Dr. Shikha Jain, Founder Director of DRONAH has an extensive portfolio on cultural heritage of India that covers World Heritage, Cultural Landscapes, Conservation, Heritage based Development and Museum Planning of several projects for the Government of India, State Governmentsand international organizations such as the Getty Foundation and the World Monuments Fund.

As an international expert on World Heritage, she has advised government organizations in Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Myanmar and UNESCO Offices at Jakarta, Indonesia and Myanmar and, worked as consultant to the UNESCO New Delhi on several missions including nominations and training programs on cultural landscapes. She has steered several UNESCO World Heritage listings in India. She represented India as a Cultural Heritage expert in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during India’s elected term in Committee from 2011-2015 and, is representing India as a bureau member on behalf of Government of India in the forthcoming 45th World Heritage Committee Session of UNESCO in Sep 2023.

As Director, DRONAH, she has led more than 60 conservation and museum planning projects across India and received HUDCO awards for 2 projects in 2013 which are also documented as Best Practice projects by the Ministry of Urban Development in 2015 and 2022. She is the State Convener of INTACH Haryana Chapter and member of the Advisory Committee on World Heritage under ASI, Ministry of Culture. She is Vice President, ICOFORT, ICOMOS, and an expert member of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, ICOMOS.

She has contributed several papers and articles on the cultural heritage of India in national and international journals and conferences. She has authored/ edited books: Essay on the Conservation of City Place Udaipur (MMCF) featured in the catalogue for the exhibition, ‘A Splendid Land’ at the Smithsonian, USA (2022), Incredible Treasures: UNESCO World Heritage Sites of India (Mapin Publication Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad 2021), Strongholds of Western India: The Forts of Maharashtra, (Aryan Publishers, New Delhi), Living Heritage of Mewar, The City Palace, Udaipur (Mapin Publishing Singapore 2017), Haryana: Cultural Heritage supported by INTACH and ASI (Aryan Publications, 2012), Stone Crafts of Rajasthan (CDOS, Government of Rajasthan, 2010), Princely Terrain: Amber, Jaipur and Shekhawati (Shubhi Publications, 2004) and Havelis: A Living Tradition of Rajasthan (Shubhi Publications, 2004), She is Visiting Faculty for Urban Conservation in the Department of Urban Planning, SPA, New Delhi and UNESCO C2C at WII, Dehradun and, Adjunct Faculty at Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University.

Dr. Ajay Khare is a conservation architect and Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal (Established by MHRD, Govt. of India). He has a number of successful conservation projects in Rajasthan to his credit. He has been actively involved in organising conferences on Heritage, has given special lectures and Radio talks on conservation. He has written several articles on conservation in national and international journals. He is the author of ‘Temple Architecture of Eastern India’ (Shubhi, 2005).

EducationPh.D.Architecture, PRASADA, De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K., MA in Conservation Studies, University of York, U.K. 1995, Master of Architecture. (Architectural Conservation), Urban Design, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. 1992

Career BackgroundBesides his current position Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal (Established by MHRD, Govt. of India), he has served as a Reader in Heritage Management at Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management. He has been the Director of KHAM, an Architectural and Conservation consultancy firm started by him at Jaipur. He worked as a Conservation Consultant for Jaisalmer Administration in Rajasthan.

Cheena Kanwal leads the Environmental Conservation activities and projects of the organisation. She is based at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh (Western Himalaya State) and is a freelance consultant for projects on energy conservation and sustainability. Her extraprofessional interest is focused on development communication and media strategies for development programmes. She has worked as a volunteer with BBC Radio Leicester and with theatre groups in Delhi, Shimla and abroad. Her varied interests have prompted her to associate with a number of development organisations and State government departments on projects of governance, planning, energy, transport and tourism.

EducationMaster of Science in Climate Change and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, Leicester, U.K., 2002, Bachelor of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, 1991.

Career BackgroundShe has been associated with International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) on their worldwide programme called ‘Cities for Climate Protection’ CCP partnered with the Municipal Corporation, Shimla. She was actively involved in the deliberations held by the Department of Town and Country Planning to review the ‘Simla Development Plan 2021’ providing special inputs consisting of guidelines and recommendations for energy conservation building codes for incorporation into the Development Plan 2021, She has been trained in cost and energy efficient building technology at the Laurie Baker Building Centre, New Delhi and in Environment Education at Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad.

Suchandra Bardhan is an architect with a specialty in landscape architecture. She has successfully conducted several major sponsored research projects on heritage, environment, and regional landscapes. With her active participation in national and international conferences, she has also authored a substantial number of journal and conference publications as a result of these studies. She has also won several awards, honors, and recognitions in the process.

Education : PhD in Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 2008. M. Landscape Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, 1995 B. Architecture, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 1991. Certificates in Remote Sensing and GIS Applications, Urban Rainwater Harvesting, Urban Planning, and Disaster Mitigation

Career Background : Career Background: She is a professor at the Department of Architecture, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and also the joint coordinator of the Centre for Human Settlement Planning at the same department. She is an active member of several professional institutes and learned societies and is also associated with prominent academic organisations as an external expert and resource person.

She has versatile experience working on prestigious landscape projects across the country for both public and corporate bodies as well as individuals. She has worked on significant landscape planning and rejuvenation projects as well as community outreach programmes on behalf of the university. She was the joint-recipient of a best paper award at the 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in 2009 and also acts as a peer reviewer for national/ international refereed journals & conferences.She regularly serves as a juror for course examinations at other institutes as well as various design competitions.

Prof. Bardhan has been a two-time visiting academic in 2014 and 2018 under the India Sri Lanka Foundation for the BLA programme at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. She has also been a recipient of an AICTE grant for international travel in 2018.

Adarsh Dosaj has a keen interest in the social and economic development of the locals in the area. Promoting adult and children’s education programmes, organising youth and women’s self-help groups for the betterment of the environment and society in general. She has promoted children’s education in a rural village in Orissa. She is currently residing in Dehradun and represents the organisation in the Uttaranchal region.

EducationMasters in Social Work Administration. Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Bachelors in Education, University of Bombay, Bachelors in Economics (Hons.),University of Delhi

Career BackgroundShe has worked with major newspaper ‘Houston Chronicle’ in USA. She has also worked as Social Worker with international organizations for the social and economic rehabilitation of refugees and immigrants in USA. In this role she has assisted clients with processing immigration papers, finding homes and jobs and finally settling down in a new environment; drafted press releases, brochures and flyers for promoting organisational activities; organised social events and entertainment programmes.

Prof. Yogesh Gupta has specialised in Disaster Management. He has conducted various training programmes in Management and inter personal skills. He is currently working on rainwater harvesting projects of DRONAH for Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Projects (RUIDP) Jaipur.

EducationMaster of Business Administration (Marketing and Finance), Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical)

Career BackgroundYogesh Gupta is currently running a consultancy in Jaipur. He earlier served as the Professor, Centre for Disaster Management, HCM, RIPA Jaipur. He has experience of more than 15 years in conducting training programmes.

He has served as the elected vice president of Hoechst Group of Companies. He has carried out a Project on Purification and Liquefaction of carbon-dioxide from visualisation to implementation stage. He was the Head of Procurement, Logistics, Marketing, Pressure Vessel Division Cryogenic tanks and equipment, HRD, Safety and Environment, Industrial gases plants, Power projects, etc. for the Govt. of Rajasthan, in different departments. He conducted various training programmes in management and entrepreneurial development.

Rakesh Jain is an innovative architect who has employed his theoretical knowledge to create educational Institutions, residences and offices.

EducationBachelor of Architecture School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. 1991

Career BackgroundRakesh Jain has been a practising architect since 1991. His expertise includes Design, Execution and Project Management. His experience encompasses architectural design and execution of several engineering colleges and schools. He has also successfully designed and executed several interiors. He has handled a number of projects for multinational clientele such as Citibank and Reebok. He established Directions in 1996 [download profile here] , a comprehensive multidisciplinary professional practice that operates with an underlying objective to provide an integrated design based approach for all Architectural, Interior and Landscape. His specialty is in farmhouses, factories, institutions, interiors, residences, and resorts. His role in projects is to design, execute and coordinate architectural and interior issues.

Professional Registration /Memberships: Council of Architecture, India Indian Institute of Architects, Northern Chapter.

Parul G Munjal is a senior conservation architect with DRONAH and assistant editor of the bi-annual referred journal, Context: Built Living and Natural.

EducationMasters’ in Architectural Conservation from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, 2002. 5 Year Undergraduate Programme in Architecture from Sushant School of Architecture, Gurgaon, Haryana, 2000.

Career BackgroundAssociated with DRONAH since 2007, she has worked on research, compilation and coordination of planning documents prepared for the City Palace Complex, Udaipur, under the Getty Project Planning Grant. She was involved in the preparation of the Dossier for Jantar Mantar, Jaipur for nomination as a World heritage Site and Toolkits for City Development Plan and Heritage Detailed Project Reports under JNNURM. Parul has contributed towards developing training programmes and applying for national and international grants and awards for heritage projects. Besides being the assistant editor of ‘Context: Built, living and natural’, she has worked on review, editing and compilation of a number of DRONAH project reports and papers.