Purnanjali Chandra

Areas of expertise

• Environmental Policy

Background

An Inquisitive Researcher with demonstrated skills in the domain of sustainable water management and climate resilient practices. I am currently pursuing my doctoral studies at the Cranfield University, United Kingdom. My work focuses on studying the underlying interactions amongst power, stakeholders, institutions, socio-cultural practices and environmental factors shaping the health and quality of rivers.

With a Master's degree in Water Policy and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, my thesis focused on ways of sustainable river managment through studing altered environmental flows and its impacts on socio-economic factors of the fishing community in the Lower Damodar River Basin. This exposure along with my experience of working as a Research Fellow on different international projects at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Roorkee), helped me strengthen my skills in research methods and writing . Furthemore, my stint of 3 years at World Resources Institute opened great avenues for me to work on the urban water resilience domain focusing on alternate practices to ensure water security, working with communities and governance institutions as well as with government and policy-makers.

Additionally, with soft skills in effective communication and project management, I have the experience of liaising among multi-stakeholders on different projects. Moreover, having extensively worked closely with communities and across diverse places in India, I understand the potential of studying people perceptions and facilitating community engagement in action-based research. In the long run, I aspire for my work and research to be impactful at the grassroot scale and also inform the policy.

I strongly believe that opportunities to transpire from every professional and personal experiences along the way and hence stride to work towards it, everyday!

Research opportunities

Sustainable water management

Nature-based solutions

Community driven alternate approaches

Political Ecology

Climate change impacts on water sector