Consortium
Abhimanyu Chettri
Leiden University
Abhimanyu Chettri is a PhD candidate researching the anthropology of development, conservation, and land relations in the Eastern Himalayas. His work examines how development practices shape environmental outcomes, with a focus on more-than-human placemaking in the Khangchenzonga landscape. Born and raised in Darjeeling, he is deeply engaged with the region's ecological, cultural, and social dynamics. He is working on a research project titled “Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community, and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas.”
Amit Kurien
RV University
Amit John Kurien is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at RV University, Bengaluru, and a Guest Researcher at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Netherlands. He is an interdisciplinary environmental researcher and educator working on issues at the convergence of environmental change and rural societal dynamics. His research interests lie at the interface of forest, agriculture, and livelihood changes with an effort to inform conservation and development ‘problems’. He is interested in the political ecology of land use change in the swidden/shifting cultivation/jhum landscapes of Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Northeast India. He has earlier studied the nature of socio-economic differentiation, food security, well-being, and livelihood sustainability. He is a methodological pluralist who integrates remote sensing and GIS, qual-quant social science methods, and archival data in his work. He is a conservation biologist by early training.
Anna Notsu
Leiden University
Anna Notsu is a PhD researcher at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University (Netherlands) and project researcher of the research project Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas.
Bhogtoram Mawroh
North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS)
Bhogtoram Mawroh is a Senior Consultant in Social Research and Policy at the North East Society for Agroecology Support (NESFAS), and also serves as a Research Consultant for the “Multi-scalar Dimensions of Sectoral Water Conflicts through the Lens of Water Security” project, at the National Law University, Meghalaya.
Daniel Ingty
Garo Hills Nokma Council
Daniel Ingty is a senior advisor to the Garo Hills Nokma council, and retired Director, Horticulture Department, Govt of Meghalaya.
Dechen Lachungpa
Government of Sikkim
Dechen Lachungpa an officer in Forest Department, Government of Sikkim, a fourth generation Forest Officer and comes from a family of gardeners.
Dr. Sandeep Tiwari
Wildlife Trust of India
Dr Sandeep Kr Tiwari is a wildlife biologist and conservationist, who has been working on wildlife research and conservation for over three decades now. He currently works as Vice-President and Chief of Conservation at Wildlife Trust of India and specialize on Elephant ecology and behaviour, wildlife corridors, policy and human-wildlife conflict mitigation including linear infrastructures mitigation. He holds a PhD on the ecology and behaviour of Asian elephants. He is member of various Government committees including the Steering Committee of Project Elephant, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. He is a member of IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Connectivity Conservation Network, IUCN WCPA-SSC Biodiversity and Protected Areas network. He is also the Co-Chair, IUCN WCPA Asian Elephant Transport Working Group (AsETWG). He has authored five books and several scientific publications and reports. He also holds a doctoral degree in alternate medicine.
Erik de Maaker
Leiden University
Erik de Maaker is Associate Professor in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University (Netherlands), a visiting faculty at Royal Thimphu College (Bhutan) and PI of the research project Futuring Heritage: Conservation, Community and Contestation in the Eastern Himalayas.
Hamkhein Mohrmen
Society for Urban and Rural Empowerment (SURE)
Hamkhein Mohrmen is director of the Society for Urban & Rural Empowerment (SURE), Jowai, India. He is a social worker, columnist and former pastor at the Jowai Unitarian Church. He has completed his PhD from Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong.
Rangku Sangma
Garo Hills Autonomous District Council
Rangku Sangma is Chief Forest Officer, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, Tura, India. He was born and brought up in the Garo Hills. The name Garos gave themselves (the A’chiks) means “steep hill”, who for generations have lived deep in these forested foothills. Garo gods, beliefs, traditions – everything is linked to the forest, which he contributes to protect.
Rishi Kumar Sharma
World Wildlife Fund India
Rishi Kumar Sharma heads the Science and Conservation Programme for the Himalayas at WWF-India. He has spent much of his life in the mountains, beginning his journey by studying snow leopards in the Spiti Valley. His PhD research not only helped advance India’s population assessment methods but also resolved the long-contested question of whether pastoralism and snow leopard conservation can coexist. Working in complex, multi-use landscapes shaped his systems-based approach—one that blends ecological science, social research, and traditional community knowledge. He now leads a wide portfolio across the Indian Himalayas, from conservation of high-altitude rangeland and ecosystem restoration to community-led stewardship, focusing on solutions that connect science, policy, and community stewardship.
Sange Tsering
Holiday Scout
Sange Tsering is the director of tour operator Holiday Scout, based in Bomdila (Aruchal Pradesh). He is a young and dynamic entrepreneur, and a household name in the tourism industry in the region. At 15, he was an apprentice at his uncle’s travel agency. Later, having studied tourism in Delhi, he returned back home and started the now ubiquitous Holiday Scout, a travel agency that is one of its kind in the region. Holiday Scout is striving to go beyond the conventional travel business and establish itself as the pioneer of a socially aware and responsible model. Recognizing his immense contribution towards the tourism sector in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan, Tsering has received several awards.
Sonali Ghosh
Forest Department
Sonali Ghosh is the Field Director of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. She is an Indian Forest Service officer with over 23 years of work experience and a specialization in wildlife. She holds a PhD studying Tiger Habitats in Indo-Bhutan Manas Landscape , and has worked in a wide variety of capacities in relation to natural heritage conservation in India. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and 3 co-edited books.
Swargajyoti Gohain
Ashoka University
Swargajyoti Gohain is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University, India and a Guest Researcher at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University, Netherlands. Her research interests include indigenous identities, borders and the state, roads and infrastructure, Buddhist religion, culture, politics and ecology in the Himalaya.
Ugen Palzor Lepcha
Mutanchi Lom Aal Shezum (MLAS)
Ugen Palzor Lepcha is president of NGO - Mutanchi Lom Aal Shezum (MLAS) in Dzongu, and chairperson of Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) in Hee Gyathang, Lower Dzongu, Sikkim, India.
Wankit Swer
Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA)
Wankit Swer is general manager, Meghalaya Basin Development Authority/ Meghalaya Basin Management Authority.