Dr. Srikumar Chattopadhyay retired from CESS as Scientist G and Head of the Resources Analysis Division. He holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Calcutta and a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Geomorphology and Environmental Survey from ITC, The Netherlands. He was a Post-Doctoral Fulbright Fellow at the East-West Center, Hawaii, USA. He received the Dr. S. Vasudev Award (1994) and the Prof. R. N. Dubey Memorial Award (2001). After retiring in 2013, Dr. Chattopadhyay was awarded a Senior Fellowship by ICSSR at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, and served as a Fellow at HWK Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany, in 2016. He also worked as a Senior Consultant for the Kerala Development Innovation Strategic Council.

Dr. Chattopadhyay specializes in natural and environmental resource management, terrain analysis, human dimensions of environmental change, participatory local-level planning, and sustainable development. He significantly contributed to Participatory Panchayat Resource Mapping and River Bank Mapping programs. He has been a visiting faculty member at Montclair State University, USA; ZMT, Germany; and several Indian universities, including Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, Burdwan, and Vidyasagar. He has published over 100 research papers, authored/edited eight books, one atlas, and completed 40 research projects funded by various agencies. His notable projects include the Tri-Academy collaborative project on population pressure and land use change, ADB’s Integrated Coastal Zone Management project, and a collaborative program in South Asia on coastal systems management. Dr. Chattopadhyay has guided numerous Ph.D. and M.S. students, hosted international Ph.D. students, and collaborated with institutions such as ZMT, Germany, and Lancaster University, UK. He has served on various national and state-level committees and academic bodies. Currently, he is an ICSSR National Fellow at NCESS for a two-year term.