An ecologist with a binocular and a computer.

Hi! I am an ecologist with about 15 years of experience spanning ecology, biodiversity assessments, and applied conservation. My research combines field ecology, quantitative analyses, and emerging technologies, such as AI, to address pressing conservation challenges.

I completed my PhD on the ecology of Himalayan wolf at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), where I studied the food preferences, dietary competition, human conflict and distribution drivers of one of the least-studied large carnivores in Asia. Earlier, I earned a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science, where I explored the relationship between the morphology and biodiversity of caves in central India.

Professionally, I began with the Wildlife Trust of India in 2009, contributing to assessments of potential habitats for cheetah reintroduction in India. At WII, I have since worked on long-term carnivore research, biodiversity surveys, and large-scale conservation application projects. These include biodiversity assessments in Himachal Pradesh and road ecology projects in Maharashtra, where my role involved identifying wildlife crossing hotspots and designing mitigation measures for high-speed infrastructure corridors.

Alongside field-based conservation, I formed a collaboration between WII and Microsoft’s AI for Earth program, for development and evaluation of MegaDetector ver. 4, which automatically segregates animal images in camera trap datasets. Building on this, I led the development of SpSeg (Species Segregator), a machine learning tool for species-level classification of Central Indian wildlife, achieving 89% accuracy.

Currently, I serve as Assistant Managing Editor of the Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS), where I overlook the peer-review process, ensuring the publication and dissemination of rigourough science with maintaining high ethical and scientific standards. Alongside editorial responsibilities, I continue collaborating on ecology and conservation research and application. My core expertise lies in ecological modelling, data analyses, and AI-assisted workflows for big data. Broadly, I am motivated by strengthening science-backed, technology-enabled conservation practices, and furthering ecological knowledge with scientific temper.

My skills

skills

Professional Experience

  1. Assistant Managing Editor- Journal of Wildlife Science. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, December 2023 - present.
  2. Project Scientist (Ecology)- Project: ‘Mitigation measures for Transportation network and mining activities for Dinesh open cast project, Umred, Maharashtra’. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, September 2022 - December 2023.
  3. Project Scientist (Ecology)- Project: ‘Assessment of impacts of the proposed Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, Maharashtra, Samriddhi Corridor on wildlife values and measures recommended to mitigate negative impacts’. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, July 2018 - July 2022
  4. Senior Project Biologist- Project: ‘Assessment of biodiversity for effective management and evaluation of eco-tourism potential of four protected areas in Himachal Pradesh, India’. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, May 2018 - July 2018
  5. Senior Research Fellow- Project: ‘Ecology and Conservation of Himalayan Wolf’. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India, August 2010 - March 2018
  6. Field researcher- Project: ‘Assessing the potential for reintroducing the Cheetah in India’. Wildlife Trust of India, Noida, India, December 2009 - August 2010

Education

  1. PhD in Wildlife Science, Thesis: ‘Status, distribution and foraging ecology of wolf in the north-western Himalayan landscape, India’, Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujrat, India. (2022)
  2. Master in Science (Wildlife Science), Dissertation: ‘Cave ecosystem as function of cave morphology with special reference to Kotumsar and Dandak caves in Kanger Valley National Park, Bastar, Chhatisgarh, India’, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. (2009)
  3. Bachelor in Science, Subjects: Zoology, Botany and Chemistry, Kumaon University, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. (2007)

CV

For more details download the recent version of CV in PDF here