Hu, Tao (Director of Environmental Economics Program, Policy Research Center for Environment & Economy, State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China)

Dr. Hu is one of the pioneers in China in environmental economics as a methodology of environmental policy. As a senior research fellow of the Policy Research Center for Environment & Economy of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, he often works as policy advisor or project consultant for international organizations and bilateral cooperation organizations, as well as national ministries. He is an expert in analyzing trade and environmental issues and rural environmental policy, and is experienced in Europe and America as well as in ASEAN countries. He has also been active in writing environmental reports and essays and expressing his views on hot environmental topics through appearances on TV and radio programs.

ALFP Research Topic: Trade and Environment: Toward Sustainable Development

Vinod Raina (Vice President, All India People's Science Network; National Secretary, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS))

Dr. Raina received a PhD in Physics from Delhi University. He has been one of the key leaders of the NGO literacy movement in India and co-founded one of the most extensive networks of school education, non-formal education, and literacy, Eklavya / BGVS. Although he retains his interest in science, he has also made in-depth studies of the environment, education and development, being the chief editor of a book based on a study of ten Asian countries, The Dispossessed: Victims of Development in Asia, published by ARENA, Hong Kong. He is highly esteemed not only among NGOs but also among government leaders.

ALFP Research Topic: Environmental Security & Debt in a Globalised World

Maznah Binti Mohamad (Associate Professor in Development Studies, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia)

Dr. Maznah specializes in Development Studies, with a focus on social development policies and political change. Her recent studies have been on Islam, human rights and democracy. She writes regularly for a public-interest newsletter, The Aliran Monthly, and tries to provide an unencumbered, if not alternative analysis of the current Malaysian political situation. She has also been active in women's organizations that promote the causes of gender equality, feminism and women's rights against physical and structural violence. She once held the 2001 Visiting Chair in ASEAN Studies at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, Canada.

ALFP Research Topic: The Human Rights Question: Nation-States and Cultural Communities

Nguyen, Thi Hieu Thien (Vice-Dean, English Department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education)

After receiving her BA in electroning engineering from the Odessa University of Technology in the former USSR, Ms. Nguyen was involved in Russian language education in the 1980s. She later earned an MA in TESOL at the University of Canberra and has become a noted expert in American literature in Vietnam, with her broad knowledge of American culture and extensive reading of American literary works as well as research on U.S. multicultural literature. As vice-dean of the English Department and Head of the American Studies Program of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, one of the three major universities of education in Vietnam, she has contributed to the introduction of a number of important reforms in administration, in curriculum development, and in cooperation with other educational institutions both at home and abroad.

ALFP Research Topic: Education in Viet Nam: New Strategies

Kinoshita, Reiko (Journalist; Member of Board of Directors, International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF))

Since the 1990s, Ms. Kinoshita has been conducting research and reporting under the theme of "Power Missing in Japan," resulting in the publication of 4 books: Influential, The Prize, The Club, and American Bubble. As Visiting Fellow of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C., she focused her research on the reconstruction of U.S.- Japan relations and contributed to analysis and discourse among American university students on the subject. At IWMF in Washington, D.C., she plays a unique role as the sole Board member representing the Asia/Pacific region, working on the development of a network of women journalists active in that region, Africa, the Americas, and Europe.

ALFP Research Topic: Responsibility and Challenges of the Japanese Electronic Media, Promoting Theater Democracy