Shin'ichi Okamoto is a professor emeritus of Tokyo University of Information Sciences, holding a doctorate degree from Waseda University. He worked for the Industrial Pollution Control Association of Japan (currently the JEMAI) for nine years, then joined the Tokyo University of Information Sciences as a professor, and retired in 2014, having served as the dean of the undergraduate and graduate schools. He has published 36 books or book chapters, and about 160 academic papers, offered intensive lectures on statistics in a sampling design course once a year since 2000, as a visiting professor at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). In 2004, he received the Teaching Award for this course from the School of Environment, Resources and Development of AIT.

Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh is a distinguished professor at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) with over 35 years of working experience in research and education. She has been affiliated with the Environmental Engineering and Management Program of AIT since 1997 and is the founding director of the Air Quality Nexus Centre at AIT. Recognised for her efforts in characterising environmental pollution issues in Asian developing countries, Prof. Kim Oanh has been selected to serve in several professional organisations and has been credited with over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters, two books (ed.), and many important development reports.