Sandhya is an Independent Director, startup/scale-up ecosystem partner and mentor, a social venture partner and a member of a think tank.

She has been a senior global executive with experience in leading business across financial services, cutting across front office to back office. Her main areas of focus are strategic business model innovation and digital transformation and operations, social impact initiatives, supervisory oversight and risk, control, regulatory and governance across business and legal entities.

She is currently an Independent Director at Himatsingka Seide, Electronica Finance Limited and TTK Prestige. She is on the Board of Governors of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi and TiE Bengaluru. She is also a nominee Director on behalf of Indian Angel Network with Ascorb Technologies (Edmingle), a trustee on the Industry Foundation, and is on the board of Advanced Studies Institute of Asia (ASIA) a not-for-profit think tank.

Anjali Sosale is a Partner at Waterbridge Ventures, an India-focussed seed to series A fund that invests in early-stage technology companies. With a focus on consumer tech, e-commerce, marketplaces and all enablers of Indian Consumer Demand, Anjali is dedicated to finding and supporting innovative startups that are changing the way Indians transact online. She is particularly interested in products that can enable the next half a billion rural Indian Internet users to engage in e-commerce.

Prateek is a Jaipur-born, NIT & IIM-Calcutta educated, corporate-digital-technology-leader turned happy-social-entrepreneur. He gave up an 18-year-old career in the IT industry to establish an Assistive Tech innovation ecosystem in India for the promotion of empowerment of people with disabilities in the spheres of learning, livelihood and living. ATF has developed a network of over 450+ AT startups, impacted the lives of 5.1 lakh (510,000) individuals with disabilities and built a portfolio of 42 AT startups, collectively contributing to the development of 100+ AT products and securing 43 patents. He has co-founded the Global Alliance on Assistive Technology Innovations and Investments known as the Inclusive Innovation Network (+N). Prateek is a member of the steering committee instituted by NITI Aayog to design the National Strategic Framework of Assistive Tech in India with the objective of making India a global hub of Assistive Technology for the welfare of people with disabilities.

Former PSA Vijay Raghavan, a distinguished Indian scientist and administrator, has significantly shaped the country’s scientific landscape. Born with an innate curiosity, Vijay holds degrees in physics and biology and was one of the first professors at the visionary National Centre for Biological Sciences, where he later became the director. His pioneering work in the fields of developmental biology and genetics earned him widespread acclaim, establishing him as a leading authority in his field. Vijay’s dedication to advancing scientific knowledge made him a recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award. Transitioning into an administrative role in between, he served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, where he played a pivotal role in shaping science and technology policies. With his vision, expertise and unwavering commitment to scientific excellence, Vijay continues to inspire generations of scientists and policymakers alike.

Professor Dr. Christian Wolfrum has been Full Professor for Translational Nutrition Biology at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health at the ETH Zurich since January 2017.

Christian was born on July 17, 1972, in Bonn, Germany and studied Chemistry at the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany. After his graduation, he spent six years as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Markus Stoffel at Rockefeller University in New York, USA. In 2007 he moved to ETH Zurich and in 2008 he was appointed Assistant Professor for Obesity Research. His research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the altered adipocyte differentiation and maturation associated with obesity and other metabolic disorders. 

Christian Wolfrum received several honours, including the H.P. Kaufmann Award (2000), the Young Investigators Award by the EFSTL (2004), the Starting Independent Researcher Grant from the ERC (2008) and the Rössler Award (2014). 

Since 2023 he has been Vice President for Research and a member of the Executive Board at ETH Zurich.

Dirk Wilhelm is Professor and Dean of the ZHAW School of Engineering, Zurich, Switzerland. He received his master’s degree in Physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. He worked as an engineer for Alstom Power Systems in the gas turbine development department. Afterwards, he joined the biomedical company Bruker BioSpin, where he headed a development department. In 2013 Dirk Wilhelm joined the School of Engineering at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and became a professor of Medical Physics. Since 2019 he has been Dean of the School of Engineering and member of the University Board. Furthermore, he is a member of different advisory boards, e.g. of the Digital Initiative of the canton Zurich (DIZH, Innovation Board) and the STEM initiative of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. Dirk Wilhelm has 20 years of work experience in applied physics and mathematics. His research interests are in Medical Physics, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Computational Fluid Dynamics, and Numerical Methods. 

Professor Dr. Manfred Max Bergman, representing the Swiss National Science Foundation, serves as a Member of the Research Council and the Specialized Committee on International Cooperation, while also holding the position of Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Basel.

Dr. Bergman is a distinguished academic and researcher with a rich background in social and political sciences. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, followed by a Master’s degree from the Département de science politique from the Université de Genève, Geneva, and a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

With a solid academic foundation, Dr. Bergman has held numerous academic appointments, contributing to institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Essex, and the University of Basel. His tenure as Chair of Social Research and Methodology at the University of Basel reflects his significant contributions to the field. He has led various research projects and grants, including ones funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Michigan.

Beyond academia, Dr. Bergman has received notable honours and awards, including the Prince Sutasoma Award and membership in the Swiss National Commission of UNESCO. He has served in several institutional roles, including Counselor of the Swiss National Science Foundation and Fellow at various academic institutions.