I am an interdisciplinary social scientist interested in problem driven research on environment and development. I joined IISER, Pune, India, in 2019 as an Associate Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Before that I was a Fellow at ATREE, Bangalore, India, between 2008 and 2019. I have been a Royal Bank of Canada Visiting Fellow at the Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Canada (2016) and a Visiting Fellow at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, The University of British Columbia, Canada (2017).

Originally trained in Economics, I received my PhD in Development Studies (2009) from Tilburg University, The Netherlands. The central theme of my doctoral research was multidimensional poverty – assessing poverty in a participatory manner incorporating the multiple indicators that people value, which goes beyond income. Subsequently, I began looking at issues of environmental sustainability, particularly water resources management, in close collaboration with environmental scientists and engineers. 

My current research is in two broad, interrelated areas, (a) water management, with a focus on adaptation, access and use in agricultural and domestic sectors, and (b) environmental sustainability and development, including normative implications of climate action. I have a long standing interest in theoretical and empirical work on development and poverty, specifically participatory development and metrics used for measuring poverty and development. 

My research spans across different scales, national, regional, and local, with fieldwork in different parts of Southern India, including Cauvery and Krishna basins, Kuttanad/Vembanad wetlands and peri-urban areas of Bengaluru. My publications have appeared in development and sustainability journals including Climate and Development, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Science and Policy, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, and Water International.

The courses that I teach include development studies, economics and public policy, climate adaptation and development, field research methods, and practicing interdisciplinary environmental research. I have conducted summer schools and training programmes, organized workshops and used popular media for research outreach.

I have been an elected executive committee member of Indian Society for Ecological Economics (2016-18), member in the Government of Karnataka committee (2018) to develop an action plan to meet the UN SDG – 2, and on the Board of Studies, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai (2025-till date). I was a contributing author to Chapter 18 on ‘Climate Resilient Development Pathways’, of Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.

At IISER Pune, I was the Chairperson (2020-23) of the newly established Centre for Water Research. I have also been Associate Dean, Academics (2022-25), and Deputy Chair, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (2024-till date). I was the Convenor of ATREE's Centre for Environment and Development (2018-19) and elected faculty representative to the Governing Board (2015-17).