Speakers / Resource Persons

Dr. S.Ramaratnam is the Vice Chancellor of Jagadguru Kripalu University (JKU), Odisha. He has more than 50 years of experience in the field of academics and has worked as Director and Principal of various Colleges and Institutions. Prior to joining Jagadguru Kripalu University he was the Vice Chancellor for Sri Sri University. He was also a visiting Professor to Oxford University and the University of Mauritius.

Dr.Kristian Van Haesendonck is an Associate Professor at the University of Sanya, specialising in comparative Latin American, Caribbean and Lusophone African literatures. He graduated in Romance Languages from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and obtained his PhD in Latin American Literature from Leiden University (The Netherlands). He taught Spanish language and Latin-American Literature and Culture in the United States (Princeton, Villanova) and was a researcher at the Universities of Lisbon (Portugal), Linnaeus (Sweden) and Antwerp (Belgium). He is the author of Postcolonial Archipelagos: essays on Hispanic Caribbean and Lusophone African Literatures (Peter Lang) and editor of Going Caribbean! New Perspectives on Caribbean Literature. He recently edited Worlds of Mia Couto (Peter Lang), a collection of essays about the Mozambican writer.

Dr. Jagdish Batra is Professor and Executive Dean (English & Foreign Languages) at  O.P. Jindal Global University, India. Earlier, he worked as Principal and Head of PG Dept. of English in different colleges.  With nearly four decades of teaching experience, he has guided some 50 research scholars. His areas of specialization include contemporary Indian English fiction and Culture Studies. Prof. Batra has presented research papers as also presided over several international conferences in India, Europe and South East Asia. Recipient of many awards, he was also presented the Research Excellence Award by JGU in 2020 and 2021. He is the Convener of eight annual international literary conferences. A former Rotary Study Exchange Scholar to USA, Prof. Batra has published eleven books, 60+ research papers in leading journals, and a large number of general articles. He is on the editorial boards of two literary journals and research panels of many universities.