People

Dr. Assoc. Prof. Jenia Mukherjee

All People

  • Role in Center:

    Scientific Lead at Core Partner Institution

  • Discipline:

    Humanities and Social Sciences

  • University:

    IIT Kharagpur - Core Partner Institution

  • Country:

    India

Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, Jenia’s research spans across urban environmental history, urban political ecology and transdisciplinary waters. She received the prestigious Carson Writing Fellowship (2018-19) from the Rachel Carson Center, Munich for completing her book Blue Infrastructures: Natural History, Political Ecology and Urban Development in India. She was awarded the Salzburg Global and Nippon Foundation Fellowship (2020), Japan-India Transformative Technology Network to advance her urban ecological research in collaboration with urban practitioners and global think tanks. She is currently investigating five international projects funded by EU-ICSSR, AHRC-ICHR, SSHRC (Canada) and Swissnex, exploring coastal livelihoods dynamics in the Sundarbans and urban deltas and wetlands of India. In August 2021, she was also offered the Institute Faculty Excellence Award for her outstanding research and teaching performance.

Selected Publications:

  • Mukherjee, J. ‘Living systems infrastructure’ of Kolkata: Exploring coproduction of urban nature using historical urban political ecology (HUPE). Environment and Urbanization 34(1): 32-51.

  • Das, A. K., Mukherjee, J., and Chatterjee, U. 2022. Importance–Performance Analysis to assess community role in solid waste management in the Hooghly District, West Bengal. Innovative Infrastructure Solutions (Springer) 7(3): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10668-7.

  • Chowhan, G., Sen, A. and Mukherjee, J. Exploring visions of social resilience and sustainability around the making of mega and world-class cities in India. GeoJournal (Springer). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10644-1.

  • Mukherjee, J., Bhattacharya, S. and Bose, L. 2022. Heritage of basic human rights: Politics of environmentalism surrounding the Adi Ganga in Kolkata. In S.  Pattanaik and A. Sen (eds.), Contested Landscapes and Regional Political Ecologies of Environmental Conflicts in India. London and New York: Routledge.

  • Pande, S., Haeffner, M., Blöschl, G., Alam, M.F., Castro, C., Di Baldassarre, G., Frick-Trzebitzky, F., Hogeboom, R., Kreibich, H., Mukherjee, J., Mukherji, A., Nardi, F., Nüsser, M., Tian, F., vn Oel, P. and Sivapalan, M. 2022. Never ask for a lighter rain but a stronger umbrella. Frontiers in Water 3: 822334.

  • Mukherjee, J., Morera, R., Guerrin, J. and Veron, R. 2021. Histories of urban deltascapes: A comparison of Arles and Kolkata. Global Environment: A Journal of Transdisciplinary History (UK: The White Horse Press) 14(3): 505-534.

  • Mukherjee, J. Blue infrastructures: Natural Ecology, Political History and Urban Development in Kolkata. Singapore: Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3951-0.

  • Mukherjee, J. (ed.) 2018. Sustainable Urbanization in India: Challenges and Opportunities. Singapore: Springer Nature.

  • Allen, A., Hoffman, P., Mukherjee, J. and Walnycki, A. 2016. Water trajectories through non-networked infrastructures: Insights from peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Cochabamba and Kolkata. Urban Research and Practice (Taylor and Francis) 10(1): 22-42.

  • Mukherjee, J. 2015. Beyond the urban: Rethinking urban ecology using Kolkata as a case study. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development (Taylor and Francis) 7(2): 131-146.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Urban environmental history
  • Urban political ecology
  • Transdisciplinary waters
  • Environmental humanities

Current Position(s):

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur

Past Position(s)

  • Carson Fellow, Rachel Carson Center for Environmentand Society
  • Assistant Professor, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
  • Junior Research Fellow and Lecturer, Jadavpur University

Prizes & Awards:

  • Faculty Excellence Award. 2021. Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
  • CoreNet Global Academic Challenge 6.0. 2021. Cushman and Wakefield, KI and IA
  • Salzburg Global and Nippon Foundation Fellowship. 2020. Japan-India Transformative Technology Network, Magome, Japan
  • Carson Writing Fellowship. 2018-19. Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society, Germany
  • Australian Award Fellowship. 2015 and 2010. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
  • World Social Science Fellowship on ‘Sustainable Urbanization’. 2013. International Social Science Council (ISSC), UNESCO, Paris

Memberships & Networks:

  • Board Member, Cluster of Cooperation (CLOC) Knowledge to Action (K2A) in South Asia. Swiss Universities
  • Advisory Board Member, British Academy funded research project on Reimagining the Good City from Ennore Creek, Chennai (2022-24)
  • Member, the Asian Society for Environmental History Founding Committee (AEAEH) of the five-member global team
  • Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria and Former Fellow, Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society, Munich
  • Active member of the ‘Panta Rhei’ Network by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Coastal and Riverine Flood Risk. Netherlands: TU- Delft
  • Editorial Board Member, Global Environment (will join January 2023 onwards)
  • Associate Editor, Coastal Studies and Society. UK: Sage
  • Member, Too Big to Ignore
  • Country Coordinator and Co-investigator, Vulnerability to Viability Global Partnership Project