My research brings together transdisciplinary systems thinking approaches and methods to understand complex social-ecological systems.
Food Systems & Foodways
How food practices, crop production, innovations, technology, and natural resources change and evolve over time.
Climate Adaptation
How communities respond to drought, water scarcity, climate variability, and environmental change.
This project brings together an interdisciplinary team across systems science, anthropology, nutrition, and agroecology in partnership with indigenous communities in Eastern India to i) trace the co-evolution of Adivasi food systems with political, economic, and ecological changes over time, ii) develop an integrated framework for understanding foodways bridging of indigenous research, systems science and anthropological perspectives; and iii) foreground indigenous perspectives into food systems discourse and pathways towards sustainable food futures
Jharkhand, India →
Knowledge & Tranformation
How knowledge moves across generations, and how decisions, behavior, and practices change and transform in relation to ecologies and landscapes.
This project examines the interconnected climate–food–nutrition–health nexus, exploring how climatic and environmental change shapes food systems, dietary choices, nutrition, and health. It integrates community knowledge and food practices, GIS-based climate analysis, and systems modeling to identify locally grounded pathways for climate resilience, food and nutrition security, and human and planetary health.
Karnataka & Jharkhand, India →
Agricultural Innovation & Poverty traps
How agricultural innovation can interact with environmental and socioeconomic dynamics to either reinforce or disrupt poverty traps.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Modelling Climate-Food-Nutrition-Health Nexus for Human and Planetary Health
SELECTED PAST RESEARCH
2020–2023 ●────────────
Agricultural Innovation, Food Security & Poverty Traps in West Africa
Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden
Agent-Based Modeling · Innovation Systems · Food Security
Exploring how agricultural innovations emerge and spread through farmer networks, and how interactions among innovation pathways, climate risk, soil fertility, and farmer resources shape food security, inequality, and the emergence or persistence of poverty traps in West Africa.
2016–2018 ●────────────
Climate Adaptation & Farmer Decision-Making in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India
National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), USA
Climate Adaptation · Agent-Based Modeling · Structural Equation Modeling
Investigating how smallholder farmers make adaptation decisions under climate risk by integrating household survey and remote-sensing data with structural equation and agent-based models to understand vulnerability and adaptation from the ground up.
2011–2012 ●────────────
Climate Resilience & Microinsurance
Micro Insurance Academy, New Delhi
Bihar & Maharashtra, India · Climate Resilience · Microinsurance · Risk Management
Exploring community-based pro-poor microinsurance solutions to strengthen the resilience of communities vulnerable to climate risks, with a focus on managing interconnected risks to human health, crops, and livestock exacerbated by climate change.
2013–2014 ●────────────
Agricultural Innovation & Climate-Resilient Maize
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), New Delhi
India & Bangladesh · Technology Adoption · Climate Resilience · Food Security
Examining the factors shaping smallholder adoption of improved maize varieties and the opportunities and constraints associated with stress-tolerant technologies to strengthen farm incomes and food security under challenging environmental conditions.
Indigenous (Adivasi) Foodways for sustainable food futures
