Vinod Sharma | Machine Learning Applications | Best Research Article Award

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vinod Sharma | Machine Learning Applications | Best Research Article Award

Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune | India

Dr. Vinod Sharma is a highly accomplished academician and industry expert specializing in Marketing and Analytics, with nearly 24 years of professional experience spanning corporate leadership and higher education. As an Associate Professor at Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (AACSB Accredited), Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, he imparts advanced knowledge in Marketing Analytics, Marketing Strategy, Business Research Methods, and Consumer Behaviour. His career reflects a seamless integration of practical insights from the corporate world with a strong academic foundation, enabling him to foster data-driven and research-oriented decision-making in marketing.

Professional Profiles

SCOPUS
ORCID

Education

Dr. Sharma holds a Ph.D. in Management from DAVV, Indore, with research focused on consumer retention strategies in the telecom service industry. He also possesses dual MBA degrees in Marketing and International Business, obtained from SMU, Indore, and the University of Wales, UK, respectively. His educational foundation is rooted in Electronics with a Bachelor of Science from Barkatullah University, India, which has strengthened his analytical approach to marketing and business strategy.

Experience

With over 15 years in academia and around 8 years in the corporate sector, Dr. Sharma has held significant academic leadership roles including Associate Professor, Head of Department, Area Chairperson of Marketing, and Controller of Examinations across leading institutions such as CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR, GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research, and Raj Lakshmi School of Business. He has been instrumental in accreditation processes (NAAC, AACSB), strategic academic planning, faculty development, and organizational development. In the corporate domain, he has served as District Manager at SSE Plc, UK, and held managerial positions at Macleod Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Universal Medicare Pvt. Ltd., where he demonstrated expertise in sales, team management, planning, and business development.

Research Interests

His research interests include Marketing Analytics, Consumer Retention Strategies, Marketing Research, International Business, Cross-Cultural Management, and Data-Driven Decision Making. Dr. Sharma has a strong focus on applying analytics to enhance marketing performance and integrating cross-cultural perspectives into business management practices.

Awards and Achievements

Dr. Sharma has an extensive research portfolio that includes 70 published articles in reputed national and international journals, 22 book chapters (10 Scopus indexed), 6 published books (4 Scopus indexed), 15 published case studies with 2 accepted for publication, and contributions to 3 international research projects. He has published one copyright and holds two patents, showcasing his innovation-driven academic contributions. His excellence in research has been recognized with 12 Best Paper Awards at various international conferences. He is also a member of editorial and reviewer boards of several prestigious journals such as ECR (ABDC-A), JOC (ABDC-A), JPM (ABDC-B), IDD (ABDC-C), and JSIT (ABDC-B).

Publications

Kapse, M., Jain, P.S., Pathak, A., Poulose, J., Sharma, V., et al. (2025). “Intrinsic Motivational Factors and Creative and Innovative Work Behaviour of Employees: The Mediating Effect of Creative Personality” in International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management.

Sharma, V., Maheshkar, C., Mahajan, Y., Remsei, S., Kapse, M., et al. (2025). “Evaluating the Impact of Advertising Strategies on Rural Brand Building: Insights from the Personal Care FMCG Sector” in Innovative Marketing.

Poulose, J., Sharma, V. (2025). “Exploring the Mediating Role of Job and Life Satisfaction between Work–Family Conflict, Family–Work Conflict and Turnover Intention” in Evidence-based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship.

Suresh, A.S., Sharma, V., Poulose, J., Kapse, M., Mahajan, Y., et al. (2025). “Consumer Persona Impact” in Book Chapter.

Sharma, V., Mahajan, Y., Kapse, M., Deb, S., et al. (2025). “Harnessing Machine Learning Models and Explainable AI to Understand MOOC Continuance Intention” in Information Discovery and Delivery.

Mahajan, Y., Gadekar, A., Kankonkar, S., Kapse, M., Sharma, V., et al. (2024). “Antecedents of Leadership Conduct in Women Entrepreneurship: Does Thank God It’s Monday (TGIM) Attitude a Game Changer?” in Conference Paper.

Poulose, J., Sharma, V., Kumar, M.D., Bhattacharjee, S., et al. (2024). “Understanding Purchase Intention of Menstrual Products among Rural Indian Women: Periods Are Normal – Period!” in International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management.

Sharma, V., Payal, R., Dutta, K., Poulose, J., Kapse, M., et al. (2024). “A Comprehensive Examination of Factors Influencing Intention to Continue Usage of Health and Fitness Apps: A Two-Stage Hybrid SEM-ML Analysis” in Cogent Business & Management.

Conclusion

Dr. Vinod Sharma exemplifies the synergy of academic rigor and industry expertise in the field of Marketing and Analytics. Through his extensive teaching, research, and leadership contributions, he has made a significant impact on shaping future-ready professionals and advancing contemporary marketing education. His interdisciplinary approach, combining data analytics, strategic marketing, and cross-cultural insights, continues to influence management practices globally while fostering innovation in business education.

Yojana Adhikari | Climate Change Data Analysis | Best Researcher Award

Ms. Yojana Adhikari | Climate Change Data Analysis | Best Researcher Award

Centre of Econics and Ecosystem Managementand, Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development | Germany

Ms. Yojana Adhikari is a dedicated researcher specializing in sustainable forestry, forest microclimate regulation, and climate adaptation strategies. With a strong foundation in forestry and geospatial science, she contributes to advancing ecological forestry practices through interdisciplinary collaborations, integrating field-based measurements with cutting-edge GIS and remote sensing techniques. Her research focuses on understanding how old-growth forests regulate microclimates, buffer against climate extremes, and foster biodiversity resilience. In her professional roles, she manages and analyzes large datasets, develops geospatial tools, and supports applied research to inform sustainable forest management and conservation strategies that align with global climate resilience goals.

Professional Profile

ORCID

Education

Ms. Adhikari holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Nepal and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Tropical Forestry awarded through a joint Erasmus Mundus program at Bangor University, UK, and the Technical University of Dresden, Germany. This multidisciplinary academic background provided her with a strong grounding in forest dynamics, climate adaptation, ecological monitoring, and the application of advanced analytical tools for environmental research. Her academic journey has been marked by a focus on sustainable development principles, with a particular interest in the intersection of forest management, ecosystem services, and climate change adaptation.

Experience

Professionally, Ms. Adhikari serves as a Data Manager and Analyst at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development in Germany, where she coordinates data exchange between project partners, manages and maintains measurement data, and oversees (geo)database systems. Her expertise encompasses GIS and remote sensing analyses, statistical data processing, scientific writing, and presentations at international project events. In addition to this role, she contributes as a GIS Analyst at the Econics Institute, where she engages in geospatial analysis and applied research focused on ecological and sustainable forestry. She has been actively involved in key research projects, including the PYROPHOB project, the UNESCO Beech Project, and initiatives on climate adaptation in working landscapes. Her contributions also extend to peer review activities, serving as a reviewer for prestigious journals like Nature Communications.

Research Interests

Ms. Adhikari’s research spans a range of interconnected themes that address urgent environmental challenges. Her areas of interest include forest stand dynamics and silviculture, focusing on self-thinning, size–density relationships, and growth modeling to optimize forest resilience. She investigates forest microclimates and their role in thermal regulation, with particular emphasis on the buffering effects of old-growth forests. Her work in tree growth and functional traits examines dendrometer data, tree ring asymmetry, and crown structure to understand growth patterns under changing climatic conditions. She is highly skilled in GIS and remote sensing, integrating tools such as land surface temperature mapping, NDVI, canopy height modeling, and GEDI–Sentinel data fusion to advance ecosystem-based adaptation and conservation practices. Furthermore, she actively explores the ecological impacts of road networks, habitat connectivity, and biodiversity within the context of sustainable forest management.

Awards and Contributions

While her work primarily focuses on research and applied forestry, Ms. Adhikari’s contributions have been recognized through involvement in leading international projects and publications in highly regarded scientific journals such as Scientific Reports and Ecological Indicators. Her research on the microclimate regulation of old-growth forests and their role in climate resilience has informed policy recommendations and practical strategies for sustainable forestry. By bridging ecological theory and applied geospatial science, she contributes significantly to conservation planning, ecosystem-based management, and the development of green infrastructure in working landscapes. Her professional memberships include affiliations with the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management and the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, strengthening her role in the academic and applied research community.

Publications

Adhikari, Y., Blumröder, J.S., Meier, C., Ibisch, P.L., et al. (2025). “Beech buffers: Microclimate regulation in temperate old-growth forests, surroundings and forest edge” in Ecological Indicators.

Schmehl, M.-T., Adhikari, Y., Balthasar, C., Binder, A., Clerc, D., Dobkowitz, S., Gerwin, W., Günther, K., Hartong, H., Heinken, T., et al. (2025). “Monitoring abiotic and biotic parameters of forest regrowth under different management regimes on former wildfire sites in northeastern Germany – data from the PYROPHOB project” (Preprint).

Jouy, F., Schüle, M., Adhikari, Y., Binder, A., Clerc, D., Gerwin, W., Heinken, T., Raab, T., Repmann, F., Rönnefarth, S., et al. (2025). “Factors impacting the variability of post‐fire forest regeneration in central European pine plantations” in Restoration Ecology.

Heinken, T., Blumröder, J.S., Balthasar, C., Binder, A., Birkhofer, K., Brosinsky, A., Bubner, B., Clerc, D., Djoudi, E.A., Francke, T., et al. (2024). “PYROPHOB – A post-fire ecosystem research project to inform management for resilient forest development” in Tuexenia 44.

Adhikari, Y., Bachstein, N., Gohr, C., Blumröder, J.S., Meier, C., Ibisch, P.L., et al. (2024). “Old-growth beech forests in Germany as cool islands in a warming landscape” in Scientific Reports.

Conclusion

Ms. Yojana Adhikari represents a new generation of forestry researchers dedicated to addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss. Through her expertise in forest microclimate studies, data-driven analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration, she contributes to shaping sustainable forest landscapes that promote resilience and ecological integrity. Her integration of field-based measurements with advanced GIS and remote sensing technologies enhances the understanding of forest ecosystems and their adaptive capacities. With her ongoing involvement in international research projects and her commitment to knowledge dissemination, Ms. Adhikari continues to build bridges between science and practice, fostering sustainable forestry practices that benefit both nature and society.