Plenary Speakers
Dr. Vishal Saraswat
Bosch Cybersecurity University
Dr. Vishal Saraswat is the program manager of the Bosch Cybersecurity University at BGSW in Bangalore, India, holding a Ph.D. in Cryptography from the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on anonymity and privacy in communication protocols, searchable encryption for cloud services, lightweight cryptography for IoT devices, post-quantum crypto, cryptanalysis, and hardware security. He has published extensively, co-authoring “Introduction to Cryptography” for Indian undergraduates and researchers, and actively promotes cybersecurity awareness through media contributions and training programs for intelligence agencies, defense organizations, academic institutions, and policymakers. Additionally, he has supervised numerous student projects in cryptography and serves on the editorial boards of several security journals and conferences, while also being an executive committee member of the Cryptology Research Council of India.
Dr. Suresh Manandhar
Wiseyak Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Suresh Manandhar is an AI scientist with 35 years of experience, specializing in machine learning, natural language processing, and multimodal understanding. He led the AI research group at the University of York until 2019, supervising over 22 doctoral students and publishing more than 120 papers. As a co-founder of the UK AI startup Lexicle, his work was featured on BBC’s Click TV program. He has held prestigious positions such as NATO Visiting Fellow and Google Faculty Summit invitee. His former students now work at top AI research organizations like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and MILA. Passionate about applying AI across various industries, he has contributed to AI education, healthcare, workflow management, and forecasting. Currently, he is an Honorary Professor at Madan Bhandari University of Science and Technology, CEO/Chief Scientist at Wiseyak, an AI-driven healthcare company, and Head of AI Research at Fusemachines Inc.
Invitees
Prof. Dr. Gauri Shrestha
HoD, Central Department of Statistics, TU, Nepal
Dr. Gauri Shrestha is the Head and Professor at the Central Department of Statistics,
Tribhuvan University, Nepal. She holds a Ph.D. in Statistics and has extensive experience in
teaching, research, and academic leadership. Her research focuses on maternal health,
statistical modeling, and logistic regression, with numerous publications in national and
international journals. Dr. Shrestha has supervised many M.Sc. theses and serves as the editor
of the Nepalese Journal of Statistics. She has received several awards for her contributions to
academia and is actively involved in professional organizations. Additionally, she has received
several awards, including the ‘Nepal Bidhya Bhusan ka’ for her academic contributions.
Dr. Manoj Gyawali
National University of Singapore
Dr. Manoj Gyawali earned his PhD from the University of Roma Tre, Italy, in 2021. He is currently a research scientist at the National University of Singapore. His research interests span computational number theory, elliptic curves, and post-quantum cryptography, with a specific focus on isogeny-based and lattice-based cryptographic methods. Dr. Gyawali’s work aims to advance the field of cryptography by developing secure cryptographic systems that can withstand the threats posed by quantum computing. His contributions are pivotal in ensuring the future security of digital communications and data protection.
Dr. Hemraj Regmi
Deputy Chief Statistician
National Statistics Office
Dr. Hem Raj Regmi is the Statistician by profession, who works at National Statistics Office (former Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)) of Nepal Government, in the capacity of Deputy Chief Statistician responsible for social statistics division. He used to work in planning, economic and national accounts statistics divisions of the Bureau before joining this division.
Born in 1970, he has completed Master’s degree in Statistics from Central Department of Statistics and PhD in food security and climate analysis from Central Department of Environmental Sciences, Tribhuvan University.
In his professional career of more than 28 years in statistics and food security, he worked with the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) and also with Food and Agriculture Organization of UN based in Bangkok (FAORAP) under the project Global Strategy to Improve Agriculture and Rural Statistics in Asia Pacific Region.
He also worked as a food security and SDG monitoring consultant for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, LAO PDR, Myanmar, Pakistan, Vietnam, Timor Leste and many other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
Dr. Muhammad Sohail
Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Muhammad Sohail belongs to a very small village of district Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He got his PhD Mathematics degree from the Institute of Space Technology Islamabad, Pakistan in 2020. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor at Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. His research interests are on CFD simulation, mass transport, heat transfer, mathematical modelling, nonlinear dynamics, stability analysis, numerical and analytical methods, fractional differential equations, mixed convection and heat exchangers. He has published more than about 150 research articles in different peer reviewed international journals.
Dr. Rajeev Anand Sahu
Bosch Global Software Technology
Dr. Rajeev Anand Sahu is a Senior Architect at Bosch Global Software Technology in Bangalore, specializing in cybersecurity and cryptography training. He holds a Ph.D. in Cryptography from MNNIT Allahabad and has conducted postdoctoral research in Belgium and Luxembourg. Dr. Sahu’s research focuses on authentication and privacy in communication protocols, with significant contributions in digital signatures, zero-knowledge proofs, post-quantum cryptography, and searchable encryption. He has published extensively, co-authored a textbook, and taught cryptography courses. Dr. Sahu has delivered talks and training programs for various organizations and mentored students in multiple countries. He actively participates in the research community and received the Young Scientist Award by IAPS in 2010.
Dr. Shree Ram Khadka
Central Department of Mathematics, TU, Nepal
Dr. Shree Ram Khadka is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Tribhuvan University,
Nepal. He completed his PhD in Optimization in 2012 and has conducted postdoctoral research
in Germany. Dr. Khadka specializes in optimization, scheduling theory, production systems, and
logistics. He has published extensively in these areas and serves as an associate editor for the
International Journal of Operations Research Nepal. He teaches optimization courses and
advises students at the Master’s, MPhil, and PhD levels.