Ashok is the Head of the Social Work Department of Loyola College in Chennai, India, and has served as the Dean of the Arts Faculties of the same college. He is an expert in the field of conflict and peacebuilding, and has done substantive work providing training on trauma awareness and recovery, arts-based approaches to peacebuilding, sustainable development, strategic planning and management, and restorative justice as well as working with community-based organizations. Ashok has worked extensively in South Asia, providing training to people at the grassroots and policy makers. He has also lectured widely in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Ashok has traveled and worked in Sri Lanka for 14 years where he volunteered with Sri Lankan refugees. At Loyola College, Ashok completed both his Master’s Degree and Doctorate in Social Work. He also holds an MA in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding from Eastern Mennonite University in the USA, where he was a Fulbright fellow from 2003 to 2004.