Conference Speakers
Meet our world-class industry experts
Dr. Linda Amrane-Cooper
Director, Centre For Online And Distance Education, University Of LondonDr Linda Amrane-Cooper, PFHEA is Director of Academic Practice in Online and Distance Education at the University of London, where she also leads the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE). Her distinguished career spans Higher Education, teacher development, and Museum Education, reflecting a lifelong commitment to transformative learning. A member of the University of London’s Senior Management Group, Dr Amrane-Cooper is a recognised leader in online and distance education. She works across the University of London Federation, nationally and internationally, to advance inclusive, accessible, and high- quality digital, blended, distance, and transnational education. With extensive experience in diverse global contexts, Dr Amrane-Cooper is driven by a deep passion for empowering learners and educators. Her previous leadership roles include serving as Dean, International Lead, Head of Campus, and Head of Initial Teacher Education. She also co-designed and led the University of London’s Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education for seven years. At CODE, Dr Amrane-Cooper fosters a vibrant community of over 40 Fellows - leading voices in educational thought and practice. Her dual leadership roles ensure that innovation, capacity building, quality assurance and research are embedded in the University’s strategic direction. She also plays a pivotal role in shaping institutional policy, particularly in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and assessment. As an active researcher, Dr Amrane-Cooper’s scholarly work focuses on assessment in online environments, AI in higher education, educator development, and inclusive practice in digital and distance learning. Her teaching experience spans all educational levels—from early years to doctoral supervision—across disciplines including social sciences, teacher education, mathematics, business, physics, and science. She also serves as a peer reviewer for two academic journals.
Prof. Madhu Parhar
Former Director, Center For Online Learning, IGNOU, New Delhihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/madhu-parhar-73083889/?originalSubdomain=in
Dr. G. Mythili
Additional Director, Stride, IGNOU, New Delhihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mythili-g-480a1359/?trk=public_post_comment_actor-name&originalSubdomain=in
Prof. N.k. Chadha
Former Professor Of Psychology University Of Delhihttps://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/departments/faculty_members/Psychology/2443.pdf
Prof. V.v. Subrahamanyam
Professor Of Computer Science, Socis, Ignou, New Delhihttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=T7QOLGcAAAAJ&hl=en
Prof. S.s. Rawat
Director, Socis, Ignou, New Delhihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeeprawat2020/?originalSubdomain=in
Dr Rajiv Ranjan Singh
Lecturer, Dept Of Engineering, School Of Science And Engineering, Glasgow Caledonian University, UkDr Rajiv Ranjan Singh is a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at Glasgow Caledonian University. Before joining Glasgow Caledonian, he worked as an Associate Professor in Computer Science at Shyam Lal College (Evening) at the University of Delhi in India. He has acquired both a master's degree and a PhD in Cyber Security from the University of Birmingham. He obtained his master's in Computer Security as a sponsored candidate from the University of Delhi after getting selected under a Faculty Training Programme. Subsequently, he was awarded a fully-funded PhD studentship by the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham. During his PhD, under the supervision of Dr Tom Chothia, he worked on formalising the stealthiness of attacks on security protocols. They also developed a novel and economical methodology of improving security protocol specifications by modelling just the attacks and not the complete protocol
Prof. Santosh Panda
Former Director, STRIDE, IGNOU and Former Chairperson, NCTEProf Santosh Panda retired as Director of the Staff Training & Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) and the Malviya Mission Teacher Training Centre(MMTTC) at the Indira Gandhi National Open University. A graduate in Economics and master’s in Education, he has a PhD in Education (Kurukshetra), Fulbright Post-Doctoral (UNM/ USA), Certificate in Education TV (BBC/ UK), and Certificate in Online Teaching (Maryland/ USA). Dr Panda started university teaching in 1984, and has above 40 years of experience in teaching, research and administration. In the past, he has been: Chairperson, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Government of India; Director, Policy & Research, Association of Indian Universities (AIU); Director, Centre for Flexible Learning, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji; and Founding Director, Inter-University Consortium for ICT, IGNOU. An internationally recognised leader of ODL from the Global South, he has presented keynotes and workshops in over 30 countries; presented convocation address in three universities; and has been consultant for ADB, COL, DfID/BC, Ford Foundation, GTZ, IDRC, SADC, UNDP, UNESCO, and the World Bank. He has been visiting professor at: Manchester Metropolitan University/UK, University of London/UK, Beijing Normal University/China, University of Maryland University College/USA (& University of Oldenburg/Germany), UNISA/South Africa, and University of Guadalajara/Mexico. He is a member of UNESCO international awards committee of the Indian National Commission for UNESCO/ Ministry of Education, Government of India; member of the Yoga Certification Board-TC, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India; Mentor, National Child Rights Research Fellowship Committee, Child Rights & You (CRY); Mentor, ODL Practitioner Research Training & Mentorship Initiative, COL, Canada. He has been programme director for long-term training of Indian bureaucrats on ODL, sponsored by the DOPT/ GoI and UNDP; and programme director for training of 1.5 million university and college teachers on NEP-2020 at IGNOU under the Ministry of Education & University Grants Commission. He specialises and publishes in areas of: Distance, Online and Blended Learning; Teacher Education and Staff Development; Higher Education Policy, Costing and Quality, and Curriculum, Pedagogy and Technology; Open Schooling and Open Vocational Education; Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices; and Programme Evaluation. His recent books include: Case Studies on Blended Learning in Higher Education (2024/ Springer); Pedagogy in Practice (2022/ Bloomsbury); Technology Enabled Learning (2021/ COL); Planning & Management in Distance Education (2017/ Routledge, also translated into Chinese by UNESCO); Economics of Distance and Online Learning (2008/ Routledge). He is the Chief Editor of Scopus-indexed Journal of Learning for Development, published by the Commonwealth of Learning/ Canada. He has guided above 19 masters’ dissertations, 5 MPhil dissertations and 9 PhD theses; and conducted international research projects funded by BC/ UK, IDRC-CRDI/ Canada, COL/Canada, GTZ/Germany. He sat in the editorial board of above 15 refereed journals, mostly published by Routledge. Recent/Forthcoming Publications: Panda, S. (2025). Globalization, liberalization and technology in higher education. In P. K. Misra & N. Sabharwal (eds.), India higher education report 2024 - Technology and higher education. Routledge (forthcoming). Mishra, S. & Panda, S. (Eds.) (2025). Handbook of open universities around the world. New York: Routledge (forthcoming). https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Open-Universities-Around-the-World/Mishra-Panda/p/book/9781032754055 Misra, P., Mishra, S. & Panda, S. (Eds.) (2025). Case studies on blended learning in higher education: Design, development and delivery. Springer. (forthcoming) https://link.springer.com/book/9789819607211 Panda, S. (2024).University and teacher education. In P. Panda (Ed.), Teacher education landscapes in India: Governance and quality management (pp 29-55). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003489245-3/university-teacher-education-santosh-panda?context=ubx&refId=ce02e1fa-c8a5-48a5-a8ea-41e8c86c5b03 Mustafa, M. Y., …Panda, S, …(2024).A systematic review of literature reviews on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED): A road map to a future research agenda. Smart Learning Environments, 11(59). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-024-00350-5 Panda, S., Mishra, S. & Misra, P. (Eds.) (2024). Case studies on blended learning in higher education: Policy, planning, and quality assurance. Springer https://link.springer.com/book/9789819793877 Panda, S. (2024). Cost analysis and return on investment for blended learning. In S. Panda, S. Mishra. & P.K. Misra (Eds.)(2024). Case studies on blended learning in higher Education: Policy, planning, and quality assurance. Springer https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-9388-4_7 Mishra, S., Panda, S. & Misra, P. K. (2024). Blended learning in higher education: Framing and futures. In S.Panda, S.Mishra. & P. Misra (Eds.) (2024). Case studies on blended learning in higher education: Policy, planning, and quality assurance. Springer https://link.springer.com/book/9789819793877 Panda, S. (2023). Quo Vadis - Stock taking and reflections on researching open, distance and digital education. In R. A. Folake and D. Coetzee (Eds.), Researching DE in the developing context: Building practice into theory. Pretoria: Emerging Scholars Initiative. Panda, S. (2023). Evolving learner support systems. In O. Zawacki-Richter & I. Jung (Eds.), Handbook of open, distance and digital education (pp 841-859). Springer Nature. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-19-2080-6_46 Adhya, D. & Panda, S. (2022).Teacher educators' attitude towards technology-enabled learning and its incorporation into teaching-learning during and post-pandemic. Educational Media International, 59(2), 131-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2022.2101204 Das,B.Panda, S.&Parthasarathi, V.(eds)(2022) Pedagogy in practice: Project-based learning in media policy and governance. Bloomsbury.https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pedagogy-in-practice-9789354359675/ Das, R.P.& Panda, S.(Eds.)(2021), National Education Policy 2020: Issues, challenges, and reflections. Indira Gandhi National Open University. Mishra, S & Panda, S.(Eds)(2020)Technology-enabled learning: Policy, pedagogy and practices. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning. http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/3655 Panda, S. (2020). Return on investment from an open online course on open educational resources. In S. Mishra & S. Panda (eds.), Technology-enabled learning: Policy, pedagogy and practice (pp199-212). The Commonwealth of Learning. Panda, S. (2019). Linking skill programmes with academic programmes in higher education. Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia. Panda, S. (Ed.) (2017). Planning and management in distance education. HB. London & New York: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Planning-and-Management-in-Distance-Education/Panda/p/book/9781138164871
Prof. Sanjaya Mishra
Former Director (Education) and Education specialist, the Commonwealth of Learning, Canadahttps://ndltd.org/directory/prior-board-members/sanjaya-mishra/
Prof. C.R.K. Murthy
Former Director, STRIDE, IGNOU and Academic Consultant, SOL, University of Delhihttps://in.linkedin.com/in/c-r-k-murthy-3803511b3
Dr Tony Mays
Director, Education, Commonwealth of Learning Vancouver, Canadahttps://www.col.org/members/dr-tony-mays/
Dr Torunn Gjelsvik
Secretary General, International Council for Open and Distance Education - ICDETorunn Gjelsvik is Secretary General of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), the leading global network for inclusive, open, and distance learning, based in Oslo, Norway. An EDEN Fellow, she champions lifelong learning and equitable access to education through diverse flexible learning modes. ICDE mobilizes more than 350 members and partners across 90+ countries, driving cross-country and cross-sector collaboration to advance accessible, sustainable, and innovative learning worldwide. Hosted by Norway since 1988 and in consultative partnership with UNESCO, ICDE aligns closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals—particularly SDG4: Quality Education. Torunn holds a Master’s degree in Nordic languages and literature, complemented by studies in French, History, Management, and Strategic Communication. Active in the field since 2000, she has held senior roles nationally and internationally. Her work focuses on operationalizing SDG4—especially inclusive and equitable access—through global collaboration and knowledge sharing that benefits learners everywhere. A frequent keynote speaker and panel moderator, she brings practice-based insights on innovation, equity, and quality in technology-enhanced learning.