Aarthi Sridhar Aarthi is a founder trustee at Dakshin. She holds a doctoral degree in human geography from the University of Amsterdam. In her functional capacity, she heads Dakshin’s Communities and Resource Governance Programme and supports our SeaChange efforts and leads the Communications Team. Trained in the social sciences, her academic interests centre on historical…
Dhruv GangadharanResearch Affiliate Qualifications: PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Ongoing) M.Sc. Biodiversity, Conservation & Management, University of Oxford (2017) B.Tech. Biotechnology, VIT University, Vellore (2016) Email: dhruv.gangadharan@rutgers.edu Profile: Dhruv has been a passionate angler, growing up in Chennai and exploring the city’s beaches and backwaters.…
Ismail Zabiulla SyedAdmin & HR Officer Qualifications: Bachelor of Business Administration (Pursuing), Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Bengaluru E-mail: admin@dakshin.org Profile: Ismail Zabiulla Syed is an Operations, Administration and HR professional with over six years of experience supporting organisations across non-profit, corporate and international work environments. He previously worked as a Corporate Operations Manager at Nworx and…
Meenakshi A KProgramme Assistant Qualifications: M.Sc. in Ecology (Specialisation in Ecological Informatics), Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, 2024 B.Sc. in Zoology, MES Keveeyam College, Valanchery, 2022 Email: meenakshi@dakshin.org Profile: Meenakshi holds a Master’s degree in Ecology. For her Master’s thesis at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), she studied microplastics and heavy…
Divija MurkothProgramme Assistant Qualifications: MSc Ecology, Pondicherry University (2022- 2024) Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts & Sciences, Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (2019-2021) Email: divija@dakshin.org Profile: Divija grew up in an environment where classrooms were the ocean and the forests - this early intimacy with the natural world left her with a sense of wonder…
Spandana P TSenior Programme Assistant Qualifications: Urban Fellows Program, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, 2025 MSc in Physics, Christ University, 2024 Email: spandana@dakshin.org Profile: Spandana P T holds a Master’s degree in Physics, with a specialisation in Energy Sciences. During an energy survey centred around indigenous communities in the forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,…
Hafeera BKField staff Hafeera hails from Pallesssery village on Minicoy Island in Lakshadweep. She began her career as a needlecraft teacher at a senior basic school on her island. Later, she worked with the Department of Environment and Forests in Lakshadweep as a waste auditor for their solid waste management programme. Before joining Dakshin, she…
Surendra BeheraField staff Surendra Behera has been a part of Dakshin since 2010. He has been involved in the long-term monitoring project on Olive Ridley sea turtles in Odisha under the Marine Flagships programme, conducting offshore transects, arribada census, beach mapping, hatchery construction, and mass hatching data collection. Recently, he has also been leading community…
Shankar RaoField staff Shankar Rao has been involved with the Olive Ridley long-term monitoring project in Odisha since 2010 and has recently joined the SeaChange initiative. His work on the turtle project includes offshore transects, arribada census, beach mapping, hatchery construction, and mass hatching data collection. As part of the SeaChange team, he is responsible…
Mahendra NayakField Staff (In Memoriam) Prior to joining Dakshin in 2009, Mahendra worked as an electrician. He was an important part of the turtle team and patrolled the nesting beach for over 15 nesting seasons. His work included night patrols, nest relocation, hatchling release, hatchery management, sample collection for hatchling sex ratio studies, arribada census,…