Founders

Anders Örtenblad is a Swedish Professor at the University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway. He has also worked at Nottingham University Business School-NUBS, China (Director of Teaching Development); University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Halmstad University (Director of Studies for MSc Programme in Leadership), Sweden; and Gotland University, Sweden. He is also PhD External Examiner. He is one of the founding members of ELLTA (Exploring Leadership & Learning Theories in Asia), and has also co-organized the 1st ELLTA International Academic Conference (2011) in Malaysia.

With a PhD in Business Administration (University of Gothenburg), his main research interests include organizational learning and the spread of management ideas, and the assumption of universalism that permeates many management ideas as well as management theories. His work has been very well received and one of his articles was among the 200 most downloaded articles published ever by Emerald.

He is an associate editor of International Journal of Management Reviews (Wiley-Blackwell) since 2009 and additionally a member of four other editorial boards of international academic journals, including Management Learning, Sage (since 2004); The Learning Organization, Emerald (since 2004); International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Inderscience (since 2008); and conference advisory board member for OLKC-Organizational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities (since 2005). He has been acknowledged as the reviewer of the year 2004 by Management Learning, Sage, for “…sound intellectual work in helping pursue our joint field by way of your reviews”. “Anders has undertaken this role with insight, has been a great support to authors in the development of their papers whether they were eventually published or not, and has always been in good time with his reviews. We could not have asked for more.”

He has co-/Guest Edited Special/ Focus Issues for Asia Pacific Journal of Education (‘Learning in Asia’); Management Learning (‘Universalist, local and glocal perspectives on management learning); International Journal of Learning and Change (‘The learning organization: A universally-applicable concept or an ambiguous basis in need of local interpre-tation?’); Learning Inquiry (‘Are organi-zations able to learn?’). His edited books include: ‘Handbook of Research on the Learning Organization: Adaptation and Context’ (Edward Elgar) and co-/authored books include: ‘A little about a lot: On scientific reports and reference techniques’ (Studentlitteratur), and a few text books in Swedish.

His work has been published in high quality international, referred journals such as: Management Learning, International Journal of Educational Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, International Journal of Management Education, International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, International Journal of Learning and Change, Learning Inquiry, The Learning Organization, International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, Philosophy of Management, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Development and Learning in Organizations, Human Relations, etc. His book chapters have been published e.g. in ‘Handbook of Research on Knowledge-Intensive Organizations’ (Information Science Reference); ‘International encyclopedia of organization studies’ Vol. 2 (Sage); ‘Organizing words: A critical thesaurus for social and organization studies’ (OUP).

Roshni Kumari is one of the Founding Members of the Exploring Leadership & Learning Theories Association (ELLTA). The core of her work involves exploring, understanding, creating and promoting ‘contextual relevance’ of the leadership and learning knowledge (theories and practices). She has been co-organizing Academic, International ELLTA Conferences She has worked with/ collaborated in various countries such as Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives, Canada, Sweden, others.

Throughout her professional career, Research and Scholarship (especially in the field of Education) have remained at the forefront. She has demonstrated leadership for research and scholarship, in addition to being on formal positions for Research Leadership. She has led the processes of institutional research collaboration at both, national and international level. She has served extensively on research and related quality assurance and academic boards, contributing to research policy development and review, dissemination planning, quality assurance of research proposals, and facilitating faculty members in the conceptualization of their research. In various capacities, she has also significantly contributed to strengthening research and academic writing culture (writing for publishing). In addition to conceptualizing and conducting research as a Lead/ Principal Investigator on research projects, she has also supervised research. She has also been a Research Fellow for SAEMEO INNOTECH, Philippines.

She has also served as a Guest Editor for international, refereed journals of established quality and repute and Editor for books e.g. ‘Learning in Asia’ (Vol. 32, No. 2, June 2012), Asia Pacific journal of Education (Focus Issue), Taylor & Francis; Are Theories Universal? (2011) (edited book). Malaysia: Yayasan Ilmuwan; Educational Leadership & Leadership Education in Asia (edited book/ Series Editor). Philippines: UP Press. She has published her work both, nationally and internationally and has also been serving as a Reviewer for international refereed journals e.g. International Journal for Management Reviews (IJMR), Journal of Education for International Development (JEID), International Journal for Learning & Change (IJLC).

As an ‘Invited Speaker’, some of her sessions include, for example, Panel Speaker for Seminar, ‘Role of ICT in Enhancing the Education System of Pakistan’, 13th ITCN Asia E-Learning Forum (October 10, 2013); Resource Person/ Facilitator for ‘Making Sense of Innovation Systems Research – Methodological Issues and Opportunities’, International workshop on “National Innovation Systems and their operational strategies and management aspect” (November 02, 2011), Sri Lanka – STEPAN, NSF, UNESCO ; Speaker for ‘Appreciative Inquiry for Educational Planning and Development’, National Institute of Education, Sri Lanka, and others.

As an Educationist, she has also been working at a strategic level, contributing significantly to Policy and Planning – this includes developing Teacher Education Strategy and Education Sector Plan for the public sector as well as strategic planning for school systems (e.g. transforming learning environments; designing ‘School of Future’, etc.). She has also been conducting courses/ workshops on Research and Academic Writing (building capacity of community at large in research and scholarship) and Strategic Planning.

In recognition of her services for research and education, she has received several awards such as the ‘Australian Alumni Excellence Award for Education’ and the ‘Award for Scholarship of Teaching’.

Muhammad Babur is a senior leadership and management consultant, and is one of the Founding Members of ELLTA. He has been co-organizing the ELLTA International Academic Conferences since 2011 in Malaysia. His pedagogical and research interests are rooted in bringing out contextual and cultural meanings and perspectives. Given his background and extensive work in Asian contexts, he has developed a keen interest in understanding what would leadership and learning look like from Asian perspectives.

Muhammad Babur has to his credit more than 20 years of extensive and rich experience of working in the field of social sciences (esp. Education) and development sector in/ with public and private sector at national, regional and international level. He has worked in both, urban and rural contexts – with top leadership (ministries and government officials) to the grassroots level (including teachers, students and local community). He has worked on various positions and with various organisations and in various capacities, which includes his extensive work as a University Faculty also.

As a Social/ Educational Researcher, he has not only conceptualized, designed and conducted research (published nationally and internationally), but has also been involved in research course design and teaching for public and private sector. He has been actively contributing to the identification of Future Research Directions in Education. His scholarly engagement includes guest editing and reviewing for national and international journals and books, and advisory role for research and dissemination quality assurance boards. As n Co-/Guest Editor and Reviewer, some selective examples of his work include:

• Focus Issue: ‘Learning in Asia’ (Vol. 32, No. 2, June 2012), Asia Pacific journal of Education, Taylor & Francis – Co-Guest Editor
• Edited Book, Are Theories Universal? (2011). Malaysia: Yayasan Ilmuwan – Co-Guest Editor
• Edited Book, Educational Leadership & Leadership Education in Asia. Philippines: UP Press – Series Editor

Moreover, he has also published his research nationally and internationally, and presented papers at a variety of foras. Moreover, he has been a part of advisory boards in research and dissemination. As an invited Speaker/ Panelist/ Workshop Facilitator, some representative examples include:

• Invited Speaker, ‘Exploring Leadership & Learning Theories in Asia’ by YÖDAK (Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation And Coordination Council), Cyprus
• Invited Panel Speaker for Seminar, ‘Role of ICT in Enhancing the Education System of Pakistan’, 13th ITCN Asia: E-Learning Forum (October 10, 2013)
• Invited Speaker for ‘Appreciative Inquiry for Educational Planning and Development’, National Institute of Education (2011), Sri Lanka
• Invited Speaker/ Country Representative for International Workshop on “National Innovation Systems and their operational strategies and management aspect” (November 03, 2011), STEPAN, NSF, UNESCO – Sri Lanka
• Invited speaker for an ANTRIEP Policy Seminar, ‘Successful Education Systems for a Changing World: Monitoring and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Education Systems)’, organized by Shanghai Academy for Educational Sciences (SAES) and UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning – IIEP (September16-19, 2009), China

As an Education & Development Sector Consultant, he has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the human development as well as the national and international development agendas. In his advisory capacity, he has been significantly contributing to Public Policy and Strategic Planning at provincial, national and international level. He has worked with various civil society organisations and Development/ International Aid Agencies, e.g. USAID, CIDA, UNICEF, WORLD BANK, UNESCO, IIEP, RTI, ASI, EU, GPE, etc.

He is a recipient of various awards, including Fellowships with the University of Manchester (UK) and the University of Melbourne, Australia.