Dr. Bejoy K Thomas

Dr Bejoy K Thomas is an Associate Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. Prior to that he was a fellow at ATREE, Bangalore, between 2008 and 2019. Bejoy is an interdisciplinary social scientist with interest in problem-driven research on environment and development. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from Tilburg University, The Netherlands (2009). He has been a Royal Bank of Canada Visiting Fellow at the Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Canada (2016) and a Visiting Fellow at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, The University of British Columbia, Canada (2017).

Bejoy’s early research was on multidimensional poverty and participatory development. His doctoral research was chosen by IFPRI in 2007 as one of the leading doctoral studies on poverty as part of its 2020 Vision Initiative. Subsequently, he began looking at issues of water resources management in close collaboration with environmental scientists and engineers. During 2011-16, he co-led a multidisciplinary research initiative on water resources management and adaptation in urbanizing regions, with support from IDRC, Canada, and The Tata Trusts. His research has been published in development and sustainability journals including Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Water International, Irrigation and Drainage, and Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. He has been teaching social sciences foundation, field research methods and practicing interdisciplinary research in ATREE’s PhD program in Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies since 2008. He has designed and co-organized summer schools for interdisciplinary researchers. He has been an elected executive committee member of Indian Society for Ecological Economics (2016-18) and a member in the Government of Karnataka committee to develop an action plan to meet the UN SDG – 2.

Recent publications 

Journal articles and book chapters

• Patil, V. S, B.K.Thomas, S. Lele, M. Eswar & V. Srinivasan, 2019, 'Adapting or Chasing Water? Crop Choice and Farmers' Responses to Water Stress in Peri Urban Bangalore, India', Irrigation and Drainage 68(2): 140-51

• Swatuk, L. A., L. Wirkus, F. Krampe, B.K. Thomas & L.P.B. da Silva, 2018, ‘The Boomerang Effect: Overview and Implications for Climate Governance’, in Swatuk, L. A. & L. Wirkus (eds.) Water, Climate Change and the Boomerang Effect: Unintentional Consequences for Resource Insecurity, London and New York: Earthscan/Routledge

• Lele, S., V. Srinivasan, B.K. Thomas & P. Jamwal, 2018, 'Adapting to Climate Change in Rapidly Urbanizing River Basins: Insights from a Multiple Concerns, Multiple Stressors, and Multi Level Approach', Water International, 43(2): 281-304

• Srinivasan, V., G. Penny, S. Lele, B.K. Thomas & S. Thompson, 2017, 'Proximate and underlying drivers of socio-hydrologic change in the upper Arkavathy watershed, India', Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 

• Eswar, M. & B.K. Thomas, 2017, 'Data Discrepancies: Interpreting Rural Water Data in the Decadal Census’, Economic and Political Weekly, 52(28): 29-32

• Thomas, B.K., S. Lele, V. Srinivasan & P. Jamwal, 2017, 'Rethinking Resilience in Urbanizing River Basins', Seminar, 694: 55-8

• Thomas, B.K., N. Deepthi & P. Jamwal, 2017, 'Going With the Flow? Urban Wastewater and Livelihoods Change in Peri-urban Bengaluru', in Hiremath, A. J, N. D. Rai & A. Siddhartha (eds.) Transcending Boundaries: Reflecting on Twenty Years of Action and Research at ATREE, Bangalore: ATREE, 114-121

• Srinivasan, V., S. Lele, B.K. Thomas & P. Jamwal, 2017, ‘Whose River? The Changing Waterscape of the Upper Arkavathy Under Urbanisation', in Hiremath, A. J, N. D.  Rai & A. Siddhartha (eds.) Transcending Boundaries: Reflecting on Twenty Years of Action and Research at ATREE, Bangalore: ATREE, 122-130

Popular articles

• Lele, S., S.Badiger & B.K.Thomas, 2018, ‘Together, we can dam the destruction’, Deccan Chronicle, August 26.

Other media

• 'Farmers exploiting groundwater ignoring long-term consequences' The Hindu, September 20, 2018 https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/farmers-exploiting-ground...
• 'Farmers near Bengaluru use water-intensive crops' The Times of India, September 25, 2018 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/farmers-near-bengalur...
• Short documentary 'Arkavathy: A Changing Waterscape', based on research on Arkavathy sub-basin during 2012-16
• Short documentary 'River or Sewer? The Story of Vrishabhavathy in Bengaluru, Southern India', based on research on water quality in urban and peri-urban Bengaluru during 2011-16