Aakash is a wildlife biologist and doctoral fellow with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), where he explores the intersections of wildlife ecology, human-wildlife interactions and conservation. His doctoral research looks at how people, domestic animals and wild carnivores navigate and share landscapes.
His work draws on experiences across diverse landscapes in India, from the forests of Central India to the high-altitude pastures of Ladakh. Over the years, he has worked on carnivore ecology, conservation and coexistence, bringing together field research, ecological methods and a keen interest in the human dimensions of conservation.
His relationship with the natural world began long before he imagined making a career out of it. Growing up, his father would take him along to camping courses, offering him an early introduction to the outdoors and nurturing a curiosity about the landscapes, wildlife and life beyond the familiar.
What began as childhood adventures gradually grew into a deeper fascination with the natural world and eventually found its way into a career in wildlife biology.
Over the years, his work has taken him across very different landscapes, from studying carnivores in the forests of Central India to exploring the complexities of coexistence in the high-altitude Himalaya.
Each experience has added a new layer to his curiosity, shifting his attention from wildlife alone to the intricate relationships between animals, people and the places they share.
But science is only one way he makes sense of the world. He has always found joy in drawing, painting and photography- ways of slowing down, looking closer and noticing the things that might otherwise go unseen.
Whether it's a quick sketch in a field notebook, a painting taking shape on a canvas or a photograph caught in passing, art has remained a constant companion to his work. He is particularly drawn to the little details, curious encounters and fleeting moments that make the world so endlessly fascinating.