Media Fellowship on Climate Change Reporting in the Himalayan Region

Rayies Altaf

Rayies Altaf is a researcher and freelance science writer. He holds a Master's in Science Communication and M.Phil in Science Policy from Jawaharlal Nehru University. His areas of interest include science-society interaction, scientific research, ecology & environment and ethics of technology. He has also covered Indian scientific research for Indian Science Wire in the past.

His writings and columns on science, technology and environment have featured in both regional and national print media. He has also worked with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, and Ambedkar University, New Delhi. Rayies is the recipient of two foreign fellowships. Recently, he was one among the five non-European candidates selected for another prestigious fellowship, Erice School of Science Journalism & Communication 2020. He spends his leisure time reading philosophy, fiction and newspaper columns in international dailies.

He is based in Anantnag in South Kashmir. He tweets about science and technology at @rayies_sts and is available at raiesaltaf@gmail.com.

Rinchen Angmo

Rinchen Angmo is the Founding Editor of Reach Ladakh Bulletin, a fortnightly local paper published from Ladakh. She has played a key leadership role in expanding space for media in Ladakh and facilitating public discourse on various issues.

She was awarded the Times Women Achievers of J&K-2018 under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative. In January this year, she was honoured for outstanding work in the field of Journalism by Tribal Today Group in 2020.

Besides writing for various newspapers and magazines like Firstpost, Epilogue and Rising Kashmir, she is pursuing her interest in broadcast journalism by regularly contributing to television and radio for the last 10 years. She had attended IHCAP-CMS Media Workshop on Climate Change Reporting in the Himalayas in Srinagar in 2019, Himalayan summit on Climate Change held in Delhi.

Her Twitter handle is @rinchenangmocc and can be reached at amyrinchen12@gmail.com.

Kunja Shrestha

Kunja Shrestha is originally from Kathmandu in Nepal but has spent a major part of his life in India. An alumnus of Welham Boys School, Dehradun, he completed his university education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences where he obtained a Master's degree in Natural Resources and Governance.

He has worked as a Project Manager at the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Gujarat, where he worked closely on implementation of livelihood programmes supported by the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, HCL Foundation, and the Bharat Rural Livelihood Mission.

In the Fellowship programme, Kunja will be working towards developing a deeper understanding of how climate change affects mountain communities in Nepal, especially women and other vulnerable groups. His aim will be to study types of vulnerability, contributing factors, and ecosystem-based adaptation measures adopted by the community.

He can be reached at shrestha.kunja@gmail.com.

Abid Rashid

Based out of Baramulla in northern Kashmir, Abid Rashid Baba is Casual Compere at All India Radio (Srinagar Station) since 2012. Over the years, he has contributed for Srinagar based weekly magazine Kashmir Life, Counsellor Magazine, and Daily Rising Kashmir. His works have also been featured in News laundry and Kindle Magazine.

Abid has worked with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) to cover the Kashmir chapter of a writing project. He has participated in three international conferences in and outside the country. He has been detailing the stories of conflict, violence, inter-faith harmony, and social justice. In 2019, he travelled to Indonesia to study the living standards and lives of Indonesian Muslims.

He has a Masters from the Media School of the University of Kashmir and completed a personality development course from Sri Pratap College, Srinagar. He has qualified for Jammu and Kashmir State Eligibility Test (JKSET) and National Eligibility Test (NET). In 2017, Abid successfully completed his three-month internship with the research wing of Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell (JKGGC).

Zeba Zoariah Ahsan

Zeba Zoariah Ahsan's passion for the environment in general and climate change, in particular, led her to earn a Master's degree in Water Science and Governance from TERI-SAS, New Delhi.

She began writing for the Assam Tribune, North-East India's largest circulating English daily, and 2019 onwards, she started writing extensively on environment, water, gender rights, governance, and hydro diplomacy for one of India's largest digital media platforms, Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA). At YKA, she had successfully curated a series titled "Water Wars" which was YKA's first user-run series. She was awarded the Cause Champion for Environment at the YKA Summit in December 2019.

As a water sector analyst with a startup GCRS, she was responsible for data collection and analyses and writing reports. She has assisted the Meghalaya state government in preparation of the State-Specific Action Plan on the water sector.

Her focus area would preferably be in the North-East as it has been relatively untouched over the years, yet is at the receiving end of climate change. She is also keen to understand how communities become climate-resilient in the process.

She sends out tweets from @zebazoariahahsa and can be reached at ahsan.zeba@gmail.com.

Avichal Dubey

Based in the national capital, Avichal Dubey is a Senior Multimedia Producer at The Wire. With more than five years of experience in covering social issues, he has previously worked at All India Radio and ABP News. He has a PG Diploma in Hindi Journalism & Mass Communication from University of Delhi and Master's in Journalism & Mass Communication from GJUST.

During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, he produced 120 episodes of Sadak se Sansad series that highlighted sociopolitical problems including water access, climate change, etc. He covered the length and breadth of the country by reporting from 17 states in 100 days. His team won the South Asian Digital Award and described the show as the best series on the digital platform in 2019. More recently, he covered fees hike movement and CAA NRC protests from the ground.

Over the last 4 years, his diverse repertoire includes broadcast production for audiovisual platforms and writing skills. The digital world gives him more creative liberty and freedom to innovate in both Hindi and English. He occasionally tweets from his handle @avichaldubey and can be reached at avichaldubey03@gmail.com.

Tufan Neupane

Tufan Neupane has over 8 years of experience in journalism (radio, print, online), particularly in law, judiciary, transboundary water, and other environmental issues. He has contributed for different media platforms in Nepal. He has also worked as an analyst for the national survey conducted by Himal Media.

He carries a Master's Degree in law with specialisation in International Environmental Law from the University of International Business and Economics Beijing, China, and an LL.M in International Economic Law from East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai-China.

He has produced some groundbreaking stories, for instance, ‘About to be Chief Justice holds forged Citizenship Certificate', ‘Women trafficking: From a rural village to the Middle East', ‘Manipulation legal loopholes gives impunity to rapists'.

He won the ‘Competitive Investigative Journalism Campaign' awards and the ‘Sancharika Samanata Puraskar'in 2015. In 2019, he received the ‘Water Media Grant' by The Third Pole and theTransboundary Rivers of South Asia (TROSA) Project, by Oxfam. He has also reported a series of stories on the issue of livelihood and conflict along the Mahakali River.

His Twitter handle is @tufanjee and can be reached at abouttufan@gmail.com.

Varsha Singh

Varsha Singh is a Casual Anchor and Assistant News Editor at Doordarshan Dehradun. She anchors programmes on women based issues and social issues. She has also represented a programme on AIR Dehradun's show Mahila Jagat.

In her career spanning over two decades, she has previously worked with IMS-UC Ghaziabad (affiliated with CCS University) as Assistant Professor of Mass Communication department from September 2015 to June 2016. Prior to that, she worked as an Associate Producer at Sahara Samay news channel from November 2002 to Oct 2015. Varsha has also presented two research papers on social media and women empowerment.

As an Independent Journalist, her stories have been published in BBC Hindi, Outlook Hindi, and Navjivanindia.com, Firstpost Hindi, Mongabay India, etc. She also writes for Navbharat Times and Jansatta. Her travelogues and "Classic Kirdaar" column can be read in National hindi newspaper Dainik Tribune.

Her areas of interest include education, society, environment, and human rights issues. She can be reached in all seasons at bareesh@gmail.com.

Rohit Parashar

Rohit Prashar is a Journalist, Columnist, Social Activist and a Writer. He holds Master's in Journalism from Himachal Pradesh University, Master's in Sociology and currently pursuing Post graduate diploma in Environment and Sustainable Development from IGNOU.

For more than a decade, he has worked with various organizations including Sahara Samay, National news channel, MH One News and Dainik Bhaskar. He has reported widely on environment issues, adventure sports like MTB Himalaya, Raid De Himalaya, Run to breath-World Highest marathon and world highest motorable and treacherous roads of India. He also has reported from Indo-Pak and Indo-China border.

Rohit has travelled across northern states of India in search of various stories. His area of interest includes environment, tourism, development, wildlife, and biodiversity. For his environment reporting, he has been facilitated by various NGOs. He regularly writes for Divya Himachal, The Better India, Down to Earth, Yourstory, Yugvarta, PatanSamachar, Himachal Scape and Giriraj-HP Govt. weeklies.

During the TERI-EJN Fellowship, he wants to raise public awareness with his reports to not only sensitize them but also motivate local communities towards conservation of natural resources in Himalayan region. He can be reached at rohitsinghprashar@gmail.com or his Twitter handle at @rohitprashar007.

Shivam Sharma

A native of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Shivam Sharma is a journalist by profession and a storyteller by heart. As a reporter with Punjab Kesari for past two years, he has worked on various beats and written many stories. He is a post graduate in New Media Communication from Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP).

An expert in field-based reporting, he has also contributed for All India Radio, Gunjan Radio, and H-Today. He also served as an intern at the prestigious Dharamshala International Film Festival. He has also anchored a show "Mulyaankan" for H-Today in 2019.

As an EJN Fellow, he aims to connect with the local people of his state. With experience and guidance of his mentors, he would like to report on new ideas and various solutions for raising environmental awareness.

He can be reached at shivam995sharma@gmail.com.

Sonam Lama

Sonam Lama is a freelance journalist from Kathmandu. She has been reporting on social and environmental justice issues for different media platforms in Nepal. Her journey in media initiated in 2017 with Republica Daily before she started freelancing in 2019. Over three years of working in the Daily, she has interviewed over 80 career professionals, along with field-based stories.

As a freelancer, she further engaged with Media Foundation as a SCNJIR (Strengthening the Capacity of Nepali Journalists in Investigative Reporting) fellow and worked in an investigative multimedia story on one of the environmental issues in Kailali district of Sudurpaschim Province. Some of her latest works are published in The Nepali Times and The Record Nepal.

She represents an ethnic Hyolmo community from the Sindhupalchok district and seeks to cover underreported stories from her community. Apart from reporting, I work as interpreter and translator with several INGOs in Nepal. When not pursuing a new story, she can be found reading and meditating.

She aims to highlight agricultural and livelihood issues in Bhaktapur district or the hills of Kirtipur, where impacts of climate change could be highly visible. Her Twitter handle is @sonamlamahy0lm0 and can be reached at sonamlama1224@gmail.com.

Aadesh Subedi, Freelance Journalist

Aadesh Subedi is a freelance journalist working for Thomas Reuters Foundation and has been covering a variety of issues related to climate change, agriculture, and environment from Nepal. His works have also been featured in national newspapers such as The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times. In 2018, he also participated in a climate change storytelling workshop organised by Mercy Corps and ACCCRN in Jakarta, Indonesia. He got the runner up position for his story amongst the 10 finalists chosen from the island nation. Subedi is a recent graduate from the Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. He has also completed a six-month internship with the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project where he carried out research on climate adaptive techniques such as rainwater harvesting. He aims to work on the effects of climate change on gender and migration in the future.

Adeela Hamid, Journalist & Social Activist

Based in Srinagar, Kashmir, Adeela Hameed is a writer currently associated with Kashmir Images, an English daily. She holds a Master's degree in Environmental Science from Amity University, Noida and a Bachelor's degree in Physics (Honours) from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi. Hameed has worked with organisations such as The Global Times, Scribblers, Travelista Club Australia, and Kashmir Leader. She is also a guest contributor to the wildlife magazine Saevus, and the ecotech website Green Clean Guide. She is also a member of the writers' community WissenMonk and the editor of its monthly magazine Wisdom Quest. Her work is a reflection of her passion towards environmental conservation and her belief that true awareness is critical to sustainability.

Ashok Pandey, Public Health Professional

Ashok Pandey is a registered public health professional from Nepal and has conducted substantial research related to traditional medicine, foreign medical teams' response to the Nepal earthquake, outbreak investigation, Nepal clinical trial registry, surveillance, and more. He was also an FK Norway (NOREC) exchange fellow to CSF Global Dhaka, Bangladesh for a year and has been honoured with the Research Fellowship of KAC, Poland in 2019. Pandey has published over three dozen research articles in peer-reviewed journals and was recently awarded the "Mrigendra Samjhana Medical Trust Young Researcher Award" on 6th National Summit of NHRC, Nepal. He is presently serving as the chairperson of the Public Health Research Society Nepal. 

Asmita Khadka, Journalist & Tanslator

A journalist, translator and stringer from Kathmandu, Nepal, Asmita Khadka has over three years of experience working with various media platforms on a diverse range of topics. Her stories have led her to the far reaches of Kathmandu valley and other interesting parts of Nepal. Her journey started in 2018 as a reporter with Sourya Dainik newspaper and then as a stringer for the national daily Annapurna Post, in 2019. At present, she is working for Engineers Post. She is interested in areas such as eco-tourism, environment, development, and biodiversity. With a Masters' in Liberal Arts from IACER, Pokhara University and a Bachelors' in Nepali Journalism and Mass Communication from Tribhuwan University, Nepal, she aims to develop a deeper understanding of how climate change and pollution affects the mountains and urban communities in Nepal, specifically children, and the elderly and vulnerable sections of the society.

Chandrani Sinha, Multimedia Journalist

Based in Guwahati, Assam, Chandrani Sinha is a seasoned independent multimedia journalist who has been reporting stories from Northeast India and the country's eastern corridor for the past nine years. She has been contributing to national and international media organizations such as the Washington Post, Vice US, and Times UK, with most of her work being showcased on various digital platforms. Her work involves reporting on climate change effects in conflict areas, environment, and sustainable development, and human interest stories. Sinha is also the editor and founder of Badalta Northeast, a website dedicated to climate change, sustainable development and solution journalism in Northeast India.Pandey has published over three dozen research articles in peer-reviewed journals and was recently awarded the "Mrigendra Samjhana Medical Trust Young Researcher Award" on 6th National Summit of NHRC, Nepal. He is presently serving as the chairperson of the Public Health Research Society Nepal. 

Dawa Dolma, Freelance Journalist

Dawa Dolma is a freelance journalist and independent researcher based in Leh, Ladakh. A Post Graduate in Political Science from Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, Dolma is passionate about identity politics, climate change, and social and developmental issues, particularly in the Himalayan context. In addition to visual stories for independent media houses like the Federal and the Quint, she has also written multiple stories on the impact of climate change for the local newspaper ‘Reach Ladakh' and a journal called ‘Stawa'. It was only after she returned to India from Hungary that she extensively travelled in Ladakh and learnt how climate change driven by capitalistic endeavours had drastically changed the Ladakh's aura. She strongly believes that stories on climate change's effects remain untold in mainstream media and as a journalist, it is her the responsibility to make these stories heard.

Debarun Dutta, Documentary Filmmaker

Debarun Dutta is a documentary filmmaker, grassroot media trainer, and a development communicator. He has not only successfully directed more than 50 short and medium length documentaries but it was under his mentorship that Drishti – a media, arts and human rights non-profit that he currently leads – produced the national award-winning film Goonga Pehelwan. He has also directed the award-winning film Smart City Blues. In his 15 years of working as a grassroot media trainer, Dutta has trained over 50 community media initiatives.

Deepika Sharma, Journalist & Social Activist

Based in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Deepika Sharma has written for various newspapers on a range of topics in the past 15 years. Her work has dealt with raising awareness on numerous social issues in Himachal Pradesh - the highlight of which has been the scam associated with scholarships which is now being handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Ishan Pareek, Filmmaker

Ishan Pareek is a budding filmmaker and entrepreneur and the director of Production and Design at REMARK Advertisements Pvt. Ltd. Although trained as a civil engineer, he has been working in advertising since his days at college. Pareek also works as a podcaster for 'On Point' at Tenthfloor Mediaworks. He aims to produce and direct movies of significant social impact for a better tomorrow.

Muskaan Kapoor, Journalist

Muskaan Kapoor is a postgraduate in English Literature from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and an alumnus of Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, where she studied Print Journalism. She worked on the news desk of ‘The Hindu' in Delhi from 2007-2015, and was closely involved in the release of its Delhi City and North India editions. In addition to her editorial duties, Kapoor also wrote features on environment, health, and education for the newspaper. Apart from this, she has authored scripts for television and radio shows, and her work is spread across several value-based, not-for-profit initiatives in the form of writing, editing, translation and anchoring.

Neha Bisht, Media Professional

Neha Bisht has been part of the news and media sphere for quite some time. She has been involved in print media, hosted several programmes for the farming community in Akashvani, and has also been associated with numerous TV channels including Rashtriya Sahara where she served as an Assistant Producer. She has also lent her voice to narrate an audio book at the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities (NIEPVD), Dehradun, apart from doing several voice overs for Doordarshan and other media houses.

Nupur Kulshrestha, Radio Broadcaster

Nupur Kulshrestha has over 10 years of experience as a professional radio broadcaster, anchor, voiceover and dubbing artist, and a drama artist for All India Radio. She has been a news anchor at Punjab Today and Himachal News. In her 10-year career, she has scripted and presented youth-focussed live shows on subjects such as health, environment, social issues, career, etc. She has also been associated with Aajtak Radio, Doordarshan, DU Community Radio, Gyan Vani Radio IGNOU, and Commonwealth Games 2010 while also performing as a voice over artist for the projects of BBC Media Action, and UNICEF. Kulshrestha holds a masters' in mass communication from Kurukshetra University. Her strong inclination to work on social issues led her to pursue another masters' degree in social work. Her article on Child Labour won the National Journalism Student Award of Excellence by UNICEF India and Press Institute of India.

Pratik Kumar, Water Resources Management Expert

Partik Kumar is a water resources enthusiast who has done his post-graduation in Water Policy and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Mumbai. Currently associated with Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN) and coordinating the HimRRA (RRA Network's working group for the Himalayan Regions) Kumar's interests lie in water governance, hydro-politics, rainfed agriculture, and participatory management of natural resources. Kumar is also the Convenor of the National Water Working group of RRA Network and is currently engaged in policy deliberation for decentralised and participatory natural resources management within the horizontals of climate change mitigation and livelihood enhancement in the Himalayan regions. He frequently writes on matters concerning contemporary water policy around agrarian livelihood and ecology.

Rupa Gahatraj, Journalist

A resident of Lumbini, Nepal, Rupa Gahatraj has been working as a journalist for 12 years. Presently, she works with the national magazine Kantipur Daily. Her work has involved writing on climate change for the magazine, but she also wants to explore this subject through the medium of videography. Gahatraj hopes to grow organically with the experience that she has in videography in order to engage better with the subject of climate change and create awareness about the same.

Sherub Dorji, TV Anchor

Sherub Dorji is a reporter and TV anchor with Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS). He received his Bachelors' in English and Environmental Studies from Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan. In 2014, he worked as a programme assistant with the Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy, a civil society organisation. In 2017, he joined BBS in Samtse where he is presently stationed as a bureau correspondent. He has covered a range of climate change-related stories ranging from glaciers of the high Himalayas to floods and windstorms in the southern foothills of Bhutan. Exemplifying his passion for environmental journalism, in 2018 he won the award for the Best TV News Story of the Year in the Dzongkha category during the Journalists' Association of Bhutan's Annual Media Awards.

Shruthi Mohan, Journalist

Shruthi Mohan is an award-winning Indian Journalist who writes on education, health, environment, technology, start-ups, policy, social entrepreneurship, socio-political issues, and gender in South Asia. Her stories have been published on various journalistic platforms including print and digital. Currently working as an independent journalist based in Bangalore, India, she has written for several Indian publications such as Yourstory, The Pickle Jar Media and contributed to The News Minute and Scroll for four years. She has not only also reported internationally from two countries. A graduate in public policy from The Takshashila Institution and on Sustainability Studies from Azim Premji University, she also has a degree in Telecommunication Engineering from BMS Institute of Technology. Fluent in English in addition to Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Tamil, Mohan is also learning to communicate in sign language and often uses her free time to record audio books for the visually impaired. She was also one of the finalists from India participating in Tech and Governance 2020 organised by the US Embassy Nepal and Kathmandu Living Labs.

Trisanki Saikia, Science Communicator

Trisanki Saika is a young professional interested in climate change, sustainability and resource management. An alumni of TERI School of Advanced Studies, Saikia is a proponent of open science communication. She has been engaged in research and documentation of climate change and landscape projects from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, in addition to researching and documenting climate change and sustainability projects from various parts of India. In an effort to promote climate science and science communication, Saikia has co-founded The Enajoree Foundation (TEF) and North East Development Agency (NEDA), a not-for-profit venture that strives to promote research, innovation and entrepreneurship in North East India.

Uttara Rana, Photographer & Filmmaker

Uttara Rana is a postgraduate student at Makhanlal Chaturvedi University where she has been completing her Masters' in Advertising and Public Relations. While pursuing her postgraduation she has also worked as an editor, filmmaker, and a script and copywriter. She has been involved in various creative projects including short films and documentaries related to environment. Notably, she has written and directed a documentary on the use of Styrofoam with Iwoot Media, a media production house in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. In addition, she has also interned with Madhyam, a Government of Madhya Pradesh ad agency.In an effort to promote climate science and science communication, Saikia has co-founded The Enajoree Foundation (TEF) and North East Development Agency (NEDA), a not-for-profit venture that strives to promote research, innovation and entrepreneurship in North East India.

Vandita Sariya, Media Professional

Vandita Sariya has been working in the field of media. She uses articles and doodles to tell stories on environment, climate change, sustainability, freedom of expression, and citizen rights. She also works on creating movies on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other issues that she believes need to be addressed.

Vishal Shukla, Environmental Journalist

Based in Delhi and hailing from a small town in UP, Vishal Shukla has studied in institutions such as St. Stephen's College and Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Shukla is interested in environmental journalism, specifically subjects like climate change, deforestation, wildlife, and renewable energy. He aims to look for human interest stories in environment journalist. He recently had a report published that spoke of the alarming state of glaciers and their excessive melting in Ladakh and Uttarakhand.

Rakesh Kamal

Rakesh Kamal is the Co-Founder/Production Lead at Suno India. He has over 10 years' experience in Climate policy, advocacy and awareness programs on climate change. He co-founded Suno India and is the host of the Climate Emergency Podcast on it. He writes regularly on clean energy and climate change negotiations in leading mainstream media such as The Mint, Telangana Today, Deccan Chronicle, Down to Earth, etc.

https://twitter.com/Rakeshkamal

Sharda Balasubramanian

Sharada Balasubramanian is an environmental and development journalist and has been covering these issues for over a decade. She won two Asian Environmental Journalism awards from Singapore Environmental Council in 2019. She also won the Prem Bhatia award for excellence in environmental reporting, 2019 and the Cushrow Irani award for environmental reporting in 2015. She is a trained Climate Leader and has hosted highly acclaimed mini-series called "Tales from the Coast" on Climate Emergency Podcast.

https://twitter.com/sharadawrites

Omair Ahmed

Omair Ahmad, a prominent author and climate journalist, and the managing editor for South Asia for The Third Pole, a multilingual news platform promoting information and discussion on sustainable development in the Himalayan region.

Rintu Thomas

Rintu is the co-founder of Black Ticket Films. Over the last 10 years, her shorts have ranged from themes of environment and public health to women's rights and resilience of local communities towards climate change. Rintu and Sushmit were recognised for their film 'Timbaktu' with a President's Medal in 2012, the highest honour given to filmmakers in India. She's a Skoll Stories of Change Fellow and also a South Asia Fellow with the Japan Foundation.

Neelima Vallangi

Neelima Vallangi, is an independent freelance journalist and photographer from India. She is currently based in Nepal and is primarily working on the broad themes of Himalayan landscapes, climate change and biodiversity. She is a national award-winning photographer and well published writer, whose stories and images have appeared in reputed national and international publications such as The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, National Geographic Traveller India, The Hindu, Indian Express, Mint etc.

Disha Shetty

Disha Shetty is an independent science journalist who writes mainly on public health, environment and gender. She is the winner of 2018 Global Health Reporting Contest Award, and has been a 2019 RAF fellow to the UN. Disha has also received reporting grants from Pulitzer Center, Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and International Women's Media Fund (IWMF), amongst others.

Dr Shresth Tayal

Dr Shresth Tayal works as a Fellow in TERI's Centre for Himalayan Ecology. He is involved in projects related to hydrological modelling, integrated water resources management (IWRM), and analysing the impacts of climate change on water resources of the region.

Saurabh Bhardwaj

Saurabh Bhardwaj is a Fellow and Area Convener at the Center of Climate Modelling at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and an associate faculty at TERI University, New Delhi. His areas of expertise are atmospheric sciences, meteorology, climate science and modelling.

Ramesh Bhushal

Ramesh Bhushal is the South Asia Content Coordinator for Internews Earth Journalism Network's Asia-Pacific project and brings more than fifteen years of experience in environmental journalism to this role. He also serves as the Nepal Editor for EJN partner ‘The Third Pole' – an environmental online magazine that focuses on the Himalayas.

Dr Yogesh Ghokhle

Dr Yogesh Gokhale is a Senior Fellow in TERI's Centre for Forest Management & Governance. His expertise is in the areas of natural resource management, biodiversity conservation and ecological assessments of various ecosystems in different parts of India.

Suruchi Bhadwal

Suruchi Bhadwal is a Director of the Earth Science and Climate Change Division in TERI. She leads research activities in the area of climate change, focusing mainly on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation assessments and works in close association with communities.

Dr Debajit Palit

Dr Debajit Palit is the Director of Rural Energy and Livelihoods division at TERI. He works in the fields of clean energy access, distributed generation, rural electrification policy and regulation, solar photovoltaics, and biomass gasification.

Dr G Mini

Dr G Mini was a Fellow at the Rural Energy and Livelihoods (REL) division at TERI. She has over 15 years of experience in the fields of gender, energy, climate change, natural resources management and sustainable development, and has handled more than 20 projects as principal investigator/team member in the field of energy access, water and sanitation, climate change and poverty eradication.

Mekhala Sastry

Mekhala Sastry is a Research Associate in TERI's Earth Science and Climate Change (ESCC) division. Her areas of focus include international climate politics, climate policy, and sub-national climate action. She currently works on international climate politics and understanding the implications of global and domestic events on climate action in India.

Abhishek Kaushik

Abhishek Kaushik is an Associate Fellow in the Earth Science and Climate Change (ESCC) division of TERI. A multi-disciplinary researcher, he's working on international climate policy and its relevance to domestic policy-making including issues such as mitigation, market-based approaches and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) frameworks.

Dr Sumit Sharma

Dr Sumit Sharma was the Director of TERI's Earth Science and Climate Change division. He headed TERI's research and projects on air quality monitoring, emission inventorisation, air quality modelling (dispersion and receptor), drafting air quality management plans, and more.

Nidhi Srivastava

Nidhi Srivastava is a Law and Policy Consultant based in New Delhi. She has over 15 years of experience in legal and policy research on issues relating to environment, natural resources, energy and climate change. She is a guest faculty at the Centre for Post Graduate Legal Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies, Honorary Fellow at Centre for Multilevel Federalism. She is a member of IUCN Commission on Environmental Law.

Pooja Iyenger

Pooja Iyengar has a Master's degree in Mass Communication from AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia in 2003, where she specialized in all aspects of documentary film making. Her forte lies in the field of video editing. With a keen interest in wildlife and environment-based issues, she has been mostly associated with documentaries film dealing with human-animal conflicts and the ever-pressing issue of climate change.

Sourav Dutta

Sourav Dutta has been a film maker, publishing his work under the Project Nomad. Having worked for many years in the Bombay Film industry, Sourav chose to carve out his own path in understanding the world through film making. He is keenly interested in alternative education and climate change.