• Urban ecology and sustainability
• Forest conservation
• Land change science
• Collective action and commons research
• Remote sensing for ecology and conservation

Harini Nagendra is Director, School of Climate Change and Sustainability, at the university.

She is known for her research spanning over 30 years on forest conservation, and urban sustainability, with several seminal publications in both areas of work. Her interdisciplinary work on forests combines remote sensing, biodiversity studies and institutional analysis, and is recognised for elucidating the link between pattern and process in the human-dominated landscapes of South Asia. 

Her work on urban ecology and sustainability highlights the importance of urban ecosystems in contributing critical ecosystem services and impacting urban resilience and human wellbeing, especially of marginalised communities — an important global gap, especially for the Global South. Her research has been published in over 200 academic papers and book chapters, including recent publications in Nature, Nature Sustainability, and Science.

In 2025, she was awarded an Honorary PhD from Utrecht University in recognition of her original research demonstrating how people and nature can reconnect in cities to foster sustainability, resilience, and liveability. 

Harini is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Ostrom Workshop, Indiana University, awarded for extraordinary contributions over an extended period of time; and an Honorary Fellow at the Institute for Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick.

In addition to academic writing, she is deeply interested in public communication of academic research. She has written a number of popular books including Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future; Cities and Canopies: Trees of Indian Cities; So Many Leaves; and Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities (the last three co-authored with Seema Mundoli).

She is a well-known public speaker and writer on issues of urban sustainability in India, with a former monthly column The Green Goblin in the Deccan Herald newspaper, and anchors the University’s annual climate ​“festival of life” series – Rivers of Life, Forests of Life, Mountains of Life and Coasts and Oceans of Life which have collectively reached over 80,000 visitors across India. She also writes the acclaimed Bangalore Detectives Club series, a set of historical mysteries set in 1920s Bangalore — the first book in the series was shortlisted for the Anthony, Agatha, Historical Dagger and Left Coast Crime awards, and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2022.

For her interdisciplinary research and practice, she has received many awards including the 2009 Cozzarelli Prize from the US National Academy of Sciences, the 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar award, and the 2017 Clarivate Web of Science award. She is an elected member of The World Academy of Sciences, Trieste; the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; and the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru. 

Harini has been a past Lead Author on the IPCC AR5 reports; Science Committee member of DIVERSITAS and the Global Land Programme; Advisory Board Member to the 2021 and 2022 UNDP Human Development Reports; Expert Committee member on the 2021 US National Science Academy Report on Operationalizing Sustainable Development to Benefit People and the Planet; Advisory Board member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate-KIC; and Editor-in-Chief of Global Environmental Change. She currently engages with international science and policy through her involvement on the Advisory Board of the Future Earth Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society, the Scientific Committee of the Future Earth Urban Knowledge-Action Network, the WRI Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities, and the Blanes Centre for Advanced Studies (CEAB), of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).