The CBC Team
An interdisciplinary team of researchers, educators and student fellows working across ecology, evolutionary biology, environmental science and policy.
Dr. Kumar Manish
Associate Professor & Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Admissions — Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University
Dr. Kumar Manish is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Admissions at the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University. Dr. Manish specializes in Ecological Modelling, Biostatistics, Biodiversity, Biogeography, Landscape Ecology, Plant Ecology, and Environmental Management. He was awarded the Rai Kedar Nath Gold Medal for securing overall 2nd Rank in the University of Delhi in B.Sc. (H) Botany and University Gold Medal for securing the 1st Rank in the University of Delhi in M.Sc. Environmental Studies. He has been a DST INSPIRE Research Fellow (JRF and SRF) during 2012-2017.
His Ph.D. work attempted to investigate the factors influencing the origin and evolution of endemic Himalayan flora and study the differential impacts of climate change on biodiversity, human livelihoods, agriculture, and sustainability in the Himalayan ecosystems. His investigations showed that the origin and diversification of endemic flora in the Himalayas have been driven by changes in geological, geomorphological, and climatic factors over the past millions of years.
Dr. Manish’s ecological models showed that about 16-18% of endemic plant species would go extinct in the Himalayas by 2050-2070 as a result of climate change. In addition, his research also suggested that the current protected area network would be inefficient in conserving the Himalayan biodiversity in future climate change scenarios and hence would need redefining and fresh planning.
The findings of Dr. Manish’s research have been published in prestigious high-impact international journals such as Biological Conservation, Ecological Informatics, Ecological Processes, Plant Ecology & Diversity, Frontiers of Biogeography, Frontiers of Ecology & Evolution, Peer J, Journal of Plant Research, PloS ONE, BioScience, Environmental Management, etc. Dr. Manish has also presented this research works at many international conferences and seminars including at Harvard University (USA), University of Wisconsin (USA), Royal Botanical Gardens (Kew, London), Taipei University (Taiwan), etc.
Prof. (Dr.) Abhiroop Chowdhury
Professor & Dean, Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability (JSES)
Abhiroop Chowdhury is Professor and Dean at Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability (JSES). He is one of the founding faculty members of JSES.
He graduated in Botany (Hons.) and completed his M.Sc. in Environmental System Management from the University of Calcutta. He had qualified for the national level GATE exam in two subject tracks- Life Sciences (LS), Ecology and Evolution (EY). Abhiroop earned his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) with a MHRD fellowship. His doctoral research question was ‘How do transition and post-transition metal pollution and its geochemistry impact mangrove ecological function at Indian Sundarbans (near India- Bangladesh border)?’. His post-doctoral research was in Kachchh, Gujarat, where he tried to understand the impact of environmental stressors on semi-arid mangrove ecology along the entire coastline, bordered by Kandla port in the east and Jakhau- Narayan Sarovar (near India-Pakistan border) in the west.
During his doctoral study, he was awarded the Inder Mohan Thapar Best Researcher Award- 2016 by IIT, Dhanbad, for his novel contributions, published in premier Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI) journals. He advocates an ‘open science’ publication model and is currently on the editorial boards of reputed SCOPUS and Web of Science (WOS)-indexed journals such as Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), Toxin Reviews (Taylor & Francis) and Discover Applied Sciences (Springer- Nature). He is a full member of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) and a member of the European Association of Geochemistry (EAG).
He was involved in a mangrove biodiversity assessment project with IISc, Bangalore along India’s eastern coastline, and was associated with the Department of Chemistry, Manipal University Jaipur, before joining JGU. As an environmental scientist, Abhiroop has explored various biodiversity conservation sites (Kutch Biosphere Reserve in Gujarat, Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal), river systems (Subarnarekha and Damodar) and mining regions (Sukinda Chromite mine and Jharia coal fields). He is actively involved in mangrove restoration and alternative livelihood initiatives in Indian Sundarbans. He writes regularly for Indian news dailies and international blogs on environmental issues.
Dr. Neelu Anand Jha
Associate Professor — Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University
Neelu Anand Jha is an Associate Professor at the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Zoology from Miranda House, University of Delhi, and her Ph.D. from the Department of Zoology, University of Delhi. She qualified for JRF (NET) CSIR in Life Sciences with an all-India rank of 39. She has been a recipient of several fellowships including the Agnes Scott Award and the CSIR Junior and Senior Research Fellowship.
After completing her Ph.D., Dr. Jha joined Ramjas College, University of Delhi as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology and taught there for 6 years (2016-2022). She has guided and mentored several undergraduate student projects wherein the students have presented their work on several platforms and published them. During her doctoral studies as well as when teaching, she has undertaken several pieces of training to hone her skills and to improve her teaching pedagogy like SERC Schools in Chronobiology and Neuroscience and SERB School in Avian Biology and Faculty Development Programs from time to time.
Her broad area of research is animal behaviour, avian acoustics, and biological rhythms. She has worked on the singing behaviour of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), a passerine bird, and tried to understand how the change in spatial night environment impacts general behaviour patterns, reproduction, cognitive abilities, and personality traits. Her research has contributed to the understanding that singing behaviour in birds is under the control of the biological clock. Also, her research contributes to the finding that changes in the light environment impact the timing of biological functions of zebra finches, particularly activity, singing reproductive performance, cognitive and personality traits, and overall organism’s fitness. This shows implications for humans living under highly lit environmental conditions.
Bhoomika Thekkatte
B.Sc. (Hons.) Environment and Sustainable Development