Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Fellows

Dr. Abi Tamim Vanak
Fellow, Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, ATREE
Fellow, National Environment Sciences Program, MoEF, GoI

Dr. Ankila Hiremath, New Delhi
Fellow, Co-programme leader - Ecosystems and Global Change
Research interest: Forest ecology and its application to human land use systems (e.g., forest management, agroforestry, and restoration).
hiremath(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Aravind N.A.
Research interest: Disturbance ecology and community ecology of birds, butterflies, amphibians and Non-marine Molluscs of Western Ghats.
aravind(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Bejoy K. Thomas
Research interest: Cross-disciplinary analysis of poverty and vulnerability, participatory development, mixed methods, rural livelihoods, environmental change and development, with teaching interests in development studies, political economy, field research methods in social sciences.
bejoy.thomas(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Gladwin Joseph, Director, ATREE
Research interest: Integrated natural resource management, Agroforestry, Sustainable agriculture, Nursery technology, Forest regeneration, Applied ecophysiology, Adaptive research approaches.
gladwin(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Harini Nagendra, Ramanujam Fellow
Research interest: Satellite remote sensing, biodiversity studies and social interviews to study the impact of a range of institutional approaches, including community forestry, joint forest management and national parks on forest conservation in South Asia. Study of how processes of human land use interact with biophysical factors to impact patterns of landscape change and forest recovery in Nepal and India Urban ecology and environmental change, with a focus on Bengaluru.
harini.nagendra(at)gmail(dot)com
nagendra(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy
Senior Fellow,
Convenor - The Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation and Programme Leader - Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing
Research interest: Watershed hydrology and landscape ecology
jagdish(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Nitin Rai
Research interest: Understanding the ecological, social and economic aspects of forest resource use. Using multidisciplinary approaches to examine non-timber forest product harvest, its contribution to poverty alleviation, and its relationship to biodiversity conservation.
nitinrai(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
Senior Fellow,
Programme Leader - Ecosystems and Global Change
Research interest: Insect Taxonomy and conservation. Ecoinformatics, Agro-forestry and Traditional knowledge.
priyan(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. R. Ganesan
Research interest: Plant taxonomy, vegetation dynamics in natural and disturbed forests, population dynamics of endemic plants, involving local people in biodiversity conservation.
rganesan(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Ravikanth G
Research interest: Recovery and monitoring of some of the critically endangered species of the Western Ghats. Working on DNA bar-coding of some of the economically important groups of plants.
gravikanth(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Seema Purushothaman
Research interest: Land use drivers and sustainability indicators in production landscapes, ecosystem services, fiscal instrument for biodiversity
seemap(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Sharachchandra Lele
Senior Fellow,
Convenor - The Centre for Environment and Development and Programme Leader - Forest and Governance
Research interest: Conceptual issues in sustainable development and sustainability; analyses of institutional, economic, ecological, and technological issues in forest, energy, and water resource management; methodology of interdisciplinary research.
slele(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Shrinivas Badiger
Programme Leader - Land Water and Livelihoods
Research interest: Hydro-socio-economic approaches to understanding the context of water scarcity, resource depletion and degradation within a larger framework of sustainable environment and livelihoods.
sbadiger(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Siddappa Setty
Research interest: Poverty alleviation in biodiversity-rich areas through sustainable use of forest resources. Exploring use of local alternatives for temple offerings in South India, to create awareness on utilizing local/traditional crops for food and temple prasad items. Aim to find high quality information to answer specific questions on forest conservation and livelihood-related issues.
siddappa(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Siddhartha Krishnan
Fellow
Research interest: Environmental Sociology; Environmental History; Sociology of Science; Conservation and Livelihood Conflicts, Climate Risk; Land, Wetland and Forest Policy
siddhartha.krishnan(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. M. Soubadra Devy
Research interest: Plant-animal interactions; and developing a canopy programme for India through protected areas network and extending the biodiversity frontier to production landscape, through participatory approach involving community. Putting together various ecological aspects that were carried out over the last several years in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. Develop rigorous field courses, which cater to various target audiences.
soubadra(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Sumit Sen
sumit(dot)sen(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Swati Shresth
Research interest: Environmental history, human-wildlife interaction,approaches to sustainable development, livelihood issues in forests, forest governance, analysis of market- driven conservation.
swati.shresth(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. T. Ganesh
Research interest: Plant-animal interactions, tropical seed dispersal/seed predation systems, long term monitoring of phenology and vegetation dynamics.
tganesh(at)atree(dot)org

Honorary Senior Fellows

Amrit S. Gill
Director, Procurement Operations Asia, M/s KIIT US-Eugene, Oregon, USA; Ex Vice-President, Marketing and Exports, BBTC.
bmbpatiala(at)glide(dot)net(dot)in

Dr. D. Joseph Bagyaraj
Indian National Science Academy Senior Scientist, Department of Agricultural Microbiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India; Chairman, Centre for Natural Biological Resources and Community Development, Bangalore, India.

Dr. G.K. Veeresh
Ex Vice-Chancellor, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
gkveeresh(at)indiatimes(dot)com, aporganic(at)yahoo(dot)com

Dr. John Kineman
Senior Research Scientist (Ecosystem Science and Informatics), Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.

Dr. K.D. Singh
Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA .
Research interest: Establish a scientific basis for non-timber forest product (NTFP) production and consumption, in order to make forest planning holistic and sound. The present research will include policy, legal and institutional issues essential for ensuring sustainable management of NTFP. Conducting a study in the Kolasib District of Mizoram, to explore people participation in forest management planning and creating alternatives to slash and burn practices (shifting agriculture).
karan.singh(at)umb(dot)edu

Dr. K.R. Shivanna
INSA Senior Scientist, ATREE, Bangalore.
Research interest: Identifying domestication syndromes in cardamom.
shivanna(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Madhav Gadgil
Emeritus Professor, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune; Chairman, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, MoEF, Delhi; Honorary Member, British Ecological Society and Ecological Society of America.

Dr. Om P. Rajora
Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick; Associate Professor, Department of Biology, StoraEnso Senior Chair in Forest Genetics and Biotechnology; Director, Resource and Conservation Genetics and Biotechnology Group, Dalhousie University.
om.rajora(at)unb(dot)ca

Dr. Romulus Earl Whitaker
Honorary Member, Steering Committee, IUCN/SSC Crocodile Specialist Group; Managing Trustee, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Team Leader, Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, Agumbe, Karnataka.
draco(at)vsnl(dot)com

Dr. S.M. Nair
Programme Director, Centre for Environment Education, New Delhi.
ceedelhi(at)bol(dot)net(dot)in, ceedelhi(at)ceeIndia(dot)org

Dr. Uppendra Dhar
retired Director, G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarkhand.
uppdhar(at)gmail(dot)com

Zafar Futehally
retired Honorary Secretary of Bombay Natural History Society, and ex-Vice President of World Wildlife Fund-India.

Adjunct Senior Fellows

Dr. R. Prabhakar
Director, Software Technology Strand Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India.
Research interest: Ecoinformatics, geographical information systems for conservation, spatial technology and human interactions with ecosystems. Working on a project to provide a framework and a platform for creating social-ecological maps of urban areas. Decentralization and cost-effective conservation.
r.prabhakar(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Ramanatha Rao
Senior Scientist (Understanding and Managing Diversity), Biodiversity International, Rome, Italy.
Research interest: Plant genetic resources and agro-biodiversity at ATREE. Issues in agro-biodiversity conservation and utilization (genetic diversity status) and trends including genetic erosion, rationalization of collections, utilization of conserved genetic resources including wild crop relatives, access, intellectual property rights, seed supply systems and bio-safety.
ramnath(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Ravi Chellam
ravi.chellam(at)atree(dot)org

Adjunct Fellows

Dr. C.G. Kushalappa
Professor and Head
Dept. of Forest Biology & Tree Improvement
College of Forestry, Ponnampet, Kodagu.
Additional Responsibility: Vice Chairman of Kodagu Model Forest Trust and Regional Coordinator (India) for CAFNET project funded by European Union on valuation of ecosystem services of coffee based agroforestry systems. kushalcg(at)gmail(dot)com

Dr. G.S Mohan
Junior Rice Breeder, Agricultural Research Station, Ponnampet, Kodagu.

Dr. Robert John Chandran
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata
Email: robert.john@iiserkol.ac.in

Dr. Sinu P.A
Scientist, Tea Research Association, Nagrakata Regional Research Centre, West Bengal.
Research interest: Forest Ecology and management, Taxonomy of insects in general and particularly, Family Carabidae
sinu(at)atree(dot)org

Sunita Rao
Founder Trustee of Vanastree
Research interest: Experiential environmental learning; biodiversity of forest home gardens in the Western Ghats; conservation and livelihoods; management of civic societies
sunitasirsi(at)gmail(dot)com

Dr. T.O. Sasidharan
Ex Senior Scientific Officer, Central Silk Board, Bangalore, India
Research interest: Eco-friendly technologies for insect pest management, while preserving the environment. Investigations on native isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium sp. for control of certain potentially dangerous insect pests of forest plantations and nurseries. The possibility of using Microsporidia for insect pest control is being investigated.
tosasi(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Veena Srinivasan, Post Doctoral scholar Standford University
veena(dot)srinivasan(at)gmail.com

Visiting Fellows

Pashupati Chaudhary
pashupati.chaudhari@atree.org

Sunita Pradhan
sunita.pradhan@atree.org