Diya Mukherjee

Dr. Shaik Vazeed Pasha is a Research Scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and Co-Project Lead for the initiative “Develop Natural Resource Utilization Plan for Biodiversity Hotspots.” He also an external Associate professor at The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bengaluru. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from NRSC–ISRO, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Andhra University. With over 11 years of experience, he has contributed to 12+ national-level projects across institutions like ISRO, NIAS, and IIT Kharagpur. As Co-Principal Investigator, he successfully led the IWST-ICFRE Government of India-sponsored project “Study of Climate-Driven Effects on Indian Forests Through Long-Term Monitoring.” His research focuses on spatial biodiversity, natural resource management, biomass and carbon stock estimation, and forest disturbance regimes, supported by 40+ international publications and 954+ citations.
Dr. Pasha has conducted extensive fieldwork across diverse Indian ecosystems, including the Western and Eastern Ghats, Eastern Himalayas, mangroves, and arid zones. He actively mentor’s young researchers, reviews for reputed journals, and has guided over 35 interns in geospatial analytics. He represented India at the 8th BRICS Young Scientist Conclave (2023) and is affiliated with Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI) and Science-I, Life member in Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG), and he was an advisory board member in Kerala Agricultural University-2024. His contributions have earned him multiple awards and commendations from ISRO, NIAS, IIT Kharagpur, Karnataka Forest Department, and Digital University of Kerala.