Dr. Avik Sarkar
Faculty Member & Senior Researcher
Indian School of Business, India

Short biography:

Dr. Avik Sarkar is currently a Faculty Member and Senior Researcher at the Indian School of Business. He brings over two decades of industry experience in developing data science and artificial intelligence solutions, having worked with leading organizations including IBM, Accenture, Nokia Siemens, NASA Ames, and Persistent Systems. He previously served as the Head of the Data Analytics Cell at NITI Aayog, Government of India.

Dr. Sarkar was a member of the team that developed India's first National AI Strategy and has also been actively involved in the IndiaAI Mission. He represents India in international AI discussions at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). Additionally, he represents India in the United Nations Expert Committee on Big Data and Data Science.

His recent book explores Indian case studies that demonstrate the application of data science towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr. Sarkar holds a Ph.D. from The Open University, United Kingdom, a Master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Calcutta.

Dr. Sarkar has authored numerous technical publications and holds several technology patents. His research interests span artificial intelligence, data science, digital governance, public policy, and emerging technologies, contributing significantly to both academic research and national AI initiatives.

 

Nababasu Das
2COMS Group

Short biography:

Bringing nearly two decades of experience at the intersection of HR and technology, currently leading the entire technology landscape of the 2COMS Group while building its independent HRTech Services vertical. With oversight across application development, enterprise technology, IT infrastructure, and AI-led digital transformation, the focus is on leveraging emerging technologies to reimagine business operations, accelerate innovation, and build scalable, resilient technology ecosystems that drive sustainable growth.

He has played a strategic role in conceptualizing and enabling technology-driven business initiatives such as Gigflex, Global Talent Square, and HarDinJobMela, helping reshape manpower and workforce solutions through intelligent digital platforms. Beyond technology, he is passionate about building high-performing engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning, and aligning technology initiatives with business outcomes.

A curious mind educated and hailing from Dehradun, he is part of the core leadership team, working closely with the management to shape the next phase of growth for the 2COMS Group through technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

 

Snehasis Banerjee
Lead Research Scientist
Tata Consultancy Services

Snehasis Banerjee is a Lead Research Scientist at TCS Research. He is a Guest Faculty at CSE Dept. at IIIT-G and PhD Fellow at IIIT-H. He is a Fellow of IETE and Senior Member of IEEE, CSI and ACM. He serves as Vice Chairman of IETE Kolkata Center, Secretary of CSI Kolkata Chapter and Treasurer of ACM Kolkata Chapter. He holds a Masters in Engineering from Jadavpur University. He has over 30 patents and 40 papers in reputed venues. He serves as reviewer in reputed conferences like ICLR, ICML, NeurIPS, WACV, ICRA, IROS, CASE, IJCNN and journals like Elsevier’s Knowledge-based Systems and Springer’s Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, Journal of Supercomputing. He has received many recognitions like TCS Contextual Master, CSI Young IT Professional Award R-II, and multiple best papers. His research interests include Cognitive Robotics, Knowledge Representation, Generalistic AI and Artificial Consciousness.

 

Dr. Soumya Sen
Assistant Professor, A.K.Choudhury School of IT & Teacher-In-Charge B.Tech
University of Calcutta

Short biography:

Dr. Soumya Sen is an Assistant Professor at the A. K. Choudhury School of Information Technology, University of Calcutta, where he has served since 2009. He is also Teacher-in-Charge of the 1st Year B.Tech program. He holds a Ph.D. (Tech.) in Computer Science & Engineering (2016) along with M.Tech. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Calcutta. Before joining academia, he worked in IBM India Pvt. Ltd. and RS Software, specializing in ERP and Data Warehousing. His research interests include Data Warehousing & OLAP, Big Data, Service Engineering, and Distributed Databases. He has published around 85 research papers, holds 3 international patents (USA, Japan, South Korea), and authored 2 books with Springer. Dr. Sen actively collaborates with institutions in Italy, USA, Japan, New Zealand, and India, and serves as a reviewer and program committee member in several international conferences.