Nirbhay Rana is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at IILM University, Gurugram, with over 17 years of academic and research experience in design, sustainability, and cultural knowledge systems. His research focuses on sustainable fashion, the circular economy, and ESG, with a particular emphasis on ethnographic and community-based studies of artisan networks, traditional knowledge systems, and cultural sustainability. He is the author of Threaded Harmony: A Sustainable Approach to Fashion (Emerald Publishing) and serves as Regional Editor (Asia) for Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases (Bloomsbury Publishing). He has been invited as a keynote speaker at international conferences on sustainability and circular design.

He is an active member of several editorial and reviewer boards, including the Journal of Sustainable Marketing (Luminous Insights), International Journal of Sustainable Development Research, Sustainable Futures (Elsevier), and the Journal of Business Ethics (Springer), among others.