Dr Ahu Meryem Erdogan started her career as an assistant social policy expert at the Prime Ministry of Türkiye in 2006, and continued to work as an expert upon the acceptance of her specialization thesis. After 5 years of work, she worked as a planning expert at the Ministry of Development of Türkiye in determining the campus infrastructure and superstructure investment projects of state universities and allocating funds.

Dr. Vasoontara Sbirakos Yiengprugsawan is a Senior Universal Health Coverage Specialist (Service Delivery) within the ADB Health Practice Team, Human and Social Development Office, Sectors Group. Her current focus is on health systems strengthening especially primary health care and management of chronic non-communicable diseases and mental health.

Professor Ehtisham Ahmad has been Directing a Project on Sustainable Transitions in China and Mexico, at the Grantham Research Institute at the LSE over the past three years. He also worked with the ADB to provide recommendations for consideration for the 14th Five Year Plan. During the past decade, he has been Visiting Professor at the LSE, Pao Yu-Kong Professor at Zhejiang University, Senior Fellow at the Center for Development Research, University of Bonn as well as Senior Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science/Ministry of Finance Research Institute (2018-21).

Till is Head, Inclusive Economies Practice, Centre for the New Economy and Society, World Economic Forum. His areas of work at the Forum include the future of work, gender parity and economic and social policy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Ms. Suga joined ADB in 2004 and worked in the Southeast Asia (SERD) and Pacific Regional Department (PARD) including a two-year assignment to the Lao Resident Mission. She also worked for the European Investment Bank (EIB) where she led the process of drafting and introducing EIB’s first social policy guidelines and established institutional arrangements for EIB operations worldwide to operationalize the new policy. Prior to joining ADB, Ms. Suga worked for UNDP in the context of institutional policy planning, resource mobilization and project management.

Professor Norma Mansor is the Director of Social Wellbeing Research Centre (SWRC) at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, a position she holds since 2013. She is a professor at the Department of Administrative Studies and Politics at the Faculty, where she served as Dean from April 2004 to June 2009. She was also a Ragnar Nurkse Visiting Professor at Talinn University of Technology, Estonia in 2015.

Peter McDonald is Emeritus Professor of Demography in the Crawford School of Public Policy. He was President of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) for the years, 2010-2013. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and an inaugural Public Policy Fellow of the ANU. He is frequently consulted on the issue of population futures (causes, consequences and policies) by governments around the world, especially in Australia, Europe and East Asia. In 2008, he was appointed as a Member in the Order of Australia.

Rafal Chomik is an economist specialising in social policy, poverty, and population ageing. He is also an expert in data visualisation and policy-oriented research translation. Mr. Chomik has previously worked for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the British Government, and has been a consultant to the World Bank (WB), the United Nations (UN), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Dr. Karin Schelzig is a poverty and social protection specialist with more than 25 years of multidisciplinary human and social development (HSD) experience in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including 20 years with the Asian Development Bank. Karin manages a regional HSD team that designed and delivered more than $2.4 billion in new education, health, and social protection financing in 2023 and implemented a large portfolio of ongoing operations and policy dialogue in 22 countries.