Inaugural recipients of the Mittal Institute Faculty Climate Research Grants

The Mittal Institute is pleased to announce its first recipients of the Faculty Climate Research Grants. These grants are designed to foster deeper scholarly engagement on climate change in South Asia, catalyze the creation of new knowledge, and contribute to the development of sustainable solutions. Projects focused on three main research categories: energy transition and energy policy; food systems, agriculture, and land use; and law and policy for climate transition and adaptation.

Learn about the eight winning projects below:

1. Documenting Women’s Leadership in Climate Resilience Building in Koshi Province, Nepal 

Principal Investigators: Vincenzo Bollettino, Director, Program on Resilient Communities at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Director, National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership and Patrick Vinck, Research Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

2. Heat Stress in India: Why is Relative Humidity in Addition to Temperature on the Rise?

Principal Investigator: Peter Huybers, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences; Chair, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

3. A Systematic Review of Climate Change and Learning: Fostering Climate Resilient Education through Improved Policymaking

Principal Investigator: Asim Khwaja, Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development; Director, Center for International Development

4. Unveiling Gendered Climate Vulnerability in India: Blending Historical archives, Satellite and Census Data

Project Investigators: Eliana La Ferrara, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; Aditi Bhowmick, CID PhD Affiliate, Concentrations in Development Economics & Labor Economics

5. Optimizing India’s Biofuel Capacity with Green Hydrogen Penetration: A Decarbonization and Emission Reduction Strategy

Principal Investigator: Michael B. McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Chair, Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy, and Environment

6. Climate Change, Loss and Damage, and Habitability in Nepal

Principal Investigator: Eugene Richardson, Assistant Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

7. South Asia’s Role in Shaping a Future Global Climate Policy: The Case of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms

Principal Investigator: Dustin Tingley, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy and Harvard Government Department

8. Music and Rain: Indigenous Climate Stories from South India (a film)

Principal Investigator: Richard K. Wolf, Professor of Music and South Asian Studies, Harvard University Department of Music