Prof. (Dr.) Neelu Anand Jha

Neelu Anand Jha is an Assistant 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. The biological clock of organisms is, however, affected by environmental conditions. Changes in the environment can impact the timing of biological functions. Light pollution is an emerging threat in highly urbanized spaces and her research has demonstrated how light pollution can adversely affect the behaviour of organisms. Animals seem to adapt to long-term light pollution but this adaptation comes with a cost. The reproductive performance, cognitive and personality traits, and overall organism’s fitness is negatively affected. This can have implications for humans living under highly lit environmental conditions.