Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Fellows

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.
Fellow and Coordinator - Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies
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. Mohan Seetharam
Research interests: Land use and land cover change, agriculture and natural resource management, climate change, vulnerability and development. Understanding the human dimensions of global environmental change. Understanding and working towards sustainable and equitable forms of social and economic development.
mohan.seetharam(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. Eco-informatics, 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. Robert J. Chandran
Research interest: Tropical forest ecology and management, Life history variation in tropical tree species, Restoration ecology.
robert.chandran(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
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, Programe Leader - Land Water and Livelihoods
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. Subhrajit Saha
Research interest: Ecological and socioeconomic aspects of mitigation and adaptation in forests and tropical agricultural systems, soil and plant nutrient management, organic agriculture, agroforestry and urban forestry.
subhrajit(dot)saha(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

Post Doctoral Fellows

Dr. Priti Vaidyananthan
priti(dot)vaidyanathan(at)atree(dot)com

Dr. Seema Hegde
seema(dot)hegde(at)atree(dot)com

Dr. Shijo Joseph
Research interest: Ecosystem analysis, environmental biophysics, remote sensing, GIS and modeling.

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: Eco-informatics, 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
Country Director, Wildlife Conservation Society, India.
ravi.chellam(at)atree(dot)org

Adjunct Fellows

Dr. C.G. Kushalappa
Associate Professor, Department of Forest Biology and Wildlife, College of Forestry, Ponnampet, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India.
kushalcg(at)vsnl(dot)net(dot)in

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

Dr. Kartik Shanker
Assistant Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India; Regional Vice-Chair, Marine Turtle Specialist Group IUCN SSC; Executive Editor, Conservation and Society.
Research interest: Distribution of diversity at various levels of organization, from genes to ecosystems, work on coastal and marine ecology, addressing the question of how species diversity is distributed along the coasts.
kshanker(at)ces(dot)iisc(dot)ernet(dot)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

Dr. Sunita Pradhan
Scientific Officer, Padmaja National Zoological Park, Darjeeling, India.
snitaprad(at)rediffmail(dot)com, sunitaprad(at)yahoo(dot)com

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

Visiting Fellows

Dr. Armin Rosencranz
Stanford University, Consulting Professor in Inrernational Relations, 2009-11 and Human Biology 1995-2006. (October – December 2009).

Dr. Charlie Shackleton
Head of the Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University, Grahatown, South Africa. (January 2010 – July 2010).

Dr. H.N. Kumar
Research Associate, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. (November 2009 – December 2010).

Dr. Raja Sengupta
Associate Professor, McGill University (Montreal, Canada) Dept of Geography and School of Environment. (June 2009 – November 2009).

Dr. Sally Duncan
Policy Research Director, Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University, USA. (January 2009 – August 2009).

T. Kannan
Ph D Osmania University in 2008. (May 2009 – April 2010).
tkannan(at)atree(dot)org

Dr. Rajeev Raghavan
Fellow & Associate Director of Conservation Research Group at Kochi, Kerala. (Oct 2009 – Feb 2010).