Benyamin Lakitan is usually called by his nickname ‘Ben’. He has been exposed to three different working environments, starting as academician at Universitas Sriwijaya (since 1983), bureaucrat at Provincial Government of South Sumatera (1998-2005), and half-administrator, half-researcher at of Research, Technology and Higher Education (2005-present). His current position at the ministry is Expert Staff. He is also an active professor at Universitas Sriwijaya.

His formal academic background was in agriculture, but later more interested in public policy. He received a BS degree at Universitas Sriwijaya in 1982, MS at University of Kentucky in 1986, and Ph.D at Cornell University in 1989. In academic field, he had received few awards, including National Best Lecturer in 1991 from Ministry of Education and Culture.

Ben likes to read and write. Some of his opinions were published in several national newspapers. These opinions and his conference/academic papers can be seen at http://benyaminlakitan.com He has tried many different recreational activities, but his love for photography is much stronger than others.