Dr. Pritha Datta is an Assistant Professor at the Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur, India. Her work brings a human lens to climate change, focusing on how it shapes everyday life, how people perceive risks, make decisions, and support one another in times of change. She is especially interested in the idea that adaptation and mitigation begin with people, their behaviours, attitudes, and sense of well-being. In her research, climate action is not just about solutions on paper, but about how individuals and communities understand change, respond to it, and adjust their ways of living. This includes looking at how social relationships, local knowledge, and shared experiences influence people’s ability to cope and adapt.

Her work highlights that well being is closely tied to feeling secure, connected, and capable of making choices, even in uncertain environments. By focusing on behaviour and perception, she explores how communities can move toward more sustainable and balanced lifestyles, while also strengthening social bonds and collective resilience. Through her projects, including collaborations with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Japan, she has studied how climate change affects both material realities and people’s sense of well-being, and how these together shape adaptive behaviour.

Alongside her academic work, she contributes as a Steering Committee Member of the Indo Pacific Climate Hub (INPACC Hub), supporting efforts that place people’s experiences, behaviours, and well-being at the heart of climate action and sustainable development.

Experience

Assistant Professor, Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur, India [February 2026 - till now]

Assistant Professor, Department of Policy and Management Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI SAS), New Delhi, India [September 2023 - January 2026]

Academic Qualifications

Ph.D. (2023), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India 

M.Phil. (2020), Assam University, Diphu Campus, India 

B.Ed. (2017), University of North Bengal, India

M.A. (2015), University of North Bengal, India

B.A. (2013), University of North Bengal, India

Research Interests

Climate Change, Human Perception and Decision Making, Happiness and Well-Being , Sustainable Lifestyles.

Technical Skills

Data Analysis (SPSS, RStudio, Stata), Geographic Information System (ArcGIS, Global Mapper).