Dr Vikas Poonia

Dr. Vikas Poonia obtained his B. Tech degree in Civil Engineering from Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) Rohtak in 2015, his M. Tech degree in Water Resource Engineering from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal in 2018, and his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore in 2022. He works in the area of hydro-climatology, and his Ph.D. thesis was on “Droughts: Occurrence, Evolution and Impacts over India”. His Ph.D. thesis advisor was Prof. Manish Kumar Goyal. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Poonia worked as an IoE Postdoctoral Fellow at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore from March 2022 to October 2022 and then as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana Purdue University USA from November 2022 to September 2023.

Dr. Poonia joined the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in January 2024. Before that, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut from September 2023 to January 2024. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Poonia has received several prestigious awards, including the G.M. Nawathe Puraskar 2024, SYSTA: Sivapalan Young Scientists Travel Award, Prof. U.C. Kothyari Best PhD Thesis Award for 2022, Young Scientist Award, and multiple Best Paper awards at several international conferences. After joining MANIT Bhopal in 2024, Dr. Poonia obtained one externally funded project on flash drought across Indian river basins. This project is funded by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), Government of India. He is also serving as Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) for the ICSSR-funded project titled “Geo-Social Synergies for Drought Adaptation: Integrating Geospatial Technologies, Social Vulnerability, and Cultural Strategies in the Marathwada region, Maharashtra” (3 Years), sanctioned under the 2nd Call for ICSSR Longitudinal Studies in Social and Human Sciences. 

As an event organizer, he conducted two one-week short-term training programs on Hydroclimatic-Extremes. Also, Dr. Poonia received approval and funding of Rs 6,64,000 for a Global Initiative of Academic networks (GIAN) course titled "Climate Change and Compound Hydrometeorological Events: Insights from Data and Modeling". This GIAN program is an initiative of the Ministry of Education.  Recently, he also received approval and funding from Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) for a one-week training program on SWAT Modelling.  

Also, Dr. Poonia served as Course Instructor for the Refresher Course on "Climate Change, Hydro-Meteorological Extremes and Emerging Solutions” (2 Weeks, July 17–29, 2025), sanctioned by UGC-Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre with a total grant of ₹2.6 Lakhs. He is also the Program Coordinator of the AICTE-QIP-PG Certificate Programme (2025–26) on “Hydrometeorological Extremes and Climate Disasters: Data-Driven Approaches, Impacts and Resilient Strategies” (6 months), sanctioned by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the AICTE-QIP-PG scheme with a total grant of ₹14 Lakhs. 

His approach to research combines advanced statistical analysis, climate modeling, and machine learning methods in the domain of water resources and environmental sciences. His primary focus has been on understanding drought and flood dynamics, climate change impact assessment, and risk and resilience evaluation across Indian river basins. He has published extensively in high-impact journals and contributed to book chapters and technical reports. As a dedicated teacher and researcher, Dr. Poonia has distinguished himself in his field and continues to mentor students and collaborate on impactful research projects.

 Curriculum Vitae 📄