Phd, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. 2006.

                  M.Phil, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. 2001.

                   Masters, J.M.I., Delhi. 1999.

Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT, Bombay, since August, 2023.

Associate Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences,  IIT, Bombay 2015.

Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences,  IIT, Bombay 2008.

Core Faculty, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, 2006-2008.

I am a Professor with the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), India. I am an Environmental Sociologist by academic training. My PhD and early publications have been in the areas of the political economy debate , conservation and ecological conflicts in India with a focus on the wetlands of Odisha in Chilika Lagoon.  Subsequently, I have been working in the areas of Development and Environment studies, Environment  and Sustainability, Political Ecology, Coastal Vulnerability due to Climate Change , coastal commons/ fishers of Bay of Bengal and Koli Community in Maharashtra.   

 My research is interdisciplinary. I am an associate faculty member of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and Centre for Urban Science & Engineering (C-USE), IIT, Bombay. My research jointly with my students and collaborators have been published extensively in leading scholarly journals and in book chapters. 

My professional strengths in research and teaching also include policy and environmental governance, qualitative research methods with a focus on ethnography, Environment, Gender and Urban ecology.

The Wetlands- Chilika Lagoon in the east-coast of Peninsular India in the Bay of Bengal and Mumbai coastal region in  Maharashtra

Books and Monographs

 Pattanaik, Sarmistha and Sen, Amrita. Regional Political Ecologies and Environmental Conflicts in India. Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (2023).

 (https://www.routledge.com/Regional-Political-Ecologies-and-Environmental-Conflicts-in-India/Pattanaik-Sen/p/book/9780367486426)

Pattanaik, Sarmistha. The Troubled Shore: Conflict and Resistance Movement in the Wetlands of Odisha, India.  Winshied Press, Delhi, India (2016).

Manuscript (forthcoming) 

Pattanaik, Sarmistha. Governance in the Sociology of Natural Resources in the Post-Liberalization phase: Issues and Perspectives from India, Orient Blackswan (ed.)

Research Papers in Peer Review Journals 

Chatterjee, Suchisree and Sarmistha Pattanaik, “Gendered Solidarities and Activism in the Politics of Forestland: A Case Study of the Tropical Dry Forest Region of Ajodhya Pahar, Purulia in West Bengal”, Peace Prints: South Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, Vol. 9, (1), https://wiscomp.org/peaceprints/PPJ-Vol9-2023/PPJ-Vol9-Article8-2023-Suchishree-Sharmistha.pdf, Winter  2023.

Armitage, D. Nayak, P , Pattanaik S. et al. From vulnerability to viability: A situational analysis of small-scale fisheries in Asia and Africa, Marine Policy. Vol 155,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2023.105731 (September 2023)

Huque Sana, Sarmistha Pattanaik and D. Parthasarathy,  “Cityscape Transformation and the Temporal Metamorphosis of East Kolkata Wetlands: A Political Ecology Perspective”, Sociological Bulletin, Vo. 69 (1) pp1-18, https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/QNW5FZMDQGXVFGV7XYQY/full( April, 2020)

Madhanagopal Devendraraj and Sarmistha Pattanaik ,“Exploring fishermen’s local knowledge and perceptions in the face of climate change: the case of coastal Tamil Nadu, India”, Environment , Development and Sustainability,  22(4):3461-3489.   (Springer Nature), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10668-019-00354-z  (April, 2020).

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘A Paradox of the “Community”: Contemporary Processes of Participatory Forest Conservation in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR) region of West Bengal’. J. of Environmental Sociology, Vol 19 (1), Pp-  33-46 (Taylor and Francis), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23251042.2018.1519883 (2019).

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘The Political Agenda of Implementing Forest Rights Act 2006: Evidences from Indian Sundarban’. Environment Development and Sustainability, Vol. 21, pages 2355–2376 (Springer Nature), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-018-0138-7 (March, 2018).

Sen Amrita and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘How Can Traditional Livelihoods Find a Place in Contemporary Conservation Politics debates in India? Understanding Community Perspectives in Sundarban, West Bengal’. Journal of Political Ecology 24: 861-880.  (2017)

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘Community Based Natural Resource Management in the Sundarbans: Implications of Customary Rights, Law and Practices’. Economic and Political Weekly .52 (29): 93-104. (2017)

Chauhan, Hemant Kumar, D. Parthasarathy and Sarmistha Pattanaik, “Development, Environmental Vulnerability and CRZ Violations in India: Their Impacts on the Fishing Communities and their sustainability implications in Mumbai Coast”, International Journal of Environment, Development and Sustainability. (Springer), http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-016-9779-6. Vol 19, (3):  971-985. (28th March 2016).

Chauhan Hemant Kumar, D. Parthasarathy and Sarmistha Pattanaik, “Coastal ecology and fishing community in Mumbai: CRZ policy, Sustainability and Livelihoods”, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol  LI, (39): 48-57. (2016)

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘Politics of Biodiversity Conservation and Socio Ecological Conflicts in a City: The Case of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai’. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 29 (2): 305-326 (Springer). (2016)

 Huque Sana, Sarmistha Pattanaik and D. Parthasarathy, “Are Sustainable Cities “sustainable " for the poor? A study of Calcutta in eastern India “, Sociologia Urbana e Rural journal.  Urban Spaces Production, Sustainability and Participation. Vol.38, (109): 9-22. (2016)

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, “Alienation, conflict and conservation in the protected areas of urban Metropolis: A Case study of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai”, Sociological Bulletin.  Vol. 64, (3) (September – December 2015). 

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘Degradation of Commons, Changing Customary Rights and Marginalization: The Vulnerability of the Poor in the Sundarbans’. Research Process. International Journal of the Social Research Foundation. Vol.3, (2). : 38-47. (July-Dec 2015).

Huque Sana, Sarmistha Pattanaik and D. Parthasarathy, “Individualization of the public space: The Other-ing of the poor in our cities”, in Journal of Development Management and Communication, Vol II, (3), (ISSN2348-7739) (July-September 2015)

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, “Current Rehabilitation Status over the Issues of Displacement at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai: Some Observations, The Journal of Political Studies, Vol 8, October. (2013)

Pattanaik Sarmistha. “Indian Environmentalism and Gandhian Values: The Relevance of Satyagraha in Contemporary Environmental Movements in India”, Journal of Gandhi Marg. Vol 29, No.4. (January-March 2008).

Pattanaik Sarmistha. “Conservation of Environment and Protection of Marginalized fishing Communities of Lake Chilika in Orissa, India”, Journal of Human Ecology, Vol 22, (4):  291-302. (2007).

Pattanaik Sarmistha. ‘Development, Globalization and the Rise of a Grassroots Environmental Movement: The Case of Chilika Bachao Andolan (CBA) in eastern India”, The Indian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. XLIX, (1): 55-65. (2003).

Pattanaik Sarmistha. “Tradition, Development and Environmental Movement of the Marginalized”, Indian Anthropologist, Indian Anthropological Association, Delhi, Vol. 33, (1).  (2003).

Book Chapters in referred volumes & Conference Proceedings (International/National)

Chauhan Hemant Kumar, D. Parthasarathy and Sarmistha Pattanaik “Coastal environmental Vulnerability: Sustainability and Fisher Livelihoods in Mumbai”, India , In Heidkamp, Patrick C. and Morrissey John (ed.), Towards Coastal Resilience and Sustainability (295-308). Oxon: Routledge (2019)

Sen Amrita, and Sarmistha Pattanaik, ‘Communities in a “Protected” Urban Space and Conservation Politics in Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park’. In J. Mukherjee (ed.), Sustainable Urbanization in India: Challenges and Opportunities (pp. 257-278). Singapore: Springer (2018).

Pattanaik, Sarmistha  “Development or Disaster? Land acquisition and dispossession in the mining belts and coastal zones of rural Odisha”, In Sony Pellissery, Benjamin Davy, Harvey M. Jacobs (eds.), Land Policies in India: Promises, Practices and Challenges, (pp. 105-126). Singapore: Springer (2017). 

Pattanaik Sarmistha “ Indigenous Communities, Livelihoods and Displacement due to Iron Ore Mining in Odisha”, In S. Sankaran Chair (Rural Labour) (ed),  Adivasis in  India: Resources, Livelihoods and Institutions. (pp 176- 194). New Delhi: Bloomsbury  Publisher International (2016). 

Sen, Amrita and  Sarmistha Pattanaik ‘Conservation and Conflict over Natural Resources within the Protected Areas: the Issue of Displacement and Rehabilitation centring Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai’. In M. Slariya and P. Jha (eds.), Socio- Ecological Aspects of Development and Climate Change (pp. 174-194). Saarbrucken, Germany: Scholars’ Press. (2015).

Chauhan, Hemant Kumar, D. Parthasarathy and Sarmistha Pattanaik. “Evidence based Management of Coastal Zone and CRZ Violations in Mumbai: Urgency of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP) in Maharashtra”, In book Proceeding, Evidence Based Management Vol.1’, (Pp.546-551). Excellent Publishing House: New Delhi, ISBN- 978-93-84935-18-4 (2015). 

Pattanaik, Sarmistha “Impact of Mining on Water and Human Health: A Case Study of Baitarani River Ecosystem in Orissa”, In  Anjal Prakash, Saravanan & Jayati Chourey (ed), Interlacing Water and Human Health: Case Studies from South Asia. Sage: Delhi (2012).

Pattanaik, Sarmistha, “Does Environmental Degradation Escalate Naxalite violence  in India: Some Reflections from Orissa”, In Pradip Basu (ed. Vol). Discourses on Naxalite Movement (1967-2009): Insights into Radical Left Politics. Setu Prakashani. Kolkata (2010)

Pattanaik, Sarmistha. “What role does ethics play in adaptation and mitigation? Debates and discussions in Indian context”, Regions and the Environment, Regional Studies Association, Seaford, U.K. November 2010., ISBN NO- 978-1-897721-38-4.128-130. (Conference proceedings of the Regional Studies Association Winter Conference (November 2010, London).

Pattanaik, Sarmistha. (Working Paper) “Commercialization of Shrimp Trade, Environment and Rural Poverty: A Socio-Ecological Exploration in Coastal Orissa” (Working Paper Series No- E/274/2006) Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), Delhi (Dec, 2006). 

RECENT CONFERENCES/ WORKSHOPS (INVITED PUBLIC TALKS)

"Compensatory Afforestation, rights and identity of Indigenous community- Illustrations through Political Ecology and Feminist Political Ecology discourse ", at the joint collaboration workshop  'Valuing nature and compensating forests: Critical challenges in the era of Climate Change” (CTARA-IITB), 9-10 February, 2024.

India case study on Chilika Lagoon: A Vulnerability-Viability transition, VULNERABILITY TO VIABILITY (V2V) PROJECT MEETING, “Transitioning from Vulnerability to Viability (V2V): Global Partnership for Building Strong Small-Scale Fisheries Communities”, Puri, Odisha, India, organized by University of Waterloo, Canada- 6-7 August, 2023

“Socio-ecological transformation due to transition of socio-ecological system of wetlands: Reflections from the perception of Small-Scale Fishers in Chilika Lagoon, Odisha, India”, at the International Conference on ‘Environmental Change and Socio-Cultural Transformations in India’ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee in Collaboration with 175 Years Celebration Committee, IIT Roorkee, September 22-23, 2022.

 “Environmentalism and ‘Environmental Justice’ (EJ) in the life, livelihoods and cultural identity of SSF in the coastal wetlands of India: Old stories, new analysis” ,  World Small-scale Fisheries Congress Asia-Pacific, Shizuoka, Japan, 10-13 May 2022,(https://www.4wsfcongress.com/asia-pacific-may-2022) ), Panel Session# 3.3 (WSFC, Japan), Prospects for SSF- Transition from V2V, (11 May 2022, Virtually Presented). 

Panel presentation at the MARE conference (http://www.marecentre.nl/2021-conference/) on the Book, ‘Making Commons Dynamic: Understanding Change Through Commonisation and Decommonisation,, Session #277 ,  June 29, 2021 (Virtual). 

“Revisiting Environmentalism through India’s Coastal Commons”, Public seminar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Jodhpur, 28th October 2021 (Virtual)

Webinar on Eco-feminism: Varying Perspectives, organized by Green Crusaders and Green Peace, Kolkata. (17th October, 2020).

‘Urban Environments and Sustainability issues’ Presented for a Joint Collaboration visit at Newcastle University, UK, (IITB-Newcastle University joint collaboration), March 2-5 March, 2020.

‘Environmental Justice and Urban Environments’, IITB-Newcastle University Workshop at R&D conference room, IIT-Bombay (09 December, 2019).

 ‘Save Chilika Movement’: Understanding the role of collective action and resistance to wetlands conservation through the Political Ecology discourse’, International Seminar ‘Social and Political movements in Odisha: Past and Present’  Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Kanpur ( 21-23 February 2018). 

“The Social-Ecological nexus of inequality and Environmental crisis: Challenges for sustainability and social justice- A North-South dimension”, ICSSR-NWO joint seminar  “Comparative perspectives on Growing Socio-Economic Inequalities in India and Europe , Bangalore, (08-09 February 2017).

“Land law, Land Rights and Land Acquisition in a Neo-liberal state: Critical perspectives”, National Conference on ‘Environmental Governance in the Post-Liberalization Phase in India: Challenges for Sustainability and Social Justice’ (ICSSR Sponsored), by the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT, Bombay, (23-24 January/2017). 

“Mining, Land acquisition and Tribal Rights: Does FRA Secure that?”, National Seminar on Governance, Resources and Livelihoods of Adivasis in India; Implementation of PESA and FRA” by the National Institute of Rural development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad, (18-19 November 2016). 

Public Lecture ‘Contemporary Displacement: A Sociological Perspective ’ at the  one day UGC National Seminar on ‘Displacement in India: Current focus”  in St Andrew's College, University of  Mumbai , (20th February, 2016).

“On Predatory Development: Ecological crisis, conflicts and challenges of Displacement and marginalization in Contemporary India- observations from Odisha”, National conference on Reframing the Environment: Resources, Risk & Resistance in Neoliberal India by the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai, (21st & 22nd January, 2016).

“Role of political economy and conflict over Nature in the global south: A Sociological perspective”, 18th International Conference on “The Wider Significance of nature”,”   Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, (22-23 December 2015).

“Understanding the Nexus between ‘Eminent Domain’, Land Acquisition and Displacement in India: Contemporary reflections in Odisha state”, at the First South Asian Regional Conference of the Academic Association of Planning, Law and Property Rights (PLPR), National Law School of India University, Bangalore, (1-3 Sept 2015).

PAST CONFERENCES/ SEMINARS (INVITED PUBLIC TALKS)

“Indigenous communities, Livelihoods and Displacement due to iron-ore mining in Odisha: A Socio-ecological approach” National Seminar on Labour Market and Issues of Adivasis in India), at NIRD&PR, Hyderabad, (January 22-23, 2015). 

 ‘Chilika Lake in Odisha’, at the ICSSR-NOW Workshop on ‘Geographies of fisher response to new claims on coastal space and resources in India, at IIT/Bombay, (April 16-18, 2014).

 “Displaced by Development: Does Compensation bring them justice?”, National Seminar on ‘Frontiers of Development Practices in India: Reconfiguring the Development of Underdevelopment’ at Department of Sociology, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, (April, 13- 14 ,  2013). 

“New Social Movements (NSMs) and India’s Development Discourse: A Contemporary Focus”, at the International workshop on Understanding Global India: The South Asian path of Development and its possibilities at Kyoto City International Foundation, Kyoto, Japan, (29-30 January 2011).

“What role does ethics play in adaptation and mitigation? Debates and discussions in Indian context”, Regional Studies Association , Winter Conference 2010 on Regions and the Environment, at Resource Centre, Regional Studies Association, London, U.K (November 26, 2010). 

“Climate change ethics and applied environmental ethics: A vision and  action for the emergent practical environmental problems around the globe”, Integrating Development and Climate Change Ethics  at the Pennsylvania State University,  USA, (April 14-16, 2010).

Public lecture “Cultural and Ethical Perspective of Eco-Consciousness in Asia: Experiences from India”, at the Department of Anthropology and Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Naznan University, Nagoya, JAPAN. (08th October 2009).

“The Fishing culture of the Indian Coastal Fishermen: Studies in Cultural Ecology, Ethnography and Folklore”, presented in the panel- Humanity, Development and Cultural Diversity among the Fisher-folk,  at the 16th World Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES 2009), Kunming, Yunnan Province, South West of China, China, (July 27-31, 2009). 

“Examining the  Sociology of Development induced Displacement, Rehabilitation and State-managed Dispossession in Eastern Rural India”, presented at the  82nd Annual Conference of Japan Sociological Society, at the University of Rikkyo, Tokyo, JAPAN, (October 11-12, 2009). 

‘Environmental Knowledge System, Development and Culture” presented at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of AICAS and National Conference on “Cultural Diversity, Technology and Development” at Ananthakrishan Iyer International centre for Anthropological Studies (AICAS), Palakkad, Kerala, (February 15-17, 2009).     

“Impact of mining on Water and Human Health: The Case of Baitarani Ecosystem in Orissa” Reader’s Workshop on Water and Health: South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies, at Hyderabad, (February 25-27, 2009). 

“Understanding Conflict over Natural Resources: A Sociological Perspective” at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT/Bombay, (04th February 2009). 

“Indian Environmentalism and Gandhian Values: The Relevance of Satyagraha in Contemporary Environmental Movements in India”, at Satyagraha Centenary international Conference , Globalization of the Gandhian way: Sociology, Politics and Science of Satyagraha between 1906 & 2006 , Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, (November 13-16, 2007).

“Shrimp aquaculture Development and the Environment: Local livelihoods vs. Corporate Profits in East-coast India” at the Workshop “Sustainability of Indian Aquaculture Industry (Sustain-Aqua 07)”, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, IIT, Kharagpur, W.B. (28-29 September 2007).

“Commercialization of Shrimp Trade, Environment, and Rural Poverty:  A Socio-Ecological Exploration in Coastal Orissa” at the Workshop  Trade, Environment and Poverty,  Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), Delhi University Enclave, Delhi, (18-19th August-2006).

“Globalization of Shrimp Culture in Chilika: its Socio-economic and Environmental Impact and People's response”, at the Seminar Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), ISEC Campus, Bangalore, (January 25, 2006).

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Recipient of Japan Sociological Society (JSS/ILC) Best paper Award for Non- Japanese Young Sociologists in the 82nd Anual Meeting of JSS, University of Rikkyo, Tokyo, (ISA), 2009.

Associated with the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Doctoral Fellowship, 2003-2006.

Student Co-ordinator, Global Studies Programme, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2004.

Member in the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal - The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-Annual International Journal of the Science of Man (Sage, India), Since 2021 

Article Editor- Journal of SAGE Open (Sage, India)

Reviewer for Books

• Manuscript - Seeking Transformations: State, Communities, and the Politics of the Anthropocene in India ,  Routledge, UK, (June-2023)
• Reviewer of the Monograph- ‘Improving Livelihoods or Intensifying Poverty: Coal mining in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand’, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, (2015)
• Reviewer of the Book- Sociology, a Down to Earth approach, Pearson Publishers (2014)
• Reviewer of the Book , “Despotic Democracy: Politics of Redundancy at the Frontier of Land Gab and Mining in India”, Cambridge University Press (India) (2019)

Reviewer for 

• Journal of Maritime Studies (Springer)
• Journal of Environmental Science and Policy 
• Journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research
• Journal of Political Ecology (University of Arizona)
• Journal of Environmental Sociology (Taylor and Francis)
• Journal of American Anthropologist (American Anthropological Association)
• Community Development Journal (Oxford)
• RDC (Review of Development and Change)- Madras Institute of Development Studies

Seminar/Workshops Organized 

National Conference ‘Environmental Governance in the Post-Liberalization Phase in India: Challenges for Sustainability and Social Justice’ (Supported by ICSSR), (23-24 January/2017) at Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Bombay.

Co-Organizer of the ICSSR-NOW Workshop on Geographies of fisher response to new claims on coastal space and resources in India, (16-18 April 2014 , IIT/Bombay). 

(Current and past teaching courses)

 (PhD/PG/UG at IIT-Bombay)

HS 800- Research methods (Qualitative methodology)

HS 629-Ecology, Development and Society 

HS 605- Research Methodology; 

HS-200 Environmental Studies

HS 412- Social movements and Social Change: Contemporary Reflections

HS 601 Development planning and Policies- Issues & Alternatives

HS 602-  Science and Technology in India’s development

HS 603 - Socio-Psychological Perspectives in Development and Change

HS 804 Advance Theory of Society

Teaching in other institutions Guest faculty, Habitat School, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, July-August 2010 (Course: Sustainable Development and Environment).

Conducted Training courses at CISED, ISEC, Bangalore (2006-2008), (Course: Environment and Rural Development in NRM)

1. International Sociological Association (ISS) and RC-24 Group (Environment & Society).
2. Japan Sociological Society (JSS), Tokyo, Japan. 
3. Life Time Member of Indian Anthropological Association, Delhi, India.
4. Life time Member of “Indian Sociological Society”, Delhi, India.

(CO-PI)- Seed funding for Collaboration and Partnership Projects (SCPP), “Valuing nature and compensating forests: Critical challenges in the era of Climate Change”, with Pankaj Sekhsaria (Main PI), CTARA. (Ongoing, Since March 2023),

Country Coordinator and Co-Lead of I-ADApT Working Group: The V2V Global Partnership, SSHRC Canada, University of Waterloo, https://www.v2vglobalpartnership.org/ (Ongoing, Since March 2021)

(PI) Completed as Principal Investigator of the Seed Grant Project, IRCC, IITB , Examining the Social and Ecological impacts of mining on water and human health: A case study of Baitarani River Ecosystem in Orissa. (2009-2012) .

Associate Faculty: Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), IIT-Bombay (https://www.cps.iitb.ac.in/)

Associate Faculty: Centre for Urban Science and Engineering, IIT-Bombay (C-USE) (https://www.cuse.iitb.ac.in/)

Collaboration with Monash University, Australia (through IITB-Monash Research Academy)

(visited Monash University , May 2023). 

Newcastle University, UK, ( IITB-Newcastle University joint collaboration), Visited Newcastle University (March , 2020). 

PhD Thesis Examiner – IIT-Kanur, IIT-KGP, IIT-ISM Dhanbad, NIT-Silchar, NIT- Rourkela, TISS-Mumbai, University of Hyderabad, RGIPT, Jais, Amethi,U.P.

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Dr. Avijit Sahay (2018-2021) – Title of project, ‘local government structures and the social and cultural organizations of Majuli in mitigating the impacts of riverbank erosion in Assam through remote sensing and GIS’  (currently Position: Assistant Professor, and Head,  Department of Geography, Dr Nitya Nand Himalayan Research and Study Centre, Doon University, Dehradun)

Amit Kumar Saurav (IPDF) (Continuing)

PhD scholars Graduated

• Amit Kumar  Saurav  (2024) 'Conceptualizing Student Politics and Mobilization in the Context of Student Movements: A Study in Indian University Campuses' ( Current Position: Institute Postdoctoral fellow )

   

• Kailash Tandel (2024, Monash-IITB) 'Deterritorialisation of Kolis: Impact of Infrastructure Projects on the Kolis of Machchimar Nagar in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai', (Co-guide)

   

• Mohan Kumar Naik, (2023) ‘A sociological study of the legal aspects of Land Acquisition in India: The case of Rayagada district in Southern Odisha’ (Current position: Assistant Professor, Sharda school of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sharda University, Greater Noida, U.P)

• Ranjith, K (2022). A Sociological analysis of Environmentalism in Kerala (jointly with N.C. Narayanan) (Current position: Assistant Professor, Dept of HSS, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, Himachal Pradesh , since July , 2023)

• Arun P.A, (2020) A Sociological study of Replacement Migration and Assimilation: The Case of Inter-State Migrants in Kerala. (Current Position: Assistant Professor. School of Law, NMIMS, Navi Mumbai, since August 2022).

• Dibesh Deb Brahma, (2019) Land Laws and Conflicts in Tripura: A Scio-Historical perspective (Jointly with D. Parthasarathy). 

• Chandan Kaushal, (2019) ‘Water and Social Practices: An Anthropological exploration of meanings of water in Chamba valley in western Himalayas’.

• Sana Huque, (2019) ‘Cityscape transformation and crisis of conservation: A Sociological study of East Kokata Wetlands (EKW)’, (Jointly with D. Parthasarathy). (Current Position: Project Manager, Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Eastern Himalayan region; formerly a Postdoctoral fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, June 2022-July 2023).

• Devendraraj. M, (2019) ‘Vulnerability and Adaptation of Marine Fishers to Climate Change: A Study of Local Institutions in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu,’. (Current Position: Assistant Professor, School of Sustainability, XIM University, Odisha. Since August, 2019). 

• Amrita Sen , (2018)‘Conservation Politics, Communities and Survival Crisis in the Protected Areas of Sunderban, West Bengal’. (Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IITKGP, W.B. Since, August 2019; Prior to this position, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, May 2018-July 2019). 

• HemantKumar. A Chouhan , (2017) ‘CRZ Policy, Coastal Ecology and fishing community in Mumbai along with a focus on livelihoods and sustainability approach’ (jointly with D. Parthasarathy). (Current position: Assistant Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, University of Poona. 

• Wagle Suchitra Sachin, (2016) ‘Transnational Health care: Case studies in Mumbai and Goa’. (Senior Research Associate, Public Health Research. Tata Institute of Social Sciences)

Current PhD Students 

• Shuddhawati C Peke, ‘Tenure Rights, Governance and Livelihood of Small-Scale fishing Communities in Mumbai’ (jointly with D. Parthasarathy), (In progress)
• K. Sowmya . ‘Transformations of Urban Landscape in Anthropocene’ (In progress)
• Suchisree Chatterjee. ‘Spatial Justice: A Study of Forestland Politics in Ajodhya Pahar, West Bengal (In progress)
• Tejendra Pratap Gautam. ‘Forest Rights Act and Public Policy’, (jointly with Satish Agnihotri, CTARA, IIT-B) (In progress)
• Rushikesh D Gawade, ‘ Pastures, common lands and Nomadic tribes in Maharashtra' (In progress)
• Pradyumna Behera, ‘Ecotourism and conservation in Odisha’ (jointly with D. Parthasarathy) (In progress)
•  Indhusmathi, G ‘Political ecology and Cultural Politics: Coastal Sand Dunes in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu (jointly with D. Parthasarathy) (In progress)
• Shiksha Dwivedi, ‘Tharu Women as Environmental Subjects: A Study through Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) Framework (In progress)
• Janmejaya Mishra, ‘Political Ecology of SSF, Policy and Governance: A study in Chilika Lagoon in Odisha, India” (CPS, IIT-B) (In progress)
• Veenu Kumari, ‘Pedagogic Discourse in the Institutional Context of School’ (In progress)
• Sonali Singh, 'Ethnography of Mallah Makhana Community Farmers in Mithilanchal, Bihar' (Tentative).

M.Phil students Graduated (24)

• Nishnat Natu (2023): Environmental Justice and Save Aarey Movement.
• Shams Tabrez (2022):  Role of Indigenous Knowledge System for improving resilience capability during flood in Kosi River Basin: A case study in Bihar
• Ashutosh Kumar Jha (2021) : Social Implications of Uncertainty in Anthropocene: A study in Sunderban
• Veenu Kumari (2020) : The Pedagogic Discourse in the Institutional Context of School: A Sociological Study in Sonipat District, Haryana.
• Kritika Singh: (2020):  Urban Commons and Bourgeois Environmentalism: The Case of Mumbai.
• Suchishree Chaterjee (2019): Forests and frontiers: A study of transformation of ecology and livelihood in tropical dry forest region of South Bengal’.
•  Baldevbhai Parmar (2019) : Livelihood Insecurity and Tribal Rights: A study of ‘Kathodi’ tribe in Udaipur, Rajasthan’.
• Abhishek Singh Patel (2019) : ‘A comprehensive study of availability and accessibility of various agricultural inputs among different socio-economic groups leading to the making of agrarian crisis in Bundelkhand’
• Prateexit Joshi (2018) : The Lives of Others: Forced Migrants and Refugees in India’
• Marian Abraham (2017):  Social context of tribal elementary education: A Field study in two blocks of Palghar district’. 
• Sagar D. Ingle (2017): Water sanitation and its impact on Human health among under-five children: A Case study of Diarrhea in Rural Buldhana district in Maharashtra’, (jointly with P.L. Trivedi).
• Sagat kumar Shaunik (2016): Exploring the Socio-Ecological Context of Uncertainty Narratives in Selected Regions of Flood Affected Areas in Mumbai.
• Deepali Singh (2016): Role of Public Participation in EIA: A Socio-ecological Study of Navi Mumbai International Airport. 
• Poonam Suresh Argade (2015): Undercurrents: Unpacking Participatory Groundwater Governance in Maharashtra’ (jointly with N.C.Narayanan, CTARA).
• Manav Brahmanand Khaire (2014): Role of IT and MIS in SHG-Bank Linkage Program: Case study of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra’, (jointly with A. Ramanathan).
• Mohan Kumar Naik (2014): A Sociological study of the Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Displaced people: A Case Study of Kashipur block in southern Odisha.
• Amrita Sen (2013): ‘The Politics of Conservation and Conflict: A Case Study of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai’.
• Hemant Kumar Chauhan (2012): Coastal Zone Management and Fishing Community in Mumbai’ (jointly with D. Parthasarathy). 
• Pournnami Davy (2012): A Comparative Study on the Use of Endosulfan between Sprayed and Non Sprayed Regions in Kasargod, Kerala.
• Nikita Kaul (2012): Natural Resource Shifts and Crafts: Study of Wood Carving Industry in Saharanpur’ (jointly with D. Parthasarathy). 
• Nilesh Vilas Thube (2011): Socio-Environmental Study of Health: A Case Study of Malaria In Mumbai Slum.  (jointly with   D. Parthasarathy). 
• Shilpa Raman (2011): Entrepreneurship in the informal sector: A study in Mumbai’.
• Lay Smriti Guria (2011): ‘Water and Culture: Difference in Perception of Pollution in River Ganga - A Case Study of Kanpur’ (jointly  with  N.C.Narayanan, CTARA). 
• Arpita Chakravarty (2010): Solid Waste Collection: A Study of Phule Nagar in Mumbai (jointly with  K. Narayanan).