Programme

Madhav Gadgil is an Indian ecologist, academic, writer, columnist and the founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. He is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and the Head of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) of 2010, popularly known as the Gadgil Commission. His contributions, as a member of the draft committee, has been reported in the preparation of the Biological Diversity Act 2002 and the manual he prepared for the People’s Biodiversity Registers has been accepted by the National Biodiversity Authority. His research has been documented by over 250 scientific articles, published in various journals and magazines. He has also published two books, over 40 articles in Marathi and handled a fortnightly column on natural history, in The Hindu. He handles a monthly column in the Marathi daily, Sakal. He is a recipient of the Volvo Environment Prize and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 1981 and followed it up with the Padma Bhushan in 2006.

Lisa Rasmussen is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy, and Faculty Fellow in the Graduate School, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research focuses on ethical issues in research, and she is particularly interested in thinking about ethics in unregulated research areas like citizen science and DIY Bio. She teaches in the areas of bioethics and research ethics. Lisa is also the Editor-in-Chief of Accountability in Research; a Co-Editor of the Philosophy & Medicine book series, published by Springer; and an Associate Editor of Citizen Science: Theory and Practice.