Dr. Santosh Kumar Jha is a seasoned crafts product designer, researcher, author, educator, and field explorer with over 20 years of professional experience. His special areas of interest are traditional crafts, indigenous craftsmanship knowledge, and industrial hand skills. He has earned a 3.5-year professional postgraduation in crafts and design with hard-material applications specialization (2004 batch) from the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD), Jaipur, and an MBA with specialization in marketing (handicrafts) from the Central University of Pondicherry (2009 batch). He earned a Ph.D. from Utkal University of Culture in Bhubaneswar for his empirical research work- “Dynamics of Product Designing in Flexible Brass Craft of Belaguntha, Odisha”, in 2023. His PhD research work was well appreciated, and he was invited to the prestigious National Level Open Lecture by the Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts (IGNCA) headquarters at New Delhi (Ministry of Culture, Government of India). Dr. Jha is an Associate Professor of Design at Banasthali Vidyapith (Deemed University), India. He teaches different design subjects to undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD-level students. Prior joining the existing responsibility at Banasthali Vidyapith (Deemed University), he had worked with: (1.) Nationally Headed the School of Leather Goods and Accessories Design at the Footwear Design and Development Institute Noida (an Institute of National Importance, under FDDI Act 2017); (2.) Designer at the State Institute for Development of Arts and Crafts (State Government of Odisha); (3.) Hitachi-KK Manufacturing Company in Kolkata; (4.) Lion Picture and Frames India Limited in Kolkata; (5.) Designwise India Private Limited in Gurgaon; (6.) Mother Earth in Bangalore; (7.) Crafts Design Center in Jaipur; (8.) Sewa Lanka Foundation- Colombo, Sri Lanka; (9.) Royal College of Art in London, U.K; (10) Directorate of Handicraft Commissioner, Kolkata; (11.) Gopalganj Khadi Gramodyog, etc. - as a craft professional. Before entering into the design sector, he had explored professional journalism through a number of Leading Daily News Papers (print media) and All Indian Radio (electronic media) etc. Dr. Jha has contributed to the foundation of a few institutions as a core member, such as: (1.) Invention of a fresh commercial handcraft form- Coconut Bracket Craft, and established its first craft-cluster in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka (Seva Lanka Foundation, 2006); (2.) Technology Transfer of advanced Handmade Paper Making Craft in Galle, Sri Lanka (Seva Lanka Foundation, 2006); (3.) Commencement of 1st International Handicrafts and Handloom Fair in 2010 (Odisha State Government); (4.) Regional Handicrafts Training and Design Center in Sambalpur (Odisha State Government, 2011); (5.) Commencement of the Certificate course in Leather Goods and Accessory Design at Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University in Nasik, public university under Maharashtra State Government (sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research-ICSSR, 2015); (6.) Ankaleshwar campus of the Footwear Design and Development Institute (Government of India, 2017-2018); etc. As of now, in the area of research & publication, he embraces 03 provisional patents, 02 books, 09 blind-reviewed research papers, 03 short papers, 02 position papers, 02 chapters in edited books, 03 research posters, above 10 diagnostic field studies, 07 All India Radio talks, 01 Doordarshan-Kisan interview, and a vast number of periodical columns—in India, Sri Lanka, Scotland, and the Netherlands—with higher scholastic values. He has done approximately 25-30 different indigenous knowledge-based technology transfers in the crafts & design sector that were successfully implemented by him in different South Asian locations. In addition to the above, he is an editorial board member in 11 different peer-reviewed international and national research journals focused on crafts, design, architecture, culture, materials, and related interdisciplinary areas of study. A few of the awards and honors received by Dr. Jha are: (1.) International Exchange Internship 2005, by The British Council & Royal College of Arts, London, U.K.; (2.) International NGO-Design Internship 2006 by Sewa Lanka Foundation, Sri Lanka; (3.) International Full Fellowship 2007, by Dakshinchitra & Madras Crafts Foundation, India; (4.) Director’s Choice List Award 2014, for Art Toppling Tobacco Competitive Project in Australia, for Graphic Illustration- 'The Death Investment Plan'; (5.) Best Faculty Award 2015, for explorative classroom teaching methods in design education, from IARA in India; (6.) National Winner 2018, for Creative Slogan Writing on Oral Health Care from the Government of India; (7.) Finalist for Lexus Design Awards India 2018, for Design Research- 'Furniture Design, using the Traditional Techniques of Leather Toy Craft of Indore and my Technical Interventions'; (8.) International Painting Award for ‘The Juicy Sky,’ in Parallel Universe exhibition by Evolucion Arts Gallery, Mexico; (9.) International Photography Award 2024, for ‘Shades of Evening in Tonk,’ by Lumen Art Gallery, USA; etc.