Maharaj K. Pandit, the Dean of the Jindal School of Environment and Sustainability was till recently the founding CEO, Institution of Eminence, Dean & Chair (Research) & Director, CISMHE, University of Delhi. He is Radcliffe Fellow, Harvard University, Ngee Ann Kongsi Distinguished Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore and Adjunct Professor University of Rhode Island, USA and was formerly Dean, Faculty of Science, Head, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi.

Professor Pandit was elected this year to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2022). He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (2016), National Academy of Sciences of India (2015) and Fellow of Linnaean Society of London (2001).

Professor Pandit is a renowned scholar of Himalayan ecology, the environmental conservation and sustainability. The primary quest of his research is to understand the genetic and genomic causes of plant rarity and invasion, impact of land use and climate change on human livelihoods, ecology, biodiversity, rivers and water resource sustainability. His work on impact of dams on Himalayan biodiversity and human communities is considered a pioneering work in conservation and policy. Prof. Pandit’s works have appeared in top-ranking international journals such as Nature, Science, Journal of Ecology, New Phytologist, BioScience, Conservation Biology, Ambio, and Biodiversity & Conservation to name a few. His book, Life in the Himalaya: An Ecosystem at Risk, reflects on the conflicts between natural and the anthropogenic, brings out the inter-component complexity between geological, climatic and biological elements and engages with various stakeholders in order to narrow the gap between the possibilities of economic development and carrying capacity of the Himalaya.

• Pandit, M.K. 2020. The Himalaya should be a nature reserve. Nature 583: 9.
• Bawa et al. 2020. China and India: Toward a sustainable world. Science 369: 515.
• Grumbine, RE and Pandit, M.K. 2013. Threats from India’s Himalaya dams. Science 339:36-37.
• Pandit, M.K. 2013. The Himalayas must be protected. Nature 501:283.
• Pandit, M.K., White, S. & Pocock, M.J.  2014. The contrasting effects of genome size, chromosome number and ploidy level on plant invasiveness: a global analysis. New Phytologist 203: 697–703.
• Pandit, M.K., Pocock, MJ. & Kunin, W.E. 2011. Ploidy influences rarity and invasiveness in plants. Journal of Ecology 99: 11088-1115 [http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110406/full/news.2011.213.html].
• Pandit, M.K. and Grumbine, R.E. 2012. Potential effects of ongoing and proposed hydropower development on terrestrial biological diversity in the Indian Himalaya. Conservation Biology 26:1061-1071. [http://www.nature.com/news/flood-of-protest-hits-indian-dams-1.11932].
• Kumar Manish & Pandit, M.K. 2019. Identifying conservation priorities for plant species in the Himalaya in current and future climates: A case study from Sikkim Himalaya, India. Biological Conservation 233, 176-184.
• Pandit, M.K., et al. 2007. Unreported yet massive deforestation driving loss of endemic biodiversity in Indian Himalaya. Biodiversity & Conservation 16:153-163.
• Goodale, E. et al. 2022. Increasing collaboration between China and India in the environmental sciences to foster global sustainability, Ambio 51: 1474-1484.