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Meet the Team
No Human Being is permanent, and no definition can truly describe the being. But to identify for practical usage, following are individuals who work, and serve at Emerge
Mr. Devesh Gupta
Founder
Devesh Gupta is an educator and a passionate advocate for consciousness-change, self-transformation,peace education, and sustainable development.He has participated in initiatives focused on consciousness-change, self-transformation, peace, non-violence, and education with various universities, including Stanford University, and has conductedworkshops at the University of Toronto, Queen’s University of Charlotte, OP Jindal University Haryana,Delhi University, the University of South Pacific, and the University of Malaya. Additionally, he hascontributed to sustainable development projects with the State Governments of Haryana, Delhi, andUttarakhand in India, as well as United Nations agencies and programs such as UNESCO, UNICEF, andUNDP.Devesh has presented his insights on climate change, self-transformation, and consciousness-change atseveral global platforms, including UNCCD COP 14, the International Civil Society Week 2017, TheWorld Assembly 2017 in Fiji, The Turning Point Summit 2022, and the 6th Psycho-Social Support Forumin South Africa (2021). His work is deeply informed by firsthand experiences—witnessing terrorist acts inAfghanistan, observing the effects of climate change in Fiji, working with refugees in Southeast Asia, andengaging with students at Buddhist monasteries in Nepal. His journey integrates love, awareness,compassion, education, human thinking, psychology, consciousness-change, self-transformation,spirituality, and peace with human rights, disarmament, and sustainable development.For over a decade, Devesh has worked with students, parents, policymakers, and educators to dismantlethe barriers of conditioning that breed conflict in relationships and society, fostering the awakening ofintelligence. His vision is a world where individuals recognize their shared consciousness and act withgoodness and peace for the well-being of humanity and nature. To realize this vision, he founded Emergein 2020, working globally with schools and universities to address fundamental societal challenges.Recently, Devesh has conducted workshops for senior officials from the Indian Army and Indian AirForce in collaboration with OP Jindal University’s School of Government and Public Policy and theIndian Institute of Public Administration, focusing on spirituality, leadership, ethics, and conflictresolution. He has also led sessions for professors in Haryana for the Government of Haryana, exploringthe role of spirituality in education and policy-making. Additionally, he has conducted peace educationworkshops for South Sudan’s National Basketball Team, emphasizing team-building, non-violence, andconflict resolution. His work in interfaith dialogue has brought together students from Pakistan, India,Malaysia, Iran, France, Germany, Greece, the USA, South Africa, the Kingdom of Hawaii, Afghanistan,Nepal and Uganda, fostering meaningful conversations on understanding, unity, and shared humanityacross cultural and religious divides.He is the author of "Eternal Movement" (2024), a book currently being used by psychologists, educators,doctors, spiritual leaders, policymakers, and students to explore consciousness, transformation, andholistic action. The book has been integrated into academic curricula and is a core text at OP JindalUniversity’s School of Government and Public Policy for Master’s and Bachelor’s students in the course"Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy," which Devesh teaches alongside otherprofessors.Beyond his work with Emerge, Devesh has collaborated with The Dais, working extensively with schoolssuch as Welham Boys' School (Dehradun), Mayo College Girls' School (Ajmer), Mayo College (Ajmer),and The Daly College (Indore), conducting sessions on public speaking, debating, Model UN and criticalthinking. He has also worked with The International Centre for Sustainable Development, Teach forIndia, EarthDay.org, Fridays for Future, American Center New Delhi, and The LearningPlanet Alliance.In addition to his contributions to education and policy, Devesh is a lawyer with expertise in InternationalHumanitarian Law and International Refugee Law.
Meet The Secretariat of Spirituality, Science and Public Policy Network
Prof. (Dr.) Naresh Singh
President
Dr. Singh Is Professor and Executive Dean, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy; Director of the Centre for Complexity Economics, Applied Spirituality and Public Policy (CEASP), Co-Director of the Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor and Senior Fellow at the Jindal India Institute. He has a transdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Sciences, with more than three decades of public policy experience in senior positions in the United Nations and the Federal Government of Canada.
He does research and teaches in areas of Complexity Sciences, Systems Thinking and Applied Spirituality as Strategies for Sustainable Development Policy. He has published several books and journal articles. His last edited book published in December 2023 by Emerald (U.K) was entitled “Applied Spirituality and Sustainable development Policy”.
Professor Singh was a visiting scholar at several universities, including Boston, Harvard, Fordham, McGill, Waterloo and Guelph. He has been a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Pan American Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Friends and Advisors of Emerge
Mr. Carl Golembeski
Carl Golembeski is a roadie for the people, dedicated to unlocking the power of sound to connect and serve human beings. As a sound engineer, Carl has built a career touring globally for the past 13 years serving and supporting artists from Pop Stars like Beyonce to devotional bands like KRIPA. More importantly, as Carl notes, sound has informed his path of service. In his own words, “Sound taught me how to be present and listen, and that’s what’s necessary for service. To act from that place of listening.”
At age 17, Carl developed and co-created a safe space for youth for music and art in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania called Homebase. Functioning as a community center for the young people to express themselves and their vision.
Carl co-founded G2 audio solutions, which served as New York City’s major supplier for Pro Tools Systems for live performance playback from 2006- 2015.
In 2007, Carl went with Mary J Blige to South Africa and found the Entertainment Industry caught within a system of deep racism and oppression. Observing the working conditions and the show promoters' treatment towards the students, led Carl to the deeper inquiry of the state of South Africa's Education and technical Sector, simultaneously developing a close relationship with Freddie Nyathela and SARA to support and empower the technical sector in South Africa.
Carl encountered Mr. Seth Mazibuko in 2018, while on a trip to South Africa for the SARA Conference. Mr. Seth Mazibuko and Carl had an instant Heart and Soul connection, and this led to action of Service together for the Children and People of South Africa, particularly for the Soweto Township.
Carl introduced Mr. Seth Mazibuko to Devesh Gupta and together they developed a grass roots team based out of Soweto, to execute the Commemoration of 45th Anniversary of June 16,1976 led by the June 16 Youth Brigade and the grass root team from Soweto, while also empowering The June 16 Development Foundation to act and support the Youth of Soweto. Since then, Carl, Devesh and Mr. Seth Mazibuko with Emerge have been laying down the vision for 50th Anniversary of June 16,1976 Movement, and for the present and future of all generations of Soweto.
Today Carl spends a lot of his time currently serving at Hanuman Maui helping spread and preserve the virtue and heart legacy of Baba Ram Dass on the North Shore of Maui delivering meals to the homeless, recording kirtan albums and Carl is living out Ram Dass’s call to “love everyone, serve everyone, and remember God.”
Youth Members at Emerge
Ms. Maria Papatheodorou
Who am I and Where am I in this life?
I think the best answer (with a bit of humor) to that is: I don’t really know. I can state some facts: I am 19 years old, I have finished school for a year now, so I moved from Athens (where I spent my teenage years) to Munich so as to enroll into university. Currently I am studying Political Science and Technology at Technical University of Munich and Philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Well humor aside the truth is I am in that phase of life where one knows where exactly in life they stand and what they will do. One reads and learns and laughs and lives, in order to realize where in life they stand and in some way they know what they are and stand for, but not for sure, its just a feeling. Well that’s me. I have realized some things about the world, such as but not limited to environmental issues and social injustices and I have come to the end that I want to dedicate my life to making the world a better place. I just don’t know in which way yet and what my place in the world is, but I am eager to find out.
Looking back in time I think there were a lot of moments when I realized something in the world is not right. But I believe one of the strongest moments that sparked my interests in environmental and climate issues was when my mother showed my I believe 10 year old self a graph of different temperature rise scenarios. She explained to my like you would explain to a child that the world might become very hot in the future, if humankind doesn’t act soon enough. But that I shouldn’t worry, because the politicians were on it. We would simply have to do our share. So I started doing my share.