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Prof. Sunil Nautiyal

Institute for Social and Economic Change, G.B. Pant 'National Institute of Himalayan Environment'(NIHE) IN and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University

ORCID iD 0000-0002-1481-7754
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About

Dr. Sunil Nautiyal is a Professor at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources (CEENR), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, and Honorary Professor at the University of Ladakh. His doctoral research at the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE), culminating in a PhD from HNB Garhwal University, laid the foundation for his contributions to ecological and socio-environmental research. Dr. Sunil Nautiyal served as Director of the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (NIHE), Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand, India (1-7-2022 to 30-6-2025).

His specialisation encompasses NRM, Biodiversity Conservation, Production System Analysis, Protected Area Management, HWC&C, landscape dynamics, ecological modelling, and advanced GIS and remote sensing applications for landscape research. He is also recognised for his research on urban-rural sustainability, climate change, sustainable livelihoods, and socio-ecological development from a systems perspective.

His research advances integrated, interdisciplinary frameworks for sustainable landscape development, bridging ecological and social sciences. By developing operational models, he rigorously assesses policy and behavioral impacts on natural resource conservation, management, and community livelihoods across diverse agro-ecological regions of India.

He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 16 books, attesting to his research excellence (h-index 41, i10-index 95). He serves on the editorial boards of six international journals and acts as a reviewer for over 80 international and national journals. His international academic engagements include serving as a visiting scientist at the Centre for Environmental System Research, University of Kassel, Germany (2010-2011 and 2013).

Dr. Nautiyal’s academic excellence is recognized through prestigious international fellowships, including the JSPS Research Fellowship-Japan (2003), the Humboldt Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2006), and the ZALF Fellow by the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). He was also nominated among the top researchers at ZALF, Germany (2007-2008), for his outstanding research publications.

He has received a Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Contribution to Ecology and Election as Fellow in 2018 of the National Institute of Ecology (NIE) and YPS Pangtey Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Socio-ecological Research. Awarded Platinum Jubilee Award Lecture in ES Section of 106th Indian Science Congress from 3-7 January 2019 in LPU Jalandhar.

Prof. Nautiyal is ranked among the top three scientists nationwide (ICSSR, Government of India) for research productivity, publications, citations, and h-index during 2011-2020, demonstrating sustained scientific leadership.

He has led 35 major research projects as project director or principal investigator, spanning thematic areas such as climate change, biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, ecological modelling, rural ecosystem and livelihood development, remote sensing and GIS in landscape studies, circular economy, and household carbon footprint analysis.

Prof. Nautiyal has received the Humboldt Kolleg award to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and India and to strengthen the scientific collaboration with a motto: ‘Germany and India- Infinite Opportunities’.

He has organised 25 national and international conferences/workshops/training programmes at ISEC and outside ISEC with external funding support. He has coordinated a field school programme for the researchers of the University of Sydney. Various programmes were conducted in coordination with the Karnataka Forest Department and Forestry College, University of Agriculture Sciences, Ponnempet, Madikeri.

Prof. Nautiyal was the coordinator for ISEC-NCI International Course for the students from Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland) from 2013 to 2016 on “Approaching the Environment in India – Issues and Methods in the Study of the Nature-Economy-Society Interface”.

Dr. Nautiyal nominated as Jury Member of Nav Bharat Nirman-Building of the New India, IISF (2020 onwards), by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. He is a member of expert committees of various ministries constituted for research and development work in India.

Dr. Nautiyal is serving as a member of the board of studies of various departments/institutions and an expert in the doctoral committees for the students registered for a PhD in universities and institutions.

Dr. Nautiyal collaborates with interdisciplinary teams of leading scholars from India, Germany, Bangladesh, Australia, Japan, Nepal, and the UK, integrating ecological and social science methodologies to evaluate the multifaceted impacts of policy and behavioral changes.

Employment

  • Institute for Social and Economic Change Professor

Education

  • G.B. Pant 'National Institute of Himalayan Environment'(NIHE) IN and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University PHD

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (96)