Mentors Profile
IRNet Mentor
Ex-Executive Director (P&A)
Steel Authority of India Ltd. Bhilai Steel Plant
SIG:
Disruptive Human Resource Management
Short Bio-data:
Shri. Mrinal Kanti
Barman had developed strategic HR initiatives (includes Industrial Relations)
to realise bottom line results and enhance employee engagement in the pursuit
of organisation excellence. Provided leadership in implementing the full range of HR and Industrial
Relation functions at the largest steel plant. Managing
60,000+ workforce (with
direct reporting of 15+ Departments). Worked at three integrated steel
plants ( Bhilai , Rourkela and IIS Co), R&D Centre, Commercial Directorate
besides majority of the time in different locations of the Central Marketing
Organization of SAIL (pan India) for 38 years. He had Guided the executive team
through organizational restructurings which created a more flexible,
cost-efficient workforce. Partner with key executives across the businesses to
drive employee engagement, morale boosting and performance enhancement in an
environment experiencing both significant external and internal organizational
change. He had even if designed an employee engagement strategy that improved
morale, retained talent, and business continuity through multiple changes with
the executive leadership team.
IRNet Mentor
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
SIG:
Industry 4.0
Short Bio-data:
He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai during 2010. He finished his B.E in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Anna University, Guindy (1994 -98) and M.E (Manufacturing) from MIT Anna University (1999-2001). He have worked as a Research Engineer at General Electric, GRC, Bangalore, India for three years from 2011 to 2013 prior to joining IIT Madras.
IRNet Mentor
V Balaraman Institute Chair & Honorary Professor
College of Engineering, Swansea University, UK Secretary, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Centre Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai, India.
SIG:
Industry 4.0
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Ramesh Babu received his PhD from IIT Madras in the year 1990. His research interest includes Manufacturing Technology, Grinding, Abrasive Waterjet Machining, Sheet metal fabrication, Laser Beam Machining, CNC, PLCs & Robotics, Precision Machine Tool development, Process modeling and Simulation of manufacturing systems. His publications include 61 International Journal Papers and 104 National/International Conference Papers.
IRNet Mentor
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar Rupnagar, Punjab, India
SIG:
Industry 4.0
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Prabir Sarkar, did his schooling from Kolkata, India, later he took admission for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) with Physics honors. His interest to become an application oriented scientist/engineer and to open up vast possibilities has propelled him to join Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) in 1994, just after completing his first year B.Sc. In 1998, he finished Production Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy (formerly known as Regional Engineering College, Trichurappalli). Design was a very interesting subject during his B.E. and he always had flair in it. He have developed many useful mechanical and electronic gadgets at home and perceived that designing is also very challenging. In 1998, he joined Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for Masters (M. Des.) degree in Product Design and Engineering. After finishing his Masters in 2000, he was interested to apply his knowledge of design for the betterment of our country - he joined Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) as a Development Engineer. BEML has an annual turnover of Rs 400 crores, largest earth moving equipment manufacturing company in the country and runs as a public sector undertaking company. He was working at the R&D centre, the second largest of its kind in Asia. His major contribution at BEML was to play a crucial role in the development of a remote controlled bull dozer for hazardous situations like removing nuclear wastes or in mines. His strong interest for research in design has helped him to join IISc again for higher studies as a PhD scholar. After completing his PhD in the area of Design Creativity, He was briefly working as a Post Doctoral scholar at IISc (IISc junior research associate) and later he joined National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA as a guest researcher. In 2011, he joined Indian Institute of Technology Ropar as an faculty in the School of Mechanical, Materials, and Energy Engineering.
IRNet Mentor
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department Indian Institute of Technology Ropar Rupnagar, Punjab, India.
SIG:
Industry 4.0
Short Bio-data:
Ekta Singla, is serving as Associate Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at IIT Ropar. With her research interests in Modular Robotics, Service robots, Customized optimal designs, Evolutionary robotics and hybrid morphologies, she has an experience of more than fifteen years in Robotics and in applied Optimization fields. She is a recipient of Institute Gold medal during her Master's program, National doctoral fellowship during her doctoral program at IIT Kanpur, CNRS postdoctoral fellowship for UPMC Paris and a recent National award from Institute of Engineers. Her current research projects are in Maintenance and Service Robotics and in Rehabilitation Robotics, and progressing through industrial partnerships, two UK-India collaborations and active association with the University of Stony-Brook, New York – for the robotic applications is medical and defence field. To enhance the training and learning environment of Industrial Robotics field, she has got signed an MOU between IIT Ropar and TATA Automation Ltd for establishing a robotics research and training centre at IIT Ropar. Her contributions are visible through four completed projects, various journal articles, editorship in reputed journals and contributions for various societies. At IIT Ropar, she has actively taken up the administrative responsibility at various levels related to student affairs, academic affairs and chairing the event organizations. Dr Ekta founded an interdisciplinary group, PUNJRobotics , to focus on academic, professional and innovation-related activities not only at IIT Ropar but to connect many institutes in the regional area.
IRNet Mentor
Professor and Head
Department of Humanities and Management, Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
SIG:
Disruptive Human Resource Management
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Sonia Chawla is presently working as Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Management, Dr. BR Ambedkar National Institute of technology Jalandhar. She had received her Ph.D. from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. She is also a Fellow of Cost and Management Accountants of India. Her primary research interests are in the areas of Service Quality Measurement, Financial Economics, Portfolio Management, and Cost Accounting. Specifically, she works on issues related to Financial accounting.
IRNet Mentor
Associate Professor
Finance & Accounting Area, Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya
SIG:
Disruptive Human Resource Management
Short Bio-data:
Prof. Archana Patro is an Associate Professor at IIM Bodhgaya in the Area of Finance & Accounting. She has done her Ph.D. (FPM) From the Indian Institute of Management Indore. She has around eight years of Teaching and Research Experience. Prior to joining IIM BG, she worked as Assistant Professor at IIM Rohtak and IFMR Chennai. Over the span of her academic career, she was holding the important administrative position as Chairperson PGP, Chairperson IPM, Financial Advisory and Investment Committee Chairperson, Ranking and Outreach Committee, Chairperson Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) & Women Empowerment Committee. She has worked on various government projects and provided consultancy services for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (Food & Public Distribution), Food Corporation of India, State Finance Commission, GIZ Germany, Indian Department of Post. She has published her research in various reputed international and national journals. She was invited to present her research output on various platforms at National and international conferences. She is active in providing training to Industry professionals through various executive education programmes and MDPs.
IRNet Mentor
Chief Human Resource Officer
Organizational Behaviour& HRM, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)
SIG:
Disruptive Human Resource Management
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Debolina has worked as CHRO for 6 years in 2 multi-national firms. Her last assignment was as CHRO was with Schneider-Luminous as VP-HR, Admin,and CSR. She is also a member of the Board of IIM Indore since 2017 and of an NGO, SSISM which is focused on rural education. She has had in-depth experience across all facets of HR functions across multiple locations, cultures, and organizations (MNC, private sector, and entrepreneurial start-up). Her industry experience spans heavy engineering and electrical switchgear, IT software services, alcobev, and apparel retail. Apart from her substantial industry experience, Debolina has also published several case studies with Harvard Business Review and academic research articles over the last 4 years with top journals.
IRNet Mentor
Scholar of Communication, Media and Gender
Management Communication, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)
SIG:
Disruptive Human Resource Management
Short Bio-data:
Swati Bandi is a scholar of Communication, Media and Gender. Her teaching and research interests span the fields of media production, creative economy, cultural policy and visual cultures in India with a focus on the politics of empowerment in cultural discourses of women's rights. Her current work explores the intersections between corporate social responsibility and communication for social change. Swati’s writing has appeared in peer-reviewed academic publications like Feminist Media Studies as well as in magazines like Critical Collective and Feminist Wire. In addition, Swati consults on educational technology and pedagogy and is a documentary filmmaker whose films have screened internationally.
IRNet Mentor
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of Mechanics, Modelling and Production National School of Engineers of Sfax University of Sfax
SIG:
Industry 4.0
Short Bio-data:
Fakher Chaari is full Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax – Tunisia. His personal research focuses on Machine and Structural dynamics and Vibroacoustic. He is the author of more than 180 papers and book chapters. He chaired several conferences and edited proceedings of conferences. He is editor of two Springer Book Series “Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering” and “Applied Condition Monitoring”. He was also guest editor in special issues of Applied Acoustics, European Journal of Computational Mechanics and Mechanics and Industry journals. He is the Author of more than 180 journal papers and book chapters. His Research interest includes Dynamics of Mechanical Systems. He is general secretary of Tunisian Society of Industrial Acoustics and Vibration (ATAVI) and member of Tunisian Society of Mechanics (ATM).
IRNet Mentor
Senior Lecturer
Operations and Supply Chain Management Victoria Business School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
SIG:
Supply Chain Management
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Vipul Jain is a Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management at Victoria Business School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has also worked as a French Government researcher for the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control at Nancy, France, and was also involved in the European project I* PROMS (Innovative Production Machines and Systems) from UK. Vipul has more than 85 archival publications to his credit in high impact factor journals, as well as conference papers and books chapters, is the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise, and an Editorial Board member forseven international journals. Vipul is ranked 7th in India in a list of top 20 Indian leading academicians publishing in the area of Logistics and Supply Chain management in an exhaustive study entitled “Analysis of the Logistics research in India- white paper (2012), pp.1-11” conducted by researchers from Institute of Transport Logistics, Dortmund University, Institute for Supply Chain and Network Management, Technische Universität Darmstadt, and University of Münster, Germany. Vipul is involved as a scientific and advisory committee member for various international conferences. He was the Programme Coordinator for the Masters in Industrial Engineering Programme at IIT Delhi, and has been actively involved in conducting Management Development Programmes/Training Programmes for Senior Managers and Executives of Public and Private Organisations in India on various issues and challenges encountered in Operations, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management.
IRNet Mentor
Associate Professor in information systems management
Department of Supply Chain and Information Management (SCM), The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK),Shatin, Hong Kong S.A.R., China
SIG:
Supply Chain Management
Short Bio-data:
Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor in information systems management at the School of Decision Sciences, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. He worked closely with many industrial partners to support and contribute to formulating their business strategies, operations improvement and new product development. Dr Wu holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a PhD in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering. He regularly contributes to research papers on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), digital transformation and enterprise information systems. In collaboration with global scholars, e.g. UK and China, his project works and research outcomes have been presented at 15+ international conferences and published in 80+ international journals, of which 70 international journal papers are in SCI/SSCI journals. He is also the leading author of IoT: Collective Intelligence for Smart Cities (ISBN: 978-012-820139-8), and IoT for Elderly, Aging and eHealth - Quality of Life and Independent Living for the Elderly (ISBN: 978-303-093386-9). As he looks to the future, Dr Wu intends to continue researching smart logistics and manufacturing.