Prof. Surya Parkash

Professor

Professor (Dr.) Surya Parkash is presently Head of the Geo-Hydro-Meteorological Risks Management Division as well as the CBRN, Industrial and Cyber DRR Division at NIDM. He is Chairman IQAC and IAIP, as well as Chief Information Security Officer of the Institute. He is also faculty in-charge of specialized centres on World Centre of Excellence on Landslides Disaster Reduction (conferred by International Consortium on Landslides, Japan under International Programme on Landslides), Early Warning and Communication, Safe Hill Area Development, Coastal DRR&R, EOC and GIS, Flood Monitoring Cell, CBRN, Industrial and Cyber DRR. He has been the Leader of IPL-172 project and IPL-233 project under International Programme on Landslide and coordinated the Indo-Japanese Action Plan on Landslides and Disaster Management as part of inter-governmental cooperation signed by the Prime Ministers of India and Japan. He is nodal faculty for coordinating with the Union Ministries of Parliamentary Affairs, Labour & Employment, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Coal, New & Renewable Energy, Communication, Mines, Shipping, and North Eastern States for facilitating formulation of DM plans.

His key areas of interest are landslides, avalanches, earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunami, GLOFs, LLOFs, Dam Bursts, mining disasters, public health emergency, CBRN, Industrial and Cyber Risks, DRR for Media, community based disaster risk management, damage and loss assessment, disaster safe hill area development and environmental management. He is presently the Editor of the UGC CARE listed Journal on Disaster & Development. He is Continental Coordinator for Asia, National Coordinator (India) and Member of the Executive Committee of International Association for Promoting Geoethics, Italy and BoR Member at International Consortium on Landslides, Japan. He is a renowned national and international expert in the field of disaster management. He has published numerous training modules, chapters, research papers, documentation reports and other articles on disaster risk reduction and resilience. He has been involved in formulation of guidelines, plans, policies, strategies, frameworks and procedures related to disaster management.

Dr. Amir Ali Khan

Associate Professor

Dr. Amir Ali Khan is a trained Civil Engineer and Urban Planner with a Ph.D. on Urban Earthquake Risk Mitigation. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Studies of Geological Risks from the University of Geneva. In addition, he has been trained by several international organisations on the subjects related to disaster risk management and mitigation in Asia and Europe. Dr. Khan has served UNDP for about two years as National Disaster Reduction Advisor in Uzbekistan. During his stay with UNDP, Dr. Khan served as Chairperson of the UN Uzbekistan's 'Disaster Preparedness and Response Group'. He was also the UN focal point on humanitarian assistance. He has varied experience in the area of disaster risk mitigation and management at national and international level for programme development and management, knowledge management and communication, capacity enhancement, partnership building and networking, etc. His current areas of interests include capacity building for earthquake risk mitigation especially in urban areas, post disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation, mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into development and formulation of disaster management plans.

Dr. Ajinder Walia

Associate Professor

Ajinder Walia is a doctorate in Sociology working as a faculty in National Institute of Disaster Management and erstwhile National Centre for Disaster Management since 2003. She has been working in the area of social aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction with a focus on Gender and Disasters, Community-Based Disaster Risk Management, Psychosocial care in Disasters, School Safety and Development of Disaster Management Plans at the village and community level. Along with publications in journals and books, she has also developed training modules on Gender and Disaster Management and Development of Village Disaster Management Plan.

Shri Shekher Chaturvedi

Assistant Professor

A post graduate with diploma in Computer Applications, he has been associated with the National Institute of Disaster Management since 1996 having more than 27 years of experience in DRR field. He is pursuing his PhD on Community Preparedness Indicators: Journey from Odisha Super Cyclone to Phailin Cyclone. He has to his credit International certificates on Community Based Disaster Management from ADPC and Disaster Management course from UNHCR. He had also published modules on District Disaster Management Plan, Incident Response System (Basic & Intermediate) and Crowd Management. He also has to his credit an IGoT course on Crowd Management. During the span of his services, he has been engaged in various NIDM activities such as documentation of Fani Cyclone, Balasore Train Accident, Trikut Ropeway Accident, etc. His major areas of intervention are Disaster Management Plans, Community Based Disaster Preparedness, Incident Response System and Railway Accident Related Disasters. He facilitates the centres of Response & Relief and Mass Congregation in NIDM.

Dr. Sushma Guleria

Assistant Professor

Dr. Sushma Guleria holds a PhD in Disaster Management, focusing on post-tsunami Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Tamil Nadu. Since 2006, she has been associated with the National Institute of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, and currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Disaster Risk Management Division. She previously worked on a World Bank-supported School Environment Education project with the Ministry of Environment and Forests. A recipient of the World Bank Young Researcher’s Grant (2005–2006), Dr. Guleria has over 17 years of experience in Disaster Risk Reduction. She currently leads the Centers for Climate Resilience & Environment and Water & Land DRR, focusing on eco-DRR, climate disasters, community resilience, and sustainable livelihoods. She regularly contributes to training institutes, DM centers, and universities across India in the DRR realm. Dr. Guleria has authored over 30 publications, including journal articles, book chapters, policy briefs, and disaster documentation.

Dr. Prerna Joshi

Assistant Professor

Dr. Prerna Joshi is an environmental scientist with a strong academic background in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Environmental Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and a B.Sc. in Agriculture from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, where she received the Vice Chancellor’s Gold Medal and Dr. Ram Siromani Tewari Award for academic excellence. Her early research focused on wetlands and agricultural systems of arid and semi-arid settings.

Dr. Gagandeep Singh

Assistant Professor

Dr. Gagandeep Singh holds a Ph.D. in Water Resources Development from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, where his research focused on flash flood vulnerability, susceptibility, and hydrodynamic and debris flow modeling of extreme events in mountain River basins of Uttarakhand. He also holds an M.Tech in Civil Engineering (Remote Sensing and GIS) from NIT Warangal and a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Uttarakhand Technical University. Dr. Singh has over 4 years of academic and research experience across institutions such as IIT Roorkee, Graphic Era University, DIT University and Shivalik College of Engineering in Uttarakhand

Dr. Arkaprabha Sarkar

Assistant Professor

Arkaprabha holds a doctorate degree in Geology from University of Geology. His research interests are mass movements, soil science, hillslope processes, critical zone studies, sediment connectivity and geochronology. While working as a project scientist previously, he has played a pivotal role in establishing the Pranmati Basin Himalayan Critical Zone Observatory in Uttarakhand, the first of its kind in the Himalayan region. He is the recipient of the Maharshi Kanad Post Doctoral Fellowship.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar

Assistant Professor

Pankaj Kumar holds Ph.D. and M.Tech. in Disaster Mitigation & Management from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, and B.Tech. in Computer Science & Engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow. He is involved in conducting training programs on advanced technologies such as Early Warning Systems, Cyber Security, Earthquake’s Risk Reduction Approaches, and Application of Artificial Intelligence in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Before joining NIDM, he worked as a Project Consultant in Earthquake Early Warning System Laboratory, Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation & Management, at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and played crucial role in developing and operationalizing India’s First Earthquake Early Warning System Developed for Uttarakhand region encompasses establishing Regional Earthquake Early Warning Systems, Instrumentation of Sensors in the Seismogenic regions, Setting up of the Central Server, Sensor-to-Server Communication, Processing of Ground Motion Data, Development of Algorithms, Design & Fabrication of Warning Dissemination Device comprising of Control Unit and Sirens, Development of App for Android and iOS mobile users.

Shri Amarjeet Kumar

Assistant Professor

Amarjeet Kumar has an academic background in Urban and Regional Planning, completed a bachelors from JNA&FAU and Master of City Planning from IIT Kharagpur. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. His current research interest includes Disaster Risk Mitigation, PDNA and Post Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, Urban risk mitigation, Transport & Infrastructure resilience, Quantitative Methods, Urban Economics, and System dynamics. He is proficient in tools like AutoCAD, ArcGIS, SPSS, R, Python, PTV VISUM and have published several papers and presented at national and international forums.

Shri Rohit Kumar

Assistant Professor

Rohit Kumar is presently pursuing a Ph.D. in Disaster Risk Governance from the Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), with a doctoral focus on governance frameworks in the Himalayan region. His academic background includes an M.A. in Public Administration (with a focus on public policy and disaster management) from IGNOU and a B.A. (Hons.) in Chinese from JNU. Mr. Kumar has contributed to both research and practice in disaster resilience, having authored peer-reviewed publications on resilience and governance in DRR..

Shri Manjeet Singh

Assistant Professor

Manjeet Singh holds an M.Sc. in Disaster Management from Pondicherry University (Andaman Campus), an M.A. in Geography from HNB Garhwal University, and a B.A. (Hons.) in Geography from the University of Delhi. He has also qualified UGC-NET JRF in Disaster Management. His research interests are Drought, Locust attacks, Climate Change impacts on spring ecosystems, and sustainable water resource management.