The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in India: Building Climate Resilience and Sustainability

Author Biography

Dr Rudrodip Majumdar is currently an Associate Professor in the Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Programme at NIAS since July 2025. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor at the institute from August 2019 to June 2025. He has a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University in the USA and an M.Tech. in Nuclear Engineering from IIT Kanpur. Before joining NIAS, Rudrodip worked as an Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at IIT Bombay and as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at North Carolina State University. Rudrodip's professional research interests centre around Sustainability, encompassing Renewable and Clean Energy, Nuclear and Plasma Fusion Energy, Industrial Applications of Plasma, and Analyses of Energy-efficient Sustainable Systems. To date, Rudrodip has published 36 research articles in reputed International Journals, 14 Chapters in Edited Volumes (Monographs) of Repute, and 24 papers in International Conference Proceedings.  His recent work on the evaluation of energy transition-readiness in low-to-medium-income households in Bengaluru has been highly appreciated by the Office of the PSA to the GOI.  By nomination, Rudrodip has been selected as a Review Editor of the Energy Storage section in Frontiers in Energy Research Journal. Apart from academics, Rudrodip takes a great interest in Wildlife Conservation, Nature Photography, Creative Writing and Indian Classical Music. Dr Abhilash Kumar Paswan is an ANRF National Postdoctoral Fellow at CSIR–North East Institute of Science and Technology (CSIR-NEIST), Jorhat, India. His research focuses on the impacts of climate variability and human activities on water security in monsoon-dependent regions, integrating climate change, hydrology, groundwater systems, and environmental sustainability. He specializes in hydrological modelling, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and climate-driven hydrological extremes. He graduated from IISER Kolkata and earned his Ph.D. from CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad. He has received several national and international fellowships, including the CSIR Research Fellowship, INSPIRE Fellowship, and the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship from the Government of France. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, edited two volumes (Springer and CRC Press), and contributed to multidisciplinary projects of national significance. Previously, he served as a Water Resources Expert at WELL Labs and as a Project Scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru. Beyond academia, he is Executive Director of Water Army, a non-profit initiative promoting water conservation, public awareness, and sustainable water management through science outreach and community engagement.