Welcome to my site!

I am Associate Professor & Head of the Department of Public Policy at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Bengaluru. Prior to joining MAHE, I was an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Bangalore. I have been a long-time researcher with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.

My research focusses on providing evidence-based policy insights in mulitple domains, with special emphasis on investigating the vulnerability, adaptability and sustainability of ecosystems. My collaborations in the past three years had been focussed on: monitoring and modelling the spatio-temporal dynamics using multi-sources data. Through my research, I wish to provide insights for establishing policy frameworks for achieving the targets of SDGs 6, 11, 14 and 15. With respect to the water environment, I am currently researching the ecosystem services rendered by different ecosystems, as well as the challenges to the preservation of the ambient environmental quality.

I also peripherally work with experts in studying the urbanisation within India at a local scale, as well as that of  Peninsular India at a regional scale. In the context of land management, I am studying how land use changes vary across the different scales of urbanisation and the related impacts on the ‘rurban’ environment. Exploring the use of pit lake systems as examples of rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems such as open-cast coal mines, is another area of interest. 

Future areas of exploration

I would like to explore the changes undergone by ecosystems in the context of environmental quality changes under different stress-based scenarios, for e.g., natural extreme events as cyclones, other geohazards or in a pandemic-like scenario. Another area of research, I plan to take forward includes the study of marine fishers with respect to the use of marine fishery advisories in the context of providing key insights for sustainable development of the marine ecosystems of India. With experience in studying the biogeochemical characteristics of the coastal zone, I wish to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic pollution on the ocean and the coastal seas at multiple scales. Another area of interest includes the study of urban water environments and the challenges faced in the context of environmental risks, the mechanism of transitions as well as the policies to provide for effective strategies for mitigation.

Meet my current student: Sudip Kumar Kundu, 3rd year PhD

Click here to see my publications 

My latest publications: 

Conferences : 

Harini Santhanam (2021) Greening the grass, blueing the water: aligning environmental neuroscience with blue-green infrastructure planning to synergise the delivery of Nature-based Solutions. 3rd ESP Asia conference, Online. Nagasaki, Japan, Dec. 14-17, 2021.

Sudip Kumar Kundu, Harini Santhanam, R Srikanth (2020) Use of Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Development of Small Scale Fisheries in India: Challenges and Way Forward, AGU Fall Meeting 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10505256.1

Sudip Kumar Kundu, Harini Santhanam, R Srikanth (2020) A Technical Assessment of the Use of Current Geospatial Technologies to Derive Marine Fishery Advisories in India and the Way Forward, Asian Conference on Remote Sensing-2020. Full paper available at: https://a-a-r-s.org/proceeding/ACRS2020/ifomqo.pdf 

Journal  papers: 

Dhyani S, Shukla J, Kadaverugu R, Dasgupta R, Panda M, Kundu SK, Santhanam H, Pujari PR, Kumar P, Hashimoto S. Participatory Stakeholder Assessment for Drivers of Mangrove Loss to Prioritize Evidence-Based Conservation and Restoration in Bhitarkanika and Mahanadi Delta, India. Sustainability. 2023; 15(2):963. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15020963

Santhanam Harini, Dhyani Shalini, Benedict Xavier (2022) Perspectives on reducing anthropogenic interferences and mainstreaming nature-based solutions for sustainable restoration of Pulicat lagoon, India: from research to policy and implementation. Marine and Freshwater Research - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21242

Santhanam, H., Dhyani, S., & Kundu, S. K. (2022). Ecosystem-based approaches to develop a monitoring framework for restoring the transitional lagoon ecosystem of Pulicat, India. Ecological Engineering, 179, 106608.

Shalini Dhyani, B. Dhanya, Harini Santhanam, Indu K Murthy (2021) ‘Restoring landscapes for post-pandemic rural livelihood recovery and achieving global targets in India’, Restoration Ecology, pp 1-8, Early View Record : e13617; Weblink: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13617

Book Chapters and magazine articles:

Reports:

A mention of my work that appeared on The Third Pole: https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/climate/water-levels-in-himalayan-river-basins-drop-as-world-warms/

An article I authored recently: 

The Asimovian dream of education in the times of Industry 4.0

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/the-asimovian-dream-of-education-in-the-times-of-industry-4-0/ -