Prof. Stefanos Xenarios is an environmental economist by training with a focus on water resources and climate change aspects. He initially acquired a 3-years of postdoctoral experience in India and Ethiopia as a staff member of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Subsequently, Stefanos did research on climate change and agriculture in South Asia, based at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy (NIBIO), and worked as Head of the Water and Energy Security Unit at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Tajikistan. He further became a Senior Researcher in the University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan leading activities on water-energy-food and environment nexus in the region while in May 2018 he was appointed as Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public Policy in Nazarbayev University based in Kazakhstan. Since January 2020 he has been an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Water Policy, at the National University of Singapore. He is in the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Water Resources Development, Hydrology Research Journal, World Development Sustainability, and the Central Asian Journal of Water Research, while he is in the Management Board of the International Water Association’s Specialist Group on Statistics and Economics.

Sokolov Vadim Ilyich, Head of the Agency for the implementation of IFAS projects in Uzbekistan. He graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIIMSH) in 1981 and received a diploma with honors in the specialty “Hydraulic engineer, construction of river structures and hydroelectric power stations”. Candidate of Geographical Sciences, specialty Hydrology of Land and Hydrochemistry, Institute of Geography of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia 1992 Professional experience in the field of integrated water resources management and water security in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Worked for national and international clients as an experienced manager or expert for a large number of regional and national projects. For 12 years he was the regional coordinator of the Global Water Partnership network for Central Asia and the South Caucasus. He has experience in conducting assessment and research / analytical studies, diagnostic reviews within the framework of water resources management projects in all countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.