Research profile
I am a Research Scientist at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig, Germany. My research combines nutrient-budget modelling, trade-network analysis, ecohydrology, water-quality modelling, geospatial methods and remote sensing to understand coupled agricultural and environmental systems.
My work spans agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, food-system sustainability, environmental footprints, planetary-boundary-relevant assessment, blue-water stress, stream-temperature dynamics, and AI-ready environmental sustainability benchmarks.
Appointments
Research Scientist · Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig
Develop spatial environmental-modelling workflows for stream-temperature dynamics, hydrologic forecasting, nutrient management and water-quality sustainability. Contribute to climate-adaptation and sustainability-benchmarking research linking hydrological processes, agricultural pressures and environmental risk indicators.
Visiting Researcher · Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig
Developed district-scale nitrogen-surplus datasets for Indian agriculture and contributed to agricultural sustainability and environmental-assessment research.
Summer Intern · Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun
Worked on structural geology, neotectonic mapping and image-based interpretation of Himalayan tectonic features.
Education
Ph.D. in Earth Sciences · Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
Advisor: Prof. Udit Bhatia. Dissertation: Quantifying Nutrient Pollution in Agricultural Systems, Restructuring Strategies for Management, and Assessing Implications on Trade Networks.
M.Sc. in Geology (Hons.) · Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Advisor: Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee. Thesis: Groundwater Evolution of the Central Gangetic Aquifer System in the Vicinity of Varanasi.
B.Sc. in Geology (Hons.) · Banaras Hindu University
Core research areas
- Agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus pollution; nutrient budgets; nitrogen-use efficiency and surplus indicators.
- Food-system sustainability, crop-trade networks, environmental footprints and planetary-boundary-relevant assessment.
- Ecohydrology, water-quality modelling, blue-water stress, stream-temperature dynamics and climate adaptation.
- Geospatial modelling, remote-sensing-informed environmental datasets and AI-ready sustainability benchmarks.
Acquired third-party funding & project leadership
UNLOCK · AI Sustainability Benchmarking Project
Principal Investigator · €108,508 acquired funding. Leading a one-year Helmholtz Benchmark Project to develop AI-ready environmental sustainability benchmarking datasets from Helmholtz data assets.
OCPC · Bilateral Collaboration Project
Co-Principal Investigator. Co-supervising a PhD project on multi-pollutant, spatially explicit water-quality modelling from historical evolution to future scenario assessment.
In4Nile · Advancing Water Quality Information in the Nile River Basin
Co-Principal Investigator. Co-supervising a PhD project on multi-pollutant, spatially explicit water-quality modelling across the Nile basin.
Research scientist project contributions
- FluSeeQ (2025–2028): Stream-temperature dynamics and hydrologic forecasting across Germany for climate-adaptation assessment.
- AquaSub (2025–2027): Satellite-informed river-temperature modelling and aquatic ecosystem applications in Germany.
- C-Narmada (2023–2024): Agricultural practices and nutrient fluxes in the Narmada Basin for sustainable farming and water-quality management.
Mentoring & supervision
- Masooma Batool — Postdoctoral Researcher, UNLOCK project, Jan–Dec 2026.
- Adrija Datta — Visiting PhD Scholar, IIT Gandhinagar, 2026; host mentor and research advisor under the IITGN overseas visiting scheme.
- Nihal Jalal — Research Assistant / Graduate Researcher, University of Leipzig; research supervision within UNLOCK.
- Perinban Parameshwaran — Research Assistant / Graduate Researcher; research supervision within UNLOCK.
- Shaonli Mishra — Master’s / graduate thesis co-supervision and research mentoring, IIT Gandhinagar.
Awards & fellowships
- EGU Outstanding Student and PhD Candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award, 2025 ↗
- Overseas Research Fellowship, IIT Gandhinagar, 2023.
- CSIR-NET Lectureship, All India Rank 15 in Geology, 2019.
- GATE, 98.7 percentile in Earth Sciences, 2019.
- JAM, 98.5 percentile in Geology, 2016.
Professional service & leadership
Peer review: Nature Sustainability, Scientific Reports, Earth’s Future, and Communications Earth & Environment.
EGU 2026 Convener: Advances in Extreme Weather Impacts on Networked Systems (NH1.2).
EGU 2025 Convener: From Hazards to Resilience: Preparing Infrastructure for Evolving and Interdependent Risks.
Workshops: Organizer, Resilience of Power and Allied Lifeline Infrastructure Systems (IIT Gandhinagar, 2022) and From Lab to Land: Technology Transfer for Farmers (IIT Gandhinagar, 2024).
Teaching & field experience
Lab Teaching Assistant at IIT Gandhinagar (2020–2024) for Earth Surface Processes in the Anthropocene, River Morphology and Ecology, Modeling Earth System and Sustainability, and Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development.
Selected field experience includes the Surat region field course (2022), Varanasi-area fieldwork (2017), electrical resistivity surveys near Kharagpur, and geological field training in Angul and Maihar.
Technical skills
- Programming & reproducibility: Python, R, MATLAB, LaTeX, large environmental-data processing and reproducible analysis workflows.
- Geospatial & environmental modelling: QGIS, ArcGIS, raster/vector analysis, sustainability modelling, hydrological modelling, SWAT and HEC-RAS.
- Research methods: Nutrient-budget modelling, trade-network analysis, water-quality indicators and remote-sensing-informed environmental datasets.
- Languages: English and Hindi.