Professor Lei Jianjun is primarily involved in the shooting and research of documentaries, making use of "visual anthropology" to protect intangible cultural heritage. His main research fields are documentary study and intangible cultural heritage protection and research. His major works include the documentary film Himalaya: Ladder to Paradise which was awarded Best Documentary at the Beijing Student Film Festival and Best Cinematography by the China Academy Awards of Documentary Film (CAADF). His documentary series Masters in the Forbidden City has enjoyed a level of popularity not seen since the famous Chinese documentary television series A Bite of China.

Dan Smyer Yu is Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Trans-Himalayan Studies at Yunnan Minzu University. His current research interests include transboundary governance of natural and human heritages, religious and territorial water diversity, religion and peacebuilding, and comparative studies of secularism in the greater Himalayan region. He is also a documentary filmmaker. His widely screened films include Embrace (2011) and Rainbow Rider (2013).

Alark Saxena is Program Director of the Yale Himalaya Initiative and a Lecturer at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. As a social ecologist, Alark engages in systematic research of issues pertaining to environmental sustainability, resilience and livelihood in the Himalayas.

Jing Wang is the Co-Founder and Director of Toread Holdings Group Co., Ltd, a well-known mountaineer, and the founder of Everest Future Foundation. Ms. Jing Wang has successfully conquered snow mountain peaks of over 8,000 meters above sea level nine times, including three summits of Mount Everest. In 2014, Jing set a record for fastest completion of the “Earth Nine Poles Project” (also known as the “7 + 2 climb”) – summiting the highest peaks on the seven continents and hiking to both the South Pole and the North Pole in 143 days.