging circumstances. The majority of students enrolled in Philippine public schools come from disadvantaged backgrounds and she believes that a good education is a key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

Vignesh Naidu is currently the Director, Operations at The HEAD Foundation. Vignesh helms The HEAD Foundation’s education team that works across Southeast Asia to improve education outcomes through; the design and delivery of bespoke capacity building opportunities for educators, the production of a suite of publications, and opportunities for thought leaders to share their insights and perspectives. Vignesh is particularly intrigued by how education systems need to adapt to ensure that future graduates have the skills needed to navigate a rapidly evolving world of work.

Eric Ju Yoon Kim, a South Korean national and a University of Washington graduate is the founder of Dot – a company making an active Braille smartwatch meant for blind people.

Dr. Akanksha Bapna has worked extensively on K-12 Education, bridging the gap between practice, policy and research. Akanksha has extensive analytical and quantitative experience in experimental design, both in the field of science as well as in the social sciences. For close to a decade, she has integrated qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches in her work, researching and measuring the impact of education interventions across India, Nepal, Tanzania, USA, Colombia, Italy and the Netherlands.

After obtaining a PhD in chemistry from Ohio State University and serving on the faculty at the University of Houston, Dr. Madhav Chavan returned to India where he worked in the slums of Mumbai as part of the National Literacy Mission. In 1995, as a result of a UNICEF initiative, he co-founded Pratham to address problems of universal primary education in Mumbai.

Mr. Xu serves in the ADB education sector group as a member of expert pool in Education Technology, Jeffrey covers ADB’s engagement in education related projects with many Asian countries across K-12 school education, higher education and TVET, particularly using ICT and education technology to promote education equity, improve efficiency and efficacy in teaching and learning.