AT A GLANCE
Keya Chakraborty, PhD
Associate Professor
Area of Practice:Sustainable transitions and transformations, more-than-human world, decolonization, design thinking, socio-economic development and wellbeing, cultural heritage and conservation.
OVERVIEW
Dr. Keya Chakraborty brings more than 19 years of experience in academia to her role as a faculty member and researcher at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in Bangalore, India. As a recognized Critical Geographer, she is passionate about exploring the connections between human society and the environment. Currently, she serves as the Post-graduate Programme Leader for Information Arts and Information Design Practice (IAIDP), shaping the educational experiences of future design professionals.
Dr. Chakraborty embarked on her research journey with a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. Her doctoral research focused on spatial inequality and its connection to human development and the well-being of city dwellers. Following her PhD, she pursued postdoctoral research opportunities at two prestigious institutions: the Urban Transformations Lab at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea and the Center for Integrated Sustainable Technologies for Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Her postdoctoral research extended beyond academia. While pursuing her fellowship, she actively engaged with policymakers, NGOs, and experts in the vital areas of sustainability, inequality, environmental issues, and climate change. Her focus on case studies ensured her research had real-world relevance, leading to publications in esteemed international journals and national media coverage.
At present, she actively contributes to the field of sustainability transition and transformation studies, incorporating the more-than-human world’s perspective through her numerous publications in international journals. Her expertise extends beyond research to include teaching pedagogy and public policy. This breadth of knowledge makes her an asset to the academic community and a driving force for positive change.
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Dept., of Architecture and Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur, India, 2008 to 2013.
- Arc View and Erdas – Post Graduate Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS, School of Oceanographic Studies, University of Jadavpur, India, 2006 to 2007.
- Master’s degree in Geography (Regional Planning as Special Paper), University of Calcutta, India, 2005.
- Bachelor’s degree in Geography (Cartography as special paper with Economics and Political Science), University of Calcutta, India, 2003.
WORK EXPERIENCE
• Faculty member at Law, Environment, and Planning (LEP), Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology (2019 to present): Other than the teaching UG and PG courses, other responsibilities are: i) Head of Studies of Information Arts and Information Design Practice; ii) Ph.D. and Master’s thesis Supervisor.
• Postdoctoral Research Consultant at Urban Transformations Lab, Department of Architecture, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea (2018): Assisted the Lab for the project “The transformative turn in urban planning: A global survey of urban strategies”. The project aimed to explore trends and patterns in strategic city-wide planning with a view to urging requirements for urban sustainability transformations. It tried to assess five Indian cities among 75 world cities of 15 countries based on adopted/implemented sustainable strategies including environmental changes, resilience, water, food, and waste management, social inclusion, circular economy, green-blue infrastructure etc. finally analysed the qualitative data collected from expert opinion survey and literature reviews.
• Postdoctoral Research Consultant at World Smart Sustainable City Organization (WeGO), South Korea (2017): Supported a background study for WeGO strategy 2020, on global urbanization trends. The research measured and analysed global urban challenges, which embraced distinctive issues of urban growth/shrinkage, ecosystem health and services, economy, land use and urban form, and mobility. Enentually, the project provided a guideline for WeGO to overcome aforesaid challenges with the help of ICT and E-Government.
• Program Officer at Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore (2015): At PAC, works were related to design and management of research, analysing public policy related to ongoing projects, documentation of work and preparation of publications, and assist the director of PAC in conducting meetings/workshops/seminars/conferences on the subject of Urban Planning and Public Policy and Governance. As a lead research scientist of Public Policy and Research Group.
• Post-doctoral Fellow (2012 to 2014): Conducting workshops/seminars/conferences on the subject of Urban Planning, Assist the Chairman Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation, and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in interactions with the Govt. or any other agency on the issues of urban policy etc. As a group member supervise of projects of CiSTUP.
• Geography faculty in Sarsuna College, University of Calcutta (2006 to 2008): Teaching RS & GIS, climatology, cartography, regional planning and contemporary development issues.
INTEREST AREAS
· Inequality studies
· Environmental issues and climate change
· Public policy and governance
· Research Methods and Methodological Framework
· Research Design
CURRENT PRACTICE AT SRISHTI
· Course Leader: Information Arts and Information Design Practices (M.Des and PGDP Bridge)
· Ph.D. Supervisor
· Academic Advisor – M.Des
· Tutor for Undergrad students.
TEACHING PORTFOLIO
· Capstone mentor for MDes students
· Facilitator for the units (MDes): Creative Leadership in Information Dynamics, Emerging Narratives from Information Ecosystems,
· Facilitator for technical writing research methodology courses across the Master’s and Undergrad levels
CREATIVE PRACTICE & OUTREACH
· Research in transition and Transformation, More-than-human worldview
· Community Engagement, Collaboration, and Co-Creation
· Collaborator of the Workshop by DAAD, Berlin, Germany, 2024: “Imaginaries of inside-out place making: sensing, designing and transforming spaces with humans and the non-human world for sustainable and climate resilient futures”.
· Outreach and Publication: https://researcher.manipal.edu/en/persons/keya-chakraborty
