EDUCATION:
2013 MSc, Geography, University of Madras, Tamil Nadu
1993 BSc, Mathematics, University of Kerala, Kerala
Countries: India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos, Ethiopia, Tanzania
States: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra
Cities: Bengaluru, Colombo
Languages: English, Malayalam
Kiran joins IIHS from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he was a GIS/Remote Sensing Specialist for eight years. Prior to that, he worked with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, for 15 years, including four years as their Eco-Informatics Lab Coordinator.
Throughout his career, Kiran has been involved in the geospatial analysis of various aspects of land, water and ecosystem management and conservation. He had been associated with interdisciplinary teams involving ecologists, agriculture scientists, hydrologists and policy analysts and provided spatial analysis support to research studies and outreach activities. The studies included assessing the trends and patterns in forests, wetlands and agricultural landscapes, conservation prioritisation and monitoring, land suitability analysis, livelihood and resource use of marginalised communities etc. at multiple spatial scales. He took a lead role in formulating the methodology for rapid mapping of irrigated and rainfed areas of Africa through time series analysis of remote sensing data.
He was also involved in the spatial analysis to identify potential sites for the nomination of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspots. Kiran has conducted GIS training courses for PhD and MSc students from ATREE, NCBS and GKVK.
At IIHS, Kiran will be contributing to the research, practice and capacity-building activities as a part of the Geospatial Lab.