Görlitz as a model for Indian cities – Research with the Federal Chancellor Scholarship at the IOER

What's your academic background and your work experience in research?

For my undergraduate I studied philosophy and economics at Emory University in Atlanta/USA. After that I started working with NGOs and was awarded the American India Foundation Fellowship for service in India, which led me to an organisation called Sarvajal – which means ‘water for all’. There I helped to establish a network of water purification infrastructure around rural India.

While working in this sector, I learned how the issue of water impacts aspects of gender, development, and equity. I got interested in looking at the water issue, but from a more policy or higher-level lens. And that's why I did my master's, in a combination of public policy and macroeconomics but with focus on climate change, energy and sustainability.

While doing my master's I worked as a research assistant at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy, a think tank within Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, I helped establish The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Urban Transformation practice in India, which focuses on city-level decarbonisation pathways. My work has predominantly been in civil society and environmental consulting. I have worked a lot on research and advocacy, but this is kind of my first foray into the more academic side of research.

How does the fellowship influence your research activities? What expectations and hopes do you have for the funding?

Even before the actual start of the fellowship stay, this opportunity has shaped my research by drafting the proposal in coordination with Markus Egermann and Robert Knippschild from the IOER. Talking about the research area and developing that application together was one of the most helpful parts of the entire fellowship.

Concerning the project: I will be studying some of the urban sustainability transition pilots that have been done in Europe and hoping to establish a communication channel between European cities, European think tanks and Indian counterparts. My hope is that my work doesn’t end with just my fellowship.

What is your research project about?

In terms of dealing with climate change and climate adaptation, I am looking at the so-called "transition management", an approach that aims to facilitate the transition to more sustainable ways of living through participatory processes and collective decisionmaking. In particular, I am looking at how this approach is been experimented on in Görlitz, for example in the TRUST project. My aim is to find out whether the approach is generally applicable and, if so, which elements of it are transferable to India or other developing countries, especially to smaller cities.

In my view, this could be a good way for small and medium-sized Indian cities to deal with climate change, both from a climate adaptation and a climate mitigation perspective. In my work so far, I have seen that there has been a lot of climate action plans that have been built by the biggest cities. But some of the smaller cities – small by Indian standards – struggle with even coming up with a master plan in general, let alone a climate influenced master plan. Perhaps approaches that are being trialled in Germany can be transferred to the Indian context. Focusing on Görlitz and trying to see what can be applied in the Indian context is what I'm looking at.

For what reasons did you choose the IOER as your host institute?

I think the IOER is doing really pioneering work in this area. The work in Görlitz in particular was very interesting to me because it's a mix of theoretical work and practical applications of the theory. There has also been a lot of research on that in Dresden. There is so much great research at the IOER and the names of several of the institute’s researchers I had read in some of my research and background studies as well.

Globally there's this political and cultural shift a little bit towards the right wing. That's happening in India as well, and I know that that's more likely happening in East Germany than in West Germany. So this area was also interesting because whatever research and experiments are happening, are taking place within that reality.

How does the collaboration with the researchers at the IOER work?

There is a lot of support from colleagues, even beyond what I ask for. Everyone is helpful in setting aside time to have conversations with me. Some have even proposed some kind of joint publications or collaborative work. It's cool to have people from such various backgrounds collaborating under the same roof.

How do you like Dresden and the institute so far?

I didn't know much about Dresden before coming here. I felt a little nervous about being the only fellow over here because almost 70 percent of the fellows are in Berlin. But I found a great community, and there's also a lot of sports that I play here. Dresden is really international. I live in Neustadt and I totally love it there.

What are you missing about your home in India?

Food, I miss the food a lot. Dresden has really good international cuisine, but I haven't been able to find AMAZING Indian food. Though that has forced me to cook a lot more, which is always good. (laughs)

You are still doing research at the IOER until October. What are your plans for the time after that?

I am completely open. In the next step I would like to focus more on the sector that I'm working in, namely on continuing my research related to urban planning and climate change. I would be open to explore anything that gives me the chance to work in that space.

The interview was conducted by: Bernadette Schwab (student assistant at the IOER)

About the German Chancellor Fellowship Programme

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Federal Chancellor Fellowship Programme is aimed at internationally oriented university graduates with initial leadership experience from Brazil, the People's Republic of China, India, the Russian Federation, South Africa and the USA. The target group is prospective decision-makers, multipliers and initiators from a wide range of fields, including politics, public administration, business, society and culture. This fellowship programme gives them the opportunity to come to Germany for a year to look for new answers to the global issues of our time and to network. During their stay in Germany, the Chancellor Fellows implement a self-chosen project that supports their career development, is societally relevant and has a lasting public impact.

More information on the Federal Chancellor Fellowship