Dr. Geetha Narayanan
Founder, SMI

An evangelist for learning and an activist for change in educational milieus across the world Geetha has worked for over 4 decades in the overlapping fields of education, arts and culture, design and technology.

In the last four decades Geetha has moved from founding institutions that support and enable change to working both creatively and constructively in generating capacities for change within teachers, artists and other creative practitioners.

Geetha was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Oxford Brookes University in recognition of her contribution to teacher development in 2011. She has accepted a Director’s Fellowhip at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology USA and is currently holding the position of the UNESCO Chair for Culture Habitat and Sustainable Development as well. Geetha has also been invited to be a visiting faculty at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Future of Learning Summer School. Geetha serves and has served on many national and international boards.

Dr. Arindam Das
Director, SMI

Dr. Arindam Das has over 33 years of rich experience in academics and has handled various leadership positions. He has previously held senior management positions with Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF) and with National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) as the Director of the Delhi, Gandhinagar and Shillong campuses.

Dr. Das’s research interests are in the areas of professional training and development; teaching & learning experiences; curriculum development & implementation; assessment systems & processes; and soft skills development in the domains of design and design management.

Dr. Das holds a Masters in Fashion Management & Ph.D. on ‘A Framework for Assessment of Creativity: A Case Research on Fashion Design at NIFT’ from NIFT Delhi.

To mention a few of his recent major achievements, Dr. Das spearheaded pioneering MOUs with Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Shillong; the Northeast Handicrafts and Handloom Devt. Corporation (NEHHDC), Guwahati; and the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad. He was responsible for setting up the Design Resource Centre (DRC) at Weavers’ Service Centre (WSC) Guwahati and had headed the PAF Jaipur Campus which was awarded as the “Best Learning Building in the World” at the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards, Barcelona (Spain). In his tenure as the Director of Pearl Jaipur, he hosted the 14th Annual International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI) Conference at Jaipur as the Coordinator of Organising Committee.

Dr. Das has independently managed curriculum development as per QAA (UK) Standards successfully validated by Nottingham Trent University (UK). Dr. Das was also a Member of Special Committee of Professional Experts to screen and select the permanent State Emblem/ Logo for the State of Meghalaya; and Member of Project Approval Board (for Design Innovation Centre), Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India.