Vidyasagar University Archives

Dr. Kausik Ghosh is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. He is involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching on river geomorphology, sedimentology, hydrology and river regulations, climate change, transboundary river water-sharing and governance, ecosystem services, and water-energy-food (WEF) nexus. He uses remote sensing and GIS techniques, hydrological modeling, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and field surveys for conducting geoscience research. He leads the GeoBridge research group which is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnected and complex relationship between geosciences and social sciences.

Dr. Ghosh earned his master’s degree from Banaras Hindu University before pursuing M.Phil. at CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University. In 2018, he was a Water Advanced Research Innovation (WARI) visiting scholar at the University of Nebraska, funded by DST, IUSSTF, and DWFI. He also received the DST AWSAR award, Acceleration Award by DTU and Denmark under the Inclusive and Integrated Water Management, Microsoft Innovative Educator Learner Award (MIELA).

During his Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research at the Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Ghosh is developing a comprehensive framework for adaptive water management in transboundary river basins. The existing water-sharing treaties and governance mechanisms overlook aspects of river ecology, flow-sediment relations, climate variability, socio-economic demands, and the WEF nexus in transboundary basins. This study will simulate disparities in river water demand and supply, analyze synergies and trade-offs within the WEF nexus framework, and assess the role of transboundary institutions in mitigating risks associated with climate change.

Dr Indranil Acharya is Professor of English at Vidyasagar University, West Bengal. He specializes in the documentation and translation of Bengali Dalit narratives on the tragic plight of Partition refugees and the victims of Bangladesh Liberation War (1971). Survival and Other Stories: Anthology of Bangla Dalit Stories (2012) and Listen to the Flames: Texts and Readings from the Margins (2016) are two major publications in this area. He has also researched on the documentation, translation and digital archiving of endangered languages and cultures of Eastern India. The Languages of West Bengal (2019) is a seminal publication in this field. Dr Acharya has led an indigenous literary movement in Eastern India through a multilingual publication titled Janajati Darpan (since 2017).

During his tenure as a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence scholar, Dr Acharya intends to expand the scope of his archival research on endangered folk performance traditions of Bengal- a project he had been working on since 2013. Through the translation of some critically endangered folk forms, he wants to explore the issue of graded inequality among the ex-untouchables. He would also attempt to trace the continuities of such dying traditions among the Dalit diaspora in the United States.