PROF STEVE POINTING (YALE-NUS COLLEGE, SINGAPORE) Professor Stephen (Steve) Pointing is Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Science Division at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. Steve earned degrees in biochemistry and microbiology from the UK. He won the prestigious Sainsbury Scholarship for postgraduate environmental research at the Bermuda Ocean Institute, and was awarded a PhD in marine microbiology in 1995.  Steve gained his MBA in Education Management from Leicester University in 2010. Prior to joining Yale-NUS Steve held academic positions in the UK, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand. He has spent over 20 years researching extreme environments finding microbial life where it should not exist, and this work has taken him all over the world from tropical hot springs to Himalayan lakes and Antarctic deserts. He has published some of the pivotal findings in his field and won numerous research awards. Steve is also very active in science communication and outreach, having made over 200 television and radio appearances commenting on environmental issues.

PROF TAKASHI YAMANOUCHI (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF POLAR RESEARCH ) Professor Takashi Yamanouchi is an Emeritus Professor at National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and in the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. His research interests are in atmospheric science and polar climatology, especially in radiation budget, atmospheric circulation and material cycle. After finishing graduate school at Tohoku University in 1978 and two years work, he had worked for 35 years at NIPR till 2015, and joined Japanese Antarctic Expedition for four times including two times as an Expedition Leader. He also conducted Arctic airborne observations with a cooperation of Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, and worked as a Project Manager of GRENE Arctic Climate Change Research Project (Fy2011-2015). He served as a Member of IPY 2007-2008 WMO/ICSU Joint Committee during 2007 – 2010, and a Chief Officer of SCAR Physical Sciences SSG for 2010 – 2012. Professor Yamanouchi is also the editor-in-Chief of the journal Polar Science.  

PROF SANJAY CHATURVEDI (PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, INDIA) Prof Sanjay served on the faculty of his Alma Mata Panjab University since April 1987 with research interests in the theory and practices of Geopolitics and IR, with a particular reference to the Polar Regions and the Indian Ocean Region. The Department of Ocean Development, Government of India, funded his doctoral research on the ‘Geopolitics of Antarctica’ during the early 1980s. Currently the Editor-in-Chief of Panjab University Social Science Research Journal, he serves on the editorial boards of eight peer-review international journals. Since 2004 (except the year 2013), Prof, have been addressing the National Defense College, New Delhi, on the topic, ‘Geopolitical and Geostrategic Concepts and their Relevance for India.’ His areas of specialisation are in Geopolitics theory and practice, especially in Polar Regions and the Indian Ocean Region. He is currently working on the ethical and geopolitical dimensions of environmental sustainability and climate change.