Pradip Swarnakar

Pradip Swarnakar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He has held academic positions at several prestigious institutions including the University of Technology Sydney, University of San Francisco, University of Helsinki, and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. His expertise lies at the intersection of environmental sociology, climate change policy, and social network analysis.

Dr. Swarnakar's educational background includes:

• PhD in Sociology from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2008)
• MA from University of Kalyani (2000)

Dr. Swarnakar's research focuses on environmental sociology, climate change policy, and social network analysis. His work examines how social networks influence environmental behaviors, how civil society organizations mobilize around climate change, and the dynamics of climate policy networks across different countries. His research takes a unique approach by combining quantitative social network analysis with qualitative sociological methods to understand complex environmental governance systems. He has developed frameworks like 'Crowding-in' to explain how Indian civil society organizations mobilize on climate change, and 'Sustainability 3.0' which offers alternatives to traditional top-down and bottom-up approaches to sustainable development.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on climate policy networks, social media dynamics, and sustainability transitions. The articles span disciplines including sociology, environmental science, information technology, and public policy. Key subfields include climate change governance, social movement mobilization, online social networks, information diffusion models, and bibliometric analysis of scientific collaboration.

Dr. Swarnakar has received several prestigious awards and fellowships:

• Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship (2017-2018)
• KONE Foundation Senior Researcher grant (2015-2016)
• German Research Foundation (DFG) grant (2013)

As principal investigator of multiple international research projects, Dr. Swarnakar has secured funding from organizations including the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Climate Justice Research Centre at University of Technology Sydney, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Japan Society for Promotion of Science, and National Science Foundation (USA). His Indo-Australia joint project 'Climate Change Policy Network' and Indo-Japan joint project 'Climate-Energy Policy Network' demonstrate his leadership in international collaborative research on climate policy.

Dr. Swarnakar has been actively involved in numerous international research networks, including the Climate Change Policy Networks (COMPON) project funded by the National Science Foundation. His work connects with scholars across the globe, from the United States and Europe to Australia and Japan, creating a robust international research community focused on understanding climate change policy dynamics.