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Mr. Aariz Ahmed’s thesis titled “Interlinking of Rivers for Integrated Water Resources Management” has been awarded the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).  He worked under the guidance of Prof. R Srikanth. 

His broad research interest lies in water resources management, geospatial application for sustainable development and natural resources management. His Ph.D. thesis, titled “Interlinking of Rivers for Integrated Water Resources Management”, Prior to joining Ph. D at NIAS, he worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. He has also been a part of HERE Technologies, a mapping and cloud company in Mumbai. Aariz has completed M.Tech (Environmental science and Technology), PG diploma in Remote sensing and GIS from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Brief Description of PhD Thesis 
India's water resources planning, management, and development has been strongly affected by the intense spatial and temporal variations in precipitation patterns. These trends have prompted the Government of India and several State Governments to take up major water transfer projects towards overcoming the water scarcity issue. In view of this, National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has taken up a massive river-interlinking project, and nearly 30 links have been proposed encompassing the major rivers. The focus of my doctoral research lies in the Krishna (Almatti)-Pennar ILR project, in the peninsular India. The study aims to investigate the Social, Environmental, and Hydrological dimensions of the ILR project. Further, advanced geospatial techniques will be used to explore feasible alternative routes for the Almatti-Pennar ILR Project to maximise the socio-economic benefits, while minimizing costs and social/environmental impacts. This Research will also provide a conceptual template to look at other ILR projects.

Mr. Soumya Deep Das’s thesis titled Way Forward for the Viability of Power Distribution Sector in India – A Case Study in Karnataka has been evaluated and he is declared eligible for the Award of Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D) by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).  He worked under the guidance of Prof. R Srikanth. 

Prof Mahalingam has served as a full-time regulator, having been a Member of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board for five years from its inception in 2007.  She was also energy member of National Security Advisory Board that advises the Prime Minister through the National Security Advisor on issues related to India's national security. She has also been Visiting Fellow at international universities, Senior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi and guest faculty at LBSNAA, Foreign Services Institute, National Defence College etc.  Prof Sudha Mahalingam has been awarded Doctorate by the University of Technology, Sydney in March 2020 on the thesis topic  A Review of Independent Regulation in India’s Downstream Hydrocarbon Sector. 

A.V. Krishnan is a mechanical engineer from Bangalore University and joined BHEL, Tiruchi as an Engineer Trainee in January 1976. He worked in Product Development (Boilers), Field Engineering Services and R&D for six years after which he moved to Quality Assurance and Business Excellence group after undergoing ‘One year training in Statistical Quality Control & Operations Research’ at Indian Statistical Institute, Chennai. He then worked for 21 years in various disciplines of Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Laboratories. Subsequently, he headed the “Welding Research Institute” at BHEL, Tiruchi. After serving as a General Manager in the BHEL Corporate Office and as the CEO of the BHEL Boiler Auxiliaries Plant at Ranipet, he was promoted as Executive Director in 2008. In June 2009, he was appointed as Executive Director of BHEL’s flagship manufacturing complex at Tiruchi where he served till his superannuation from BHEL in July 2015. In the EEC Program, Prof Krishna works on clean coal technologies, the role and economic viability of nuclear power in India, power flow analysis, and optimal electricity supply options for India.

Research Interests: Clean coal technologies, economic viability of nuclear power in India, optimal power supply options for India, power flow analysis.

R. Srikanth is the Dean of the School of Natural Sciences & Engineering, and also heads the Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Program.  He graduated from the Indian School of Mines in 1984 and was awarded the ISM Gold Medal.  He worked in coal mines for six years before commencing his research at the Pennsylvania State University where he completed a dual Ph.D. in Mining Engineering & Operations Research. He joined NIAS in 2016 after a 20-year long career in industry, primarily in Tata Steel. He is currently involved in several Government-appointed committees related to energy security alongside his other duties as faculty and Dean at NIAS.

Research Interests: Air pollution and public health, energy security, coal and mineral policies, environmental policy and governance, sustainable development, and climate change.

Harini Santhanam an environmental scientist with 6+ years’ experience in studying multiple aspects of natural systems such as biogeochemistry, hydro-geological processes and land-water-human nexus from an ecosystem perspective. She has been a long-term researcher with IISc Bangalore, working in multi-disciplinary teams with a focus on water-related issues. She has a Ph.D in coastal ecosystem modelling and a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Science from Anna University, Chennai. She also has UGC-NET eligibility for Lecturership in Environmental Science. Recently, she has also been the Principal Investigator of a DST-funded Woman Scientists project (2015- 2018) at IISc.Her research interests include the use of integrated modelling approaches for aquatic ecosystem investigations, studying the ecosystem-human nexus over the land-water-air continuum and investigating short-term and long-term changes of lacustrine systems using environmental proxies.

Dr Tejal Kanitkar was a Professor in the Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Program, the School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, NIAS. She is a mechanical engineer by training and has worked on in the area of energy and climate studies since 2006.

Tejal did her PhD in energy science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, a master’s in mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in Mumbai University. She has been teaching since 2011.   

Her research interests lie in the areas of energy, development, and climate policy. She works on trying to integrate perspectives from the natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences to understand the interconnected aspects of energy production, environmental constraints, and economic development, with a perspective that prioritizes equity in the era of acute environmental crises such as climate change. 

Dr Rudrodip Majumdar is currently an Associate Professor in the Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Programme at NIAS w.e.f. 01 July 2025. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor at the institute from August 2019 to June 2025. He has a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University in the USA and an M.Tech. in Nuclear Engineering from IIT Kanpur. Before joining NIAS, Rudrodip worked as an Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at IIT Bombay and as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at North Carolina State University. Rudrodip's professional research interests centre around Sustainability, encompassing Renewable and Clean Energy, Nuclear and Plasma Fusion Energy, Industrial Applications of Plasma, and Analyses of Energy-efficient Sustainable Systems. To date, Rudrodip has published 36 research articles in reputed International Journals, 14 Chapters in Edited Volumes (Monographs) of Repute, and 23 papers in International Conference Proceedings.  His recent work on the evaluation of energy transition-readiness in low-to-medium-income households in Bengaluru has been highly appreciated by the Office of the PSA to the GOI.  By nomination, Rudrodip has been selected as a Review Editor of the Energy Storage section in Frontiers in Energy Research Journal. Apart from academics, Rudrodip takes a great interest in Wildlife Conservation, Nature Photography, Creative Writing and Indian Classical Music.

Sangeetha Menon joined National Institute of Advanced Studies, in January 1996, in the Indian Institute of Science campus, Bangalore (India). Her interview and appointment was led by an illustrious group of scientists like Dr Raja Ramanna (Founding Director of NIAS), Prof CV Sundaram, Prof BV Sreekantan and Prof RL Kapur. Subsequently she conceptualised and commenced the NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme along with BV Sreekantan (former Director, TIFR and Honorary Professor, NIAS). This was the first academic group that started in India to study consciousness with an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary mandate. Sangeetha is a philosopher with a keen interest in consciousness. Her major area of research is in philosophy of psychology. Her expertise is in Indian philosophy, consciousness studies, philosophy of psychology, philosophy and psychology of self. She works with her colleagues at NIAS and collaborators worldwide to create and encourage a first-person centered approach to understanding consciousness and cognitive capabilities that favours experiential well-being for all. Dr Menon's professional qualifications include degrees in biology and philosophy. She is a first rank holder and gold medalist from Maharaja's College for Women, Trivandrum for post-graduate degree in philosophy. The thesis for her doctoral degree, from University of Kerala, is on the concept of consciousness in the Bhagavad Gita which was completed with junior and senior research fellowship from University Grants Commission, India.

Research Interest: 

Prof Menon's major area of research is in philosophy of psychology. Her expertise is in Indian philosophy, consciousness studies, philosophy of psychology, philosophy and psychology of self. She works with her colleagues at NIAS and collaborators worldwide to create and encourage a first-person centered approach to understanding consciousness and cognitive capabilities that favours experiential well-being for all. Sangeetha Menon started her research with a comparative study of consciousness, from the East and the West, focusing on the theories of agency, emotion, freedom, self, and human well-being in the Bhagavad Gita. Subsequently, she focused on Indian philosophical concepts criss-crossing the works of philosophers: Sankaracharya, Abhinavagupta, Narayana Guru et al. and bringing in Indian aesthetics and dramaturgy to understand cognitive dimensions of creative expressions and personal agency. Her initial papers argue for an epistemological shift that considers the ontological primacy of self, and the importance of the experiencer that would present the 'harder problem' of consciousness. While some of her initial studies were deeply metaphysical and philosophical in approach, she moved on to engaging philosophy with biology and psychology to understand the primary issue in consciousness, which is the 'self'. She is one of the originators of the field of Indian psychology, guiding research in well-being studies, life-sustaining values, self-transformation, and artistic experience. One of her primary contributions in consciousness studies is presenting and engaging with the concept and experience of self from the neurobiological and philosophical point of view, and theorising a 'self-challenged brain and brain-challenged self'.

Prof. Sharada Srinivasan is Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru. She was elected International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 in Archaeology. She received the Padmashri, the fourth highest civilian award from Government of India in Archaeology in 2019.  Sharada has made pioneering contributions to the study of archaeology and history of art from the perspective of exploring engineering applications.  

Prof. Sharada Srinivasan’s landmark contributions include archaeometric characterisation of bronzes of South India using lead isotope analysis and archaeometallurgical studies on ancient mining and metallurgy in southern India. These span studies on the production mechanisms of high carbon wootz steel and documentation of artisanal technologies such as Aranmula high tin bronze metal mirror making, bronze casting at Swamimalai and ancient and continuing traditions of high-tin bronze working, while she has worked on artefacts in the Government Museum, Chennai, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, ASI amongst others. Prof. Sharada Srinivasan is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and World Academy of Art and Science.

Her awards include the INAE Indian National Academy of Engineering Woman Engineer in Academia 2021 Award, Distinguished IITB Alumnus Award, Dr. Kalpana Chawla Young Women Scientist Award for 2011, the Indian Institute of Metals, Certificate of Excellence 2007, Materials Research Society of India Medal 2006, Malti B. Nagar Ethnoarchaeology Award (2005), DST-SERC Young Scientist Fellowship, Flinders Petrie Medal 1989 from University of London, Materials Research Society Graduate Student Award 1996, DST Nurture Scheme and Young Scientist Awards and the British Chevening Scholarship for her Phd work. She was Forbes Research Associate at the Department of Scientific Research and Conservation, Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, USA in 1999 and Homi Bhabha Fellow at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from 1996-98.  She has been a co-recipient of international awards from UKIERI, UK, (on pioneering iron and steel metallurgy), AHRC, UK, (on interfaces between archaeology and drama), SSHRC Canada, Royal Society, UK, and National Science Foundation, USA.  

She is first author of the book ‘India’s Legendary Wootz Steel’,  contributing author to ‘Ecstasy of Classical Art’, the bronze catalogue of National Museum, Delhi and co-editor of ‘Digital Hampi’ and ‘Performing on the Periphery’.  She is on the Standing Committee of the international Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys Conference.  She has been an accomplished exponent of the classical dance form of Bharata Natyam and has given lecture-demonstrations such as on the artistic and scientific perspectives on the Chola Nataraja bronzes at Royal Academy of Arts, London (2007) and with a photo-exhibition at Space City, Toulouse (2009) apart from national venues.  She earned her PhD from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (1996) on Archaeometallurgy of South Indian bronzes; MA from School of Oriental & African Studies, London (1989) and BTech in Engineering Physics from IIT Bombay (1987).