Qualifications: Master of Social Work, Pondicherry University, 2022

B.A. Economics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai, 2020

Email: pavithran@dakshin.org

Profile: While working on his Master’s dissertation about organic farming and practices among farmers in Kumbur village, Kodaikanal, Pavithran was introduced to the term ‘Green/Environmental Social Work’ by his research mentor at the Department of Social Work, Pondicherry University. Since that point, he has become interested in working towards environmental studies, particularly on human-wildlife interactions, indigenous cultures and practices, and traditional ecological knowledge of communities – broadly on environmental conservation.

During his internships at WWF-India, Coimbatore, he had the chance to engage closely with the indigenous communities in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, and worked towards conducting surveys for project evaluation. He also supported four Gram Sabhas in convening meetings with their meeting procedures for community rights claim submission under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Following this, he completed a short-term affiliation with the Wildlife Conservation Society-India as a Nature-Culture Fellow, where he worked on documenting the socio-cultural dimensions of human-gaur relationships in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu. In addition to his work, he is interested in documentary photography and Tamil poetry writing.