Remote Sensing for Vegetation Monitoring

Dr Kantamaneni is currently working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), United Kingdom. Her research has produced, for the first time, a combined vulnerability assessment based on physical science parameters and economic drivers. Her academic background gives her different perspectives, and she engages with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects such as coastal and water infrastructures, natural disasters, risk assessment and management. Her research focuses mainly on coastal vulnerability, natural disasters, natural hazards, climate change, water infrastructure and GIS mapping, and she has been plenary/keynote and invited speaker at many major international conferences. Dr Kantamaneni has been an evaluator for various coastal and maritime research projects, and is also Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator to a number of international research projects.

Dr. Navneet Kumar serves as a Professor and Head of the Geo-Meteorological Risk Management Division (GMRD) at the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. He holds a PhD in Engineering (Hydrology and Climatology) from the University of Bonn, Germany with a DAAD scholarship and a Master’s degree in Geoinformatics from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Netherlands. He has worked on various aspects of disaster risk reduction and management, advanced applications of remote sensing and GIS for vegetation monitoring, drought, flood, and landslide risk assessment, mapping, and modelling with particular emphasis on the real-time monitoring frameworks, climate change and risk analysis and land degradation. He coordinated several projects in Africa and Asia, including India, West Africa, Algeria, Ethiopia, and South Korea. He has contributed to capacity-building initiatives at the Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences based in Tlemcen, Algeria and collaborated on a global classroom program with institutions in the USA and Brazil. Prof. Kumar has lectured, conducted trainings and workshops, and presented at several international conferences and earned several awards. He has published several papers in International peer-reviewed journals, co-edited four handbooks, co-authored several book chapters, proceedings, and global reports reflecting both scientific rigour and policy relevance. Prof. Kumar also served as a guest editor for various international journals, reviewer of several grant proposals from Germany, Austria and Czech Republic and served as a member of international committees. Prior to joining NIDM, Prof. Kumar worked at the University of Bonn, Germany. In this capacity, he had coordinated disciplinary PhD courses and participated as a member of the ethical committee for the doctoral program at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) as well as coordinated several research and capacity building projects. Additionally, he has held a position at the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), also located in Bonn, Germany. His responsibilities included the proactive promotion, strengthening, and expansion of scientific networks to establish partnerships with pertinent institutions, including United Nations organizations.