Simon Varghese is a media and communications professional with over 20 years of experience in print, online and television industry and an academician and has worked with leading media brands and institutions of the country. Other than being part of newsrooms at various organizations, Simon is also a keen follower of news especially Indian politics and international relations. An avid quizzer, Simon has a special interest in general knowledge and history.

He has been with National School of Journalism since its inception and was leading the print and convergence stream for the postgraduate programme. His areas of interest include global affairs, the business of brands, Indian heritage, politics and governance, and popular culture.

Ramakrishna Upadhya is an award-winning journalist and the recipient of the Rajyotsava Award for journalism (2005). He has switched seamlessly between print and electronic media during his career lasting 37 years. Starting as a reporter in Indian Express, Bangalore in 1978, he later served as Special Correspondent in the New Delhi bureau of Indian Express. In Delhi, his rich experience included covering Parliament, the Election Commission, ministries like Defence, Science and Technology, Social Welfare, the Railways, national parties and national elections. Upadhya also served in other prestigious newspapers like The Telegraph, the Mid-Day group and Vijay Times. He also was in Deccan Herald as Senior Editor, in charge of Edit and Op-ed pages for over eight years.
While at Indian Express, he has the opportunity to be a part-time news anchor in Kannada for five years when Doordarshan made its debut in Bangalore in 1982. He won a one-year Paris-based scholarship with Journalists in Europe. This experience helped him to learn, travel and write out of a dozen European cities. In the year 2000, he switched from print to television to become News Coordinator at ETV-Kannada and was able to give a new direction to TV coverage during his three and a half years there. Currently, he writes for Catchnews.com and the Parliamentarian magazine, besides being on the panel for News9-TV9. He is also a published author, and has served as President of the Press Club of Bangalore.

Divya is a journalist and blogger who contributes to The Hindu Sunday Magazine, publications from the India Today group, and citizenmatters.in. She has over 15 years in journalism covering news reporting (at The Indian Express, The Hindu, ToI) and magazine writing (Marie Claire India). She has also had a short stint in advertising copywriting/content editing (Saatch & Saatchi Direct)

Baba Prasad is a veteran journalist with over 35 years of experience. He served as News Editor at The Hindu in Bangalore. Earlier, he was with the Indian Express and Mid-Day groups. He is widely recognised for his accomplishments in the newsroom and the classroom. He has delivered several University Grants Commission lectures and is a member on the board of studies at various universities. He has authored the book, Reporting: Principles and Practice.

Anand Subramanian runs the Documentary Filmmaking elective module at NSoJ. Anand is an accomplished and renowned film maker, having produced and directed several feature films, television commercials, corporate videos, television series and documentary films. He worked as the in-house filmmaker for advertising agency MAA Bozel in the 1980s, and regularly produces and directs documentary film projects in India for Unilever, London. Anand is also an actor, and has featured in Kannada films as well as in a Tamil television serial. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune where he specialised in firm direction and of the Film School, University of Southern California, Los Angeles where he specialised in independent film making.

Karan is an Advocate practising in Bangalore whose practice involves civil, commercial and constitutional focus areas. These include matters relating to public law, civil law, company law, arbitration, intellectual property, corporate disputes, contracts and tenders, employment law, succession, etc. Karan regularly appears before the High Court, Trial Courts, and Tribunals in Bangalore. His clients include various companies, domestic and foreign; educational institutions, NGOs, breweries, restaurateurs and private individuals. Karan was recently appointed as a spokesperson for the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, Indian National Congress. Karan delivers the Law and Media module at NSoJ.

Vedam Jaishankar is a seasoned sports journalist and has covered cricket extensively from all the major cricketing venues of the world. His assignments include multiple World Cups. He has held senior positions in The Times of India, The New Indian Express, Indian Express and Deccan Herald. He launched Vijay Times, which was subsequently acquired by the Times group and renamed Bangalore Mirror.
Jaishankar has written two best sellers: Rahul Dravid, A Biography that was translated into four languages and went through 15 re-prints and Casting A Spell, The Story Of Karnataka Cricket where he traced the 200-year-old history of Karnataka cricket. His third book is in post-production and is expected to hit the stands later this year. He also has rich experience in television media, both in English and regional language. He continues to be actively involved in cricket journalism. Vedam Jaishankar anchors the sports journalism module at NSoJ.

Anita Rao Kashi is a travel and food writer and blogger with over 22 years of writing experience. After nearly 12 years of rough and tumble of daily reporting for The Times of India, as a civic correspondent and then as a political correspondent, Anita opted to write about travel and food, and thrives on the surprise and unexpectedness that travelling brings. She likes to focus on history, heritage, culture, experiences and food in her travel writing. Apart from writing for various national and international magazines, newspapers and websites, blogging on travel and food, she has also worked on travel and food guides, and coffee table books.

Ashish Sen is an independent media consultant, trainer and journalist with more than 30 years hands on international and country level experience across public, private and social sectors in communications for development especially in radio and theatre. He has worked extensively with community media in India, South Asia and Asia-Pacific, and engaged with marginalized and less privileged urban and rural communities, especially farmer groups, and people with disabilities. Formerly, President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters) AMARC Asia-Pacific Region and the member of AMARC’s Governance Council, he is currently Adviser to the Asia Pacific Board. He is also editor of the Community Radio News (C R News), A South Asian Journal on Community Radio produced by the UNESCO Chair on Community Media.
Sen is a Founder Member and on the Core Committee of the South Asia Network for Community Media, a network of community media in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. (www.sancomonline.net). He is also a core member of the International Commission on Survivor Centered Disaster Recovery. He is also a Trustee of the Dev Nandan Ubhayeker Foundation for the Arts in Bangalore

Chidanand Rajghatta has been a foreign correspondent based in the United States since 1994. Chidu Rajghatta initially came to Washington DC in 1994 as a U.S Correspondent of the Indian Express, of which he was the Resident Editor of the flagship edition in Mumbai. In 2001, after six years of reporting for the Indian Express from the United States, he accepted the position of the Foreign Editor of The Times of India. In effect, Chidu Rajghatta has been a Washington DC-based Foreign Correspondent for 24 years, covering some six Presidential terms (and elections), three Presidents, and an assortment of historic events and stories in the U.S and across the globe. Chidu delivers the international reporting module at NSoJ as a visiting faculty member.

Namas Bhojani is an international freelance assignment photographer. Based in India, his editorial clients include Forbes, Wired (Conde Nast), CFO, CIO, Marie Claire (Hearst), Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Markets magazine, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, WSJ, San Jose Mercury News, Stern, Der Spiegel, Several other US and European publications including Time, Fortune. He has been a stringer for AP and AFP in the past; Consulting Photo Editor-cum-Contract Photographer for Cosmopolitan magazine's Indian edition; Chief Photographer-cum-Photo Editor of Business Today. Spent the academic year 1995-96 at Stanford University, as part of the Knight Fellowship Program for mid-career journalists. Explored the World Wide Web, Californian wine, Jazz music, Hollywood cinema and the American way of life. Namas is a photographer who enjoys photographing very diverse subjects from Adverting and Commercial, Food to Fashion and Beauty to hardcore reportage, travel and creative image making. Namas is a senior guest faculty at NSoJ handling photo journalism.

Vinusha Kannan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. She is a post graduate in Applied Psychology and Management, and also holds a certification in Teaching and Learning. She has wide-ranging experience in the area of teaching, skill-based training and counselling with institutions such as Aakash Institute (New Delhi), HCL Infosystems, ICI AkzoNobel, IILM Institute for Higher Education, IBM and Presidency College.

She has expertise in training professionals on topics such as Enhancing Work Efficiency Using Psychometric Analysis, Total Quality with Speed, Effective Problem Solving Through Creativity, Effective Presentation and other self-development skills. Her research interest includes Organizational Commitment, Personality & Leadership Development and Women Empowerment in Indian IT Sector.