Prakriti Research Fellowship

Prakriti Research Fellowship is a small grants programme initiated to support nature conservation research and action with a focus to create a direct tangible long-term impact on nature conservation in India. The fellowship aims to provide seed money for strong on-ground work done by individuals, teams, and small NGOs in this field from various Industry partners. Prakriti Research Fellowship has been started by CARPE in collaboration with Grind Master Machines Pvt. Ltd. to support nature conservation research and action in India.

2022 - the 4th year of the fellowship recently concluded with excellent projects by 5 Fellows and 1 Incubator. The subjects and regions covered by the Fellowship were diverse Calcutta, Uttara Kannada, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Aurangabad and Bundelkhand. 2022 was also the first year for the PRF to extend its support in form of Incubation for one of the past fellows.

Read the 2022 PRF Summary Report

The broad themes under which the Fellowship is provided are:

  • Conservation of Important Habitats
  • Conservation of Threatened Species
  • Conservation of Urban ecology

PRF is steered by CARPE Team with a Committee comprising of experts Dr. Bahar Baviskar and Mrs. Prerna Agarwal alongwith other reviewers.

PRF Map

PRF 2023 Selection

Anirban Roy
Assessing community-led forest conservation in CFR-entitled parcels in Vidarbha Maharashtra
Devika M Anilkumar
Niche profile based ecorestoration of three threatened tree species in the low elevation habitats
Gayathri Venkatramanan
Environmental drivers & anthropogenic threats to insectivorous bats in agricultural & semi-urban landscape in southern state of Tamil Nadu
Samrat Sengupta
Assessment of the conservation status of the endemic Khasi Hills toad, Bufoides meghalayanus in Northeast India

Past Fellows

Divyajyoti Ganguly
Dr. Aabid Mir
Dr. Anukul Nath
Dr. Arshiya Bose
Dr. Bahar Baviskar
Dr. Jane Shangpliang
Dr. Pankaj Koparde
Dr. Sonika Kushwaha
Jui Pethe
Nobina Gupta
Priya Ranganathan
Purabi Deshpande
Radhika Kothari
Tushar Pawar

Partners

Canpack
Canpack
Grind Master
Grind Master
AITG
AITG
Caring Friends
Caring Friends
Yeshshree
Yeshshree
Bandi Jai Ban
Bandi Jai Ban
Kedar Shah
Kedar Shah
Manjot Kaur
Manjot Kaur
Arvind Iyengar
Arvind Iyengar
Mayuri Kerr
Mayuri Kerr

PRF Committee

Sameer Kelkar
Sameer Kelkar
CARPE
Bahar Baviskar
Bahar Baviskar
WILDCER
Prerna Agarwal
Prerna Agarwal
Ecosphere
Gauri Mirashi
Gauri Mirashi
CARPE
Natasha Zarine
Natasha Zarine
CARPE

Testimonials

Our World is witnessing/causing the 6th Extinction - an irreparable loss to biodiversity and ecologically diverse habitat. Research into these areas are must for directing Conservation Action. The PRF is aimed at funding individual researchers and has been successful in initiating excellent projects on diverse subjects such as Herbs, Odonates, Pangolins and also demonstrated Conservation action. We are excited with all the ON GROUND ZERO work happening with support of the PRF and Forest Department. We believe it is important to conduct a lot more research and awareness of our rich biodiversity and PRF is acting as a catalyst in attracting and retaining talented researchers in this field.
Sameer Kelkar
CEO, Grind Master Machines Pvt. Ltd.
I had never imagined that there is such an amazing world of dragonflies out there. Through this workshop, I got to learn so much about dragonflies, which I always considered as a mere insect and ignored. Here onwards, I will look around, take photos of dragonflies, and contribute my data to the Marathwada Citizen Science Project to do my bit of research and conservation.
Rushika Shirsat
BSc Zoology student, SBES Science College, Aurangabad
We cannot conserve what we are not aware of. Some of the past fellowships have researched biodiversity including pangolins, odonates and tigers in the Marathwada area. This inspired us to support further research.
Saurabh Bhogale
Director, AITG Group
As a passionate outdoor/wilderness enthusiast I am pleased to contribute in a meaningful way to research and conserve biodiversity. Young ecologists need to be encouraged and enabled to venture in this field.
Kedar Shah
California, USA
Without PRF 2022, I would never had the support I needed to carry out rigorous research in challenging conditions and create published material for outreach. The fellowship gave me the ability to travel extensively in my field, work in more sites, and engage with volunteers and interns to help make a comprehensive project.
Priya Ranganathan
PRF Fellow 2022
Forest officials, especially the patrolling staff, were trained to monitor the activity pattern of hispid hare in the grasslands of Manas. Since 80% of people are unaware of the presence and importance of the species in their forest beat, our ongoing capacity building has initiated excellent results on the field. This initiative will also help in large scale monitoring of the Hispid Hare survey, which we plan to organize this winter.
Forest Guards
Bansbari Range, Manas National Park, Barpeta Road, Assam