Anantha Duraiappah took the position as inaugural Director of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) based in New Delhi, India in 2014. A science-policy pacesetter, with over 33 years’ experience, he now plays a key role in positioning UNESCO MGIEP as a leading research institute by drawing from the sciences of learning and Social Emotional Learning towards education for peace, sustainable development and global citizenship.

Anantha received his PhD in economics specializing in mathematical and computational modelling from the University of Texas in Austin, USA. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed books and journal articles and presently sits on the editorial boards of a number of international peer reviewed journals. He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS), a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and a visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan.
Over the past five years, he has modelled the MGIEP as a game changer in the field of education by creating strategic partnerships with the gaming community to create games for learning and assessment. He oversaw the development of the VIZAG declaration which calls for the development of guidelines for educational digital products and platforms.

Dr. Duraiappah is presently focusing on strengthening the science-policy guide in Education by researching and exploring how the sciences of learning can contribute to developing emotional and intellectual intelligence through innovative digital pedagogies. He was instrumental in having an ACT passed in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh to include Social Emotional Learning and to use digital pedagogies as a mandatory requirement for teachers.