About | Founders

 

Nandita Singh

Nandita Singh is Ph.D. in Environmental Anthropology from Delhi University, India and Docent in Water Resources Management from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. As Associate Professor, she is currently engaged in research and teaching in water and environmental management at the Department of Environment, Development and Sustainability Studies, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies, Södertörn University, Stockholm. Before this, for more than 15 years, she worked in a similar capacity at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering in Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. She has also been affiliated to the Development Centre for Water (UCV) in Nörrtälje, Sweden and is the Research Director of Millennium Water Story (MWS).

She is an academician, author and activist in water sector with more than 21 years of experience in research, education and advocacy in a diversity of areas within the sector. These include governance and policy, gender issues, right-based approaches, climate change impact and adaptation, integrated water resources management, traditional water management systems, nature-based solutions, and restoration of water bodies.

She has pioneered and led several inter- and multi-disciplinary research projects on diverse water-related issues with support from Swedish, European and other international research funding agencies. One of her recently concluded research examined nature-based solutions for water management in the peri-urban fringes in six countries spread across the Global North and the Global South. Another recent research concerned a comparative study of 97 river restoration projects located in eight European nations in the Baltic Sea region.

Two of her ongoing research projects focus on wetland restoration. One of these examines the scope and challenges of stakeholder participation in wetland restoration in the Nordic country context while another one explores the scope of integrating indigenous knowledge in wetland restoration in the Global South. Still another ongoing research focuses on hydro-territorial rights across three different nations in the Global South. She has in-depth research experience in water management and governance issues in the Indian context, and many of her research projects have focused specifically on India. Her various projects have led to important policy recommendations at international and national levels.

For her scientific contributions in the water sector, she has been recognized as an 'Indian Diaspora Achiever in Sweden' by the Embassy of India, Stockholm in 2019. For her outstanding work in the education sector, she was also felicitated by the Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mrs. Banashri Bose in 2016 on behalf of Bharat Vikings, an organization of accomplished Swedish and Indian professionals in Sweden.

Earlier in her career, she was awarded the University Gold Medal for academic excellence in Masters at Delhi University. For her doctoral research, she received Research Fellowship from the University Grants Commission in India. For postdoctoral research at KTH, Stockholm, she was recipient of the prestigious Wennergren Foundation fellowship and was also awarded a fellowship by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). She has the distinction of being placed in the famous 'Marquis Who's Who in the World, 2006' for her outstanding contribution in defining an alternate model on water resources management based on integration of local perspective in the global paradigm. She also holds a distinguished place amongst the 'Leading Scientists of the World' (2006) compiled by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England.

She has authored several international research publications and popular science writings which have been widely referred by other academicians and researchers in the sector. An important publication is a comprehensive book titled 'The human right to water: From concept to reality', published by Springer International. This book defines a new approach on how the right can be universally realized in practice. She is a regular reviewer of research articles for several international peer-reviewed journals and has also evaluated project applications for international funding agencies.

She has been instrumental in establishing and strengthening educational cooperation between Sweden and India through the Linnaeus-Palme Academic Exchange Program supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Erasmus Mundus Program supported by the European Commission. She was a visiting faculty at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore for eight years and also at A. N. College, Magadh University, Patna, Bihar.

She has served as an expert in the water sector independently and as member in working groups in Sweden, India and also at many other places. As a member of the Cluster Group on Water and Rights at the Swedish Water House, she has actively contributed to the development of an international Policy Brief which was launched at the World Water Week 2010. She has also the honor of being one of the organizers of the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize Laureates Seminar at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in 2010 in commemoration of 20 years of this prize.

As a member of an expert group, she has provided valuable inputs for future directions of research in the field of water resources management in India, as a part of a project coordinated by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for the Government of India. She has been the member of an international team for evaluation of WaterAid UK's Country Programme in India and has also been an advisor on water issues to the private sector. She has served as an expert on Indian water quality management framework for the Swedish Textile Water Initiative (STWI) at Swedish Water House, Stockholm.

She has founded MWS together with her husband Om Prakash Singh in January 2016, with the aim to inform, educate and communicate with the masses in order to sensitize them on different aspects of water resources management through the medium of photo-documentary works. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden.


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