Pradip Swarnakar

Pradip Swarnakar has had a two-decade career in environmental and public policy, focusing distinctly on climate and energy. He currently holds the position of professor of sociology in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in India. Additionally, he serves as adjunct faculty at the Department of Sustainable Energy Engineering, the Department of Economic Sciences, and the Chandrakanta Kesavan Center for Energy Policy and Climate Solutions, all at IITK. As the founder of the Just Transition Research Centre (JTRC), Professor Swarnakar leads the first-of-its-kind academic think tank dedicated to advancing just transition policies. JTRC strives to achieve its mission through pioneering research and active stakeholder engagement, including collaborations with federal, state, and local governments to attain net-zero targets. As a visiting scholar, Professor Swarnakar has been associated with esteemed universities, including the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of San Francisco, the University of Helsinki, and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH-UFZ. His accomplishments include prestigious fellowships and grants, including the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship for both lecturing and research, the UTS Distinguished Visiting Scholar grant, the Koneen Säätiö senior researcher grant, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft bilateral grant. His groundbreaking research findings have been published in the British Journal of Sociology, Current Sociology, Socius, Environmental Science and Policy, Energy Research and Social Science, and Environmental Communication. Professor Swarnakar earned his PhD in environmental sociology from IITK.