Dr Mukunda Upadhyay is a senior policy expert, researcher, and programme implementer with more than a decade of experience across sectors, including disaster risk reduction, humanitarian response, transboundary water governance, climate change adaptation, migration, and urban issues. He has worked with government agencies, the UN system, and international organizations in dynamic, multi-stakeholder, and multidisciplinary settings. Some of his notable contributions include policy design to strengthen resilient systems, supporting effective emergency responses, designing technology-enabled systems for risk reduction, developing recovery frameworks for long-term resilience, and promoting dialogues for progressive transboundary water governance.
Dr. Upadhyay has contributed significantly to various transboundary water governance initiatives in South Asia, particularly to promoting citizen science, strengthening early warning systems, and implementing sustainability models, thereby fostering a sense of stewardship among key stakeholders. His current research interests focus on understanding transboundary riparian urban spaces in relation to shared risks, vulnerabilities and resilience. He completed his PhD in Population Studies from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, under the guidance of Prof. (Retd.) Shrawan Kumar Acharya.
As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Upadhyay seeks to examine the conceived, perceived, and lived dimensions of transboundary urbanism in the Mahakali river basin in the Indo-Nepal border region. The research examines water governance, migration, trade, economic systems, and resilience-building in the context of the shared environmental risks faced by urban communities in these dynamic transboundary spaces.