Sartaj Ghuman

Artist - Writer

Sartaj Ghuman is an artist and writer whose background in ecology has deeply influenced his perspective on the world. Although he stepped away from academia, Sartaj has spent over a decade working closely with scientists, engaging with theory and fieldwork. His own creative output, however, has largely been through art and writing. He has painted outreach posters, created illustrations for magazines and books, and produced large-scale murals. His writing includes popular articles about various ecological projects he's been part of.
In recent years, Sartaj has been involved in interdisciplinary projects, bridging ecology with fields like anthropology and design. After freelancing for over a decade, he recently took on a part-time role with Socratus, a studio dedicated to addressing 'wicked' problems.
Beyond his artistic and intellectual pursuits, Sartaj is a trained mountaineer, and his love for the mountains often inspires him to create projects or residencies in these landscapes. He is also exploring farming, aiming to bring his ecological knowledge to life, and is an advocate of fitness routines like calisthenics, enjoying how they structure his day. Currently, he’s fascinated by slack-lining, which he feels has given him new insights into flow states and balance.

Shreya Dasgupta

Science journalist

Shreya Dasgupta is a science journalist, editor and podcast producer. She is currently a newswire editor at Mongabay, a conservation and environmental science news platform, and was previously a staff writer there. As a journalist, Shreya has over a decade of experience covering environment, biodiversity, climate, health, tech and other science stories for various publications including BBC Earth, Mongabay, The Guardian, Science, New Scientist, Nature, BMJ, Undark Magazine, Hakai Magazine, Wire Science and others. She has also created science-focused narrative podcasts, including the independently run Imagined Tomorrow, and Wild Frequencies, a 3-part series on bioacoustics research with Mongabay India. Before switching to journalism and writing, Shreya briefly worked as a wildlife researcher.

Puja Mitra

Puja Mitra

A conservation practitioner, social entrepreneur & impact consultant, Puja Mitra has been awarded the Wildlife Service Award by Sanctuary Nature Foundation, listed amongst the '50 Ambassadors for Sustainable Travel' by Conde Nast Traveller & founded Terra Conscious in 2017 as a conservation - social enterprise working towards enabling collaborative conservation action for our oceans & coasts. She was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation & Management from the University of Oxford, following which she has worked with various organizations both domestic and international on enabling conservation action, including WWF - India; IUCN – India; Oceans 5, Swiss Cetacean Society; Member – CII Nautical Tourism Panel; Goa State Forest Department amongst others.
She brings over 15 years of experience as a conservation practitioner, including leading a national campaign resulting in India becoming the 4th country in the world, to ban the establishment of dolphinariums in India; pioneered a Responsible Marine Wildlife Watching program in Goa, focused on helping local community operators transform their existing practices into being more value driven & sustainable & also established a structured state wide Marine Wildlife Stranding Response & Monitoring Network with the Goa Forest dept , IUCN - India & Drishti Marine in 2017.

N. Jeykumaran

Indian Forest Service

N. Jeykumaran, originally from Tamil Nadu, has a background in Electronics and Communication Engineering and joined the Indian Forest Service in 2019. He is currently posted as the Deputy Director at Melghat Tiger Reserve. Jeykumaran's career in wildlife management began after completing his PG Diploma in Advanced Wildlife Management at the Wildlife Institute of India. His work includes significant projects such as tiger translocation at Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve, where he served as the Assistant Conservator of Forests.
In his current role, he focuses on the relocation and rehabilitation of people from the core areas of the reserve, alongside regular forest and wildlife conservation duties. Jeykumaran is passionate about storytelling in conservation and recently co-authored a pop-science book, Trees of Melghat.

Manish Chandi

Interdisciplinary Researcher

Manish Chandi has worked in the A&N Islands on the interface between communities and the natural environment for the past 25 years with the Andaman Nicobar Islands Environmental Team (ANET). His work in the islands included engagements with indigenous and local communities, and in crocodile, sea turtle and tree surveys apart from working on both research and output driven projects in the islands. In his doctoral thesis with NCF, he explored the impact of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami on community sharing mechanisms in the Nicobar Islands. He also worked with the Nature Conservation Foundation in the Anamalais on the indigenous tribes of the hills, served as an advisory board member for 8 years with the Department of Tribal Welfare A&N Administration, and is currently working with the Wildlife Conservation Society India on rights and communities in conservation.

Neha Sinha

Interdisciplinary Researcher

Neha Sinha is a conservation biologist with a specialization in environmental policy. Her work has focused on conservation process and environmental decision-making, international conventions, Important Bird Areas, and conservation outside protected areas. She was part of the policy work for the State of India’s Birds report and the successful Amur falcon conservation campaign. She was selected as a Legislative Professional Fellow by the US Department of State to study American environmental policy and process, as an Australia-India Youth Delegate for environment-led diplomacy, and as an INLAKS scholar. Neha has a special interest in creative publishing for Nature and is a widely published and popular columnist. She has won several awards for her nature and place writing and her conservation work.
She currently heads Conservation Partnerships at WWF-India, with a focus on the conservation of lesser-known species. Her first book is Wild and Wilful-Tales of 15 Iconic Indian Species. She tweets at nehaa_sinha.