Qualifications: MSc Wildlife Science, Amity University, Noida, 2018

BSc Life Sciences, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, 2015

Email: abhilasha@dakshin.org

Profile: Abhilasha got interested in working on coastal and marine ecosystems during her master’s program. Her dissertation on sardine and mackerel fisheries with Dakshin at Malvan, Maharashtra, helped her understand the importance of considering human dimensions in conservation research. Following this, she got an opportunity to work on locals’ perception and knowledge about horseshoe crabs at Chandipur, Odisha. The study helped her enhance the understanding of the intricate connections which local communities hold with ecologically sensitive habitats, and this inspired her to focus her research interests on socioecological systems.

She joined the Biodiversity and Resource Management programme at Dakshin in March 2020. Her current work involves characterizing reduction fisheries across the Indian coastline to understand its multifaceted implications on ecological, social, and economic spheres. She is fascinated by the concept of bringing in ideas from various disciplines to facilitate conservation and management of natural resources, and her current work helps her do just that.