Gopa Kumar Thampi served as Consultant and Governance Advisor in about 20 countries across Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and Eastern Europe with development partners, state institutions, public agencies, and civil society organizations focusing on issues of governance and government reform, public accountability, and capacity building. Gopa Kumar Thampi was instrumental in setting up the Global and South Asia hubs of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability (ANSA), funded by the World Bank Group and based out of the Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University in Dhaka in 2009 and was the CEO of both hubs until 2011. He was also the former Head of the Asia Desk at the Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin and the Executive Director of the Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore, India. Gopa Kumar Thampi is also the Founding Member and former President of IT for Change, a leading non-profit Think-Tank working on bridging technology with social realities and had served in the Governing Board of Building Partnerships for Development – a UK-based non-profit. Gopa Kumar Thampi holds a doctorate in Entrepreneurial Studies from University of Kerala, India and postgraduate qualifications in Economics and Journalism & Mass Communication. He is also an alumnus of the European Center for Peace Studies, based in Austria. Gopa K. Thampi is based out of Sri Lanka.
DR. ARUN KUMAR
Arun Kumar is a social change consultant, researcher, and author. He has worked with some of the leading social purpose organisations in India. With a PhD in Sociology from State University of New York, Binghamton and Masters in Modern Indian History from Delhi University, his academic writings have been about the subaltern cultural economy of marginalisation and resistance, language of politics and folksongs. In the social development space, he frequently writes on caste, migration, urban poverty, disenfranchisement and climate injustice in the majority world. Arun is based out of London.
DR. BHAGABATA PATRO
Prof. Bhagabata Patro got his education from Khallikote College (Now Khallikote University), Berhampur from intermediate to M.A.(1972-78) and got his M.Phil(1982) and Ph.D(1992) from Berhampur University. He started his career as an Asst. Manager (Economic Investigation and Marketing) of DIC under the Industries Department of Government of Odisha. He joined Berhampur University as a Lecturer in Economics (Econometrics) on 29.10.1982. For period of 2 Years, he was on lien to UCO bank to work as the Junior Economist at Guwahati Divisional Office. He got selected as a Reader and joined the Department on 8.6.1995. On CAS promotion, he joined as a Professor on 8.6.2003. Currently he is the Head of the Department and also the Director of HHM Distance Education Centre, Berhampur University. Prof. Patro has successfully guided 32 candidates for M.Phil and 7 candidates for Ph.D. He has 65 publications of books, book articles and journal articles of national and international repute. He visited Beijing, China to attend the Annual Conference of the International Input-Output Association.
