River Morphology and Ecology
Conducted laboratory lectures and practical sessions for the course across two offerings, introducing students to river analysis, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, and spatial environmental-data workflows.
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
Jan 2025–present
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.
Aug–Dec 2023
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.
2017
Summer Intern · Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun
Worked on structural geology, neotectonic mapping and image-based interpretation of Himalayan tectonic features.
Education
Jan 2020–May 2025
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.
2016–2018
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.
2013–2016
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
01/2026–12/2026
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.
2026–2027
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.
2026–2028
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.
- Meherban shah — PHD Researcher, In4Nile,2026-2028.
- 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
Teaching & Academic Instruction
Teaching experience in Earth-system science, hydrological modelling, river processes, water quality and scientific programming, with a strong emphasis on hands-on computational and geospatial laboratory instruction.
Modeling Earth System and Sustainability
Conducted computational laboratory lectures covering introductory Python programming, numerical approaches for solving partial differential equations, and implementation of Earth-system modelling concepts using Python.
Water Quality Engineering
Supported teaching and practical instruction related to water-quality assessment, environmental processes and quantitative analysis of aquatic systems.
Earth Surface Processes in the Anthropocene
Supported course instruction on interactions between Earth-surface processes and human activities, including environmental change, landscape processes and sustainability challenges.
field visit and experience
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.