Speakers

An introduction to the Speakers

Inaugural Session

Prof. Babli Moitra Saraf

Professor Babli Moitra Saraf, Principal of the College since 1 July 2009, is in the Department of English and is also the Head of the Department of Multi - Media and Mass Communication. She has received her M.Phil degree in English and Ph.D in Sociology. She is fluent in several Indian and foreign languages. Her doctoral thesis studies language change in the advertising industry in India in the first phase of globalization (1984-94), and the emergence of the Indian urban middle class identity. Active as a teacher both within and outside her College, her teaching interests include Translation, Poetry, Modern Indian Literature in Translation, Classical Literature, Renaissance and Modern European Drama, Poetry, The Bible, Cultural Studies, Communication Studies, Literary Theory, Literature and the Arts and the Hindi Film Song. Her ongoing research examines traditions of Orality, Embodied Languages and Performance in the context of Translation and Translation Studies. Her publications, La Cattura (Theoria, 1996) and La Preda e altri Racconti (Einaudi, 2004), are acclaimed translations. Her work Rajouri Remembered (2007), is a translation of a family narrative, from Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and oral history, recounting the effects of the Partition of India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Her latest publication is Hey Diddle Diddle: Tun-Tun Tara-Tara (New Delhi: Vani Prakashan, 2017), which are Hindi adaptations/translations of popular nursery rhymes in English. She is a member on the Scientific Board of In Other Wor(l)ds: Project Book Series on translations from Asia and North Africa. She received the 27th Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Memorial National Award for Teachers in 2011 and the Fulbright- Nehru International Education Administrator Seminar award in 2011.

Prof. Maharaj K. Pandit

Professor Maharaj K. Pandit is a renowned expert on Himalayan ecology, the environment and sustainability. His work on impact of dams on biodiversity and human communities is considered a pioneering work (Science, 2013). The primary quest of his research is to understand the genetic and genomic causes of plant rarity and invasion (Jour. Ecol. 2011 (Nature, 2011); New Phytologist, 2014), and impact of land use and climate change on human livelihoods, ecology, biodiversity, rivers and water resource sustainability (Nature, 2013). His long-time researches on the Himalaya found expression in a Nature (2020) article on “The Himalaya Should be a Nature Reserve, last summer.

Prof. Pandit is an acclaimed author of several works related to conservation and sustainability; his works have appeared in top-ranking international journals such as Nature, Science, Journal of Ecology, New Phytologist, BioScience, Conservation Biology, Biodiversity & Conservation and PLoS One to name a few. Prof. Pandit’s book, Life in the Himalaya: An Ecosystem at Risk, published by Harvard University Press, reflects on the conflicts between natural and the anthropogenic. The book on one hand brings out the inter-component complexity and connectedness between geological, climatic and biological elements and on the other engages with various stakeholders in order to narrow the gap between the possibilities of economic development and carrying capacity of the Himalaya. Professor Pandit has lectured at Harvard University; ETH, Switzerland; Vienna University, Austria; University of Toronto, Mississauga, Canada and National University of Singapore. He was awarded Radcliffe Fellowship by the Harvard University (2015-16), Ngee Ann Kongsi Distinguished Visiting Professorship (2019), and Raffles Biodiversity Fellowship, National University of Singapore (2004). Professor Pandit was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (2016), National Academy of Sciences of India (2015) and Fellow of Linnaean Society of London (2001).

Dr. Anindita Roy Saha

Dr. Anindita Roy Saha is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and the Head of the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. She is the Coordinator of the Centre for Earth Studies at IndraprasthaCollege, a research and learning centreaimed towards interdisciplinary initiatives for environmental protection and sustainable development. She is a visiting faculty at the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, where she teaches Environmental Economics and Resource Economics. Dr. Saha has studied at Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She obtained her Ph. D degree from JNU in the area of Energy Economics. Her area of specialization is Development Economics with special focus on the Economics of Energy, Environment and Resources. She has been associated with the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi South Campus, Ambedkar University Delhi, Nalanda University and Amity University in various academic and professional capacities. She has many scholarly articles in national and international journals to her credit. She has supervised several research projects and participated in international and national level conferences, seminars and workshops in areas covering environmental education, climate change, disaster management and environmental sustainability.

Theme: Climate Crisis

Prof. N.H. Ravindranath

Prof. Ravindranath has focused his research, advocacy and publications on various dimensions of Climate Change - Mitigation Assessment, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory in Land Use Sectors, Impact of Climate Change and Vulnerability Assessment in Forest and Agro-ecosystems, Adaptation and Climate Resilience, Forest Ecology, CDM and REDD+ Projects. He has also worked on Bioenergy, Biofuels and Biomass Production, Environmental / Ecosystem Services, and Citizen Science. He is an author for several IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Assessment Reports on Climate Change – WMO and UNEP focusing on mitigation in forest sector. He is the Scientific Advisory Panel Member for Global Environmental Outlook (GEO 6). He is also a UNFCCC expert reviewer for GHG (Greenhouse Gas) inventory reports and a member of Science Policy Initiative Expert committee of UNCCD. He has published 8 books (from Oxford and Cambridge Uni. Press, Kluwer, and Springer Publishers) out of which 4 are on Climate Change. He has published over 150 peer reviewed research papers out of which about 60 are on Climate Change. He has worked for or advised many State governments on “Assessment of Climate Change Projections, Impacts and Vulnerability”. A study conducted by Stanford University recognized Prof.Ravindranath as one among the 2% of the world's most-cited researchers.

Dr. Mukunda Deo Behera

Dr. Mukunda Dev Behera is an Associate Professor at Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), IIT, Kharagpur. He has made outstanding contributions to the fields of forest remote sensing and ecological climatology through theorizing, modeling and conducting innovative experiments and fieldbased measurements. He has developed innovative protocols and new methods for estimating a range of vegetation photosynthetic/ structural variables including leaf area index, canopy height, canopy chlorophyll, aboveground biomass and productivity using suite of satellite data products and modeling.

Dr. Neha Mishra

Dr. Neha Mishra is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi where she teaches the compulsory Environmental Studies paper to undergraduate students. She obtained her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from University of Delhi. During her doctoral research, she worked on temporal and spatial variation in pesticide pollution and various other parameters in Yamuna river water and the adjoining agriculture fields in Delhi-NCR. Her study included biodegradation of persistent Organochlorine pesticide DDT, using indigenous bacterial sp. and it's protein analysis. She has also worked on heavy metal pollution in soil. She has expertise in various techniques like Gas Chromatography analysis, Real-time PCR, protein analysis using SDS-PAGE, etc. Her current research interest focuses on studying Particulate pollution and Air Pollution Tolerance of urban trees. As an ardent environmentalist, she has given several lectures and talks on environmental education and pollution. She has guided over 2000 students in pursuing different careers in Environment Sciences.

Theme: Climate and Community

Dr. Ulka Kelkar

Dr. Ulka Kelkar is Director, Climate program, WRI India. She is an economist with two decades of experience in climate change research, capacity building and outreach. She leads WRI India’s work on climate policy which aims to support India’s pathway to a climate-resilient low-carbon economy through judicious national policies, carbon market mechanisms, and effective implementation in states and cities.

Before joining WRI India, Ulka worked as a consultant climate assessment specialist for the Asian Development Bank, and as a research fellow with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). She conducted field research in seven Indian states to assess how rural communities can adapt to climate change. She collaborated with architects and financial analysts to devise business models for low-cost climate-resilient housing in disaster-prone regions of Bangladesh and Nepal. She used behavioural economics to understand what might motivate urban households to switch to renewable energy technologies. She has worked with the corporate sector on measuring greenhouse gas emissions and developing clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. Her policy contributions include the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) roadmap for regional cooperation on climate change, National Strategy Study on CDM in India, Maharashtra State Action Plan on Climate Change, and the first national communications of India and Bhutan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Her research has been published in journals like Annual Review of Environment & Resources, Global Environmental Change, Climate Policy, and Mitigation & Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.

Dr. Architesh Panda

Dr. Architesh works at the MCII (Munich Climate Insurance Initiative) in United Nations University, Bonn, and contributes to the research and policy advisory. Architesh provides technical advisory and support for the V20 (Vulnerable 20 Countries) group on issues pertaining to climate and disaster risk financing and contributes to the further development and implementation of the V20 led Sustainable Insurance Facility (SIF) with a focus on V20 members from Asia-Pacific. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Economics. Prior to taking up his position at MCII, he worked with the Grantham Research Institute (GRI) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Earlier he has worked with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in South and Southeast Asia countries, where he focused on climate and disaster risk insurance, building adaptation and resilience to climate change at the micro level and addressing policy challenges of climate induced migration.

Theme: Community and Conservation

Dr. M. Ananda Kumar

Dr. Ananda Kumar is a senior scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore. He has been involved in the conservation of Asian elephants in human-dominated landscapes since 2002. Ananda obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Mysore, India, during which he has studied ecological and behavioural aspects of elephants and human-elephant interactions in the Anamalai Hills of Tamil Nadu. His work featured in peer-reviewed national and international journals, book chapters, and several technical reports. He works with a team of conservationists and local communities to promote coexistence in the interspersing areas of people and elephants. He has been the recipient of the Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award, Whitley Fund for Nature 'Green Oscar' Award, and Kirloskar Vasundhara Satkar Award.

Ms. Karishma Pradhan

Karishma Pradhan completed her schooling in her hometown Kalimpong and completed her B.Sc Botany Hons from Delhi University. After working for a few years to gain practical knowledge in the field of wildlife conservation, she pursued her M.Sc. Wildlife Conservation Action from the Institute of Environment Education and Research, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune. Over the years, she has worked in various conservation organizations like Wildlife Conservation Nepal, WWF-India, ATREE and is currently associated with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF).

Her previous work has focused on imparting quality environmental education and awareness through various formal and non-formal approaches. The target group included school students, teachers, corporate groups, and community members living in the fringes of bio-diverse habitats. She has also worked closely with and conducted qualitative surveys in forest fringe communities of the Darjeeling Himalayan region.Currently at NCF, she co-ordinates a hornbill research and conservation project in West Bengal and a community-based conservation initiative in Arunachal Pradesh – the Hornbill Nest Adoption Program.

Apart from wildlife, she is also passionate about reading, singing and just being outdoors. She believes that building a cadre of responsible citizens who understands and appreciates nature is extremely crucial at this point as we face unprecedented challenges from climate crisis and loss of biodiversity and natural habitats.

Dr. Nawin Kumar Tiwary

Dr. Nawin K. Tiwary completed his Ph.D. in Ecology and Conservation from the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi. During his doctoral research, he studied various aspects related to distribution, breeding and occupancy of Painted Storks in North India. He has studied various ecological and environmental factors that can influence nest survival in Painted Stork colonies. He has been actively involved in ecological and biodiversity research with a special interest in colonial waterbirds, urban ecology, wetland studies, and habitat modeling. His current research interest is in understanding the colony dynamics and distribution of stork species outside protected areas in North India. As an avid birdwatcher, he is also involved in popularizing field ornithology and has made several presentations and talks in Delhi. He is also passionate about filming birds and other forms of wildlife and makes small documentaries to showcase some interesting behavior and highlight relevant issues. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Studies, Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi where he teaches the compulsory Environmental Studies paper to undergraduate students.

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