Archives at NCBS | Alumni Profile Page 

The Archives at NCBS (https://archives.ncbs.res.in/) is a public centre for the history of science in contemporary India. We are a diverse team, bringing in varied skillsets and experiences, toward the common aim of enabling public, digital access to diverse histories of science from across the sub-continent. 

Various technical teams from across NCBS – civil, architecture, electrical, IT, instrumentation, hospitality – helped conceptualize and build the physical structure of the Archives at NCBS. The archiving team has been a crew of about 130 students and professionals working for different stints (months to years!) since ~2013. These include archivists and historians, designers and conservators, journalists and writers, scientists and administrators and librarians, students of sociology, engineering, history, photography, the sciences, marketing, education, and architecture and design. The Archives is governed by a guiding Archives Policy, an internal Archives Review Committee and an external advisory board (for more about this, head to the About Page: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/about). 

If you have been part of the Archives at NCBS in any capacity, and would like to share what you did, or have been up to since, send us an email at archives at ncbs dot res dot in. We'll add your profile here. For a full list of alumni: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/alumni.  

Get to know us and read the profiles of current team members: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/team

Revision Date: Jul 4, 2026

Archive alumni:

Abishai V I worked at NCBS as a Researcher and Subject Expert specializing in photographic archives, including working with film negatives and cataloging images of environmental activists and wildlife photographers. Previously, I was an Archivist at the Museum of Art and Photography. As a documentary filmmaker, I am eager to deepen my understanding of film negatives and the analog photography era to enrich my archival work and visual storytelling.

Carol Blaizy D'Souza I was an education officer (2024-25) at the Archives working towards developing curricular material using the archival collections and coordinating an education programme focussed on schools. I am a researcher, poet and translator from Bangalore. A collation of my work can be found here, https://linktr.ee/cblaizd

Gokul Prabhu I started my journey in science and have a Master’s in Biological Sciences, but I found myself drawn to science communication during my undergrad. That passion led me to create 'Into Their Minds', a platform for science communication. After working mostly online, I realised I wanted to communicate with people in-person. That brought me to Science Gallery Bengaluru, where I spent over a year mediating a historical exhibition on the history of science in the city of Bengaluru. It was there that I realised I didn’t just want to communicate science, but I wanted to explore and engage with the spaces where science, art, history, and society meet. At the Archives, I worked to make public engagement more diverse, inclusive, and accessible.

Hari Sridhar I helped manage the oral history programme of the Archives at NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences), and am currently involved in two oral history projects examining the contemporary history of conservation in India. Over the last eight years, I have been conducting another long-form interview project with authors of famous scientific papers in Ecology and Evolution (reflectionsonpaperspast.com). My other major research interest is in understanding animal heterospecific sociality, a topic I researched during my PhD and post-doctoral years at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and which I continue to stay in touch with through collaborative projects. I also teach occasionally at the Azim Premji University and have been an editor of Current Conservation in the past.

Janaky Sunil I worked (2025) as a subject matter expert, creating metadata in physics and space science collections at the archives. Previously, I have worked as a researcher of material physics in Carnegie Institution of Science, IIT Madras, and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, mostly looking at phase transitions of materials under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. I occasionally work as a freelance science writer as well.

Mansi Dhingra I worked as an assistant archivist, focusing on processing and cataloguing oral histories. I was involved as both researcher and archivist in bringing in and archiving Puroik oral literature from northeast India. I hold a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from NCBS, and my research interests lie in ethnobotany and people–plant relationships. Beyond research, I’m also an artist and enjoy sharing both my work and personal stories through art.

S. Prashant Kumar I was an Honorary Fellow at the Archives at NCBS. My research is about the history of time measurement, focusing on the role caste plays in organising scientific labour in South Asia. During August term 2024, I was teaching a course at NCBS introducing first-year PhD students to the history of science. As part of the Archives team, I also worked on the acquisition and description of collections relating to the history of the space sciences in post-independence India. The bird’s name is Pebbles.

Preeti Shree Venkatram I was a Researcher-Subject Expert- Archives of Ecology at the Archives at NCBS (2023-2025), primarily associated with the Making of Indian Conservation project. Previously, I have worked on research projects at Azim Premji University (APU), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and Centre for Policy Research (CPR)-Namati Environmental Justice Programme. These have dealt with a vast range of topics associated with the environment. To name a few- Krishnarajasagar Project under the Mysore Presidency, climate change, the Smart Cities Mission, environmental compliance, land-use change conflicts and coastal regulation in India. I have a Master's degree in Environment and Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.

Pricilla P. Rozario I worked as a researcher and archivist at the Archives at NCBS, creating metadata for collections on molecular biology research, and auditing older collections to maintain archival standards. I enjoy exploring the connections between subjects in a collection and observing the way a scientist’s individual research process evolves over time. Prior to this, I briefly worked at the Special Collections Research Center at North Carolina State University, processing and cataloging physical material on their institutional history and World War II. My academic background is in biology, psychology, and education, and I have previously been a teaching assistant for psychology and graduate-level biotechnology courses.

Sahamatha I worked as an Education Officer at the Archives at NCBS. With experience as a researcher and content designer at Kishore Bharati, IISER Pune, Shabad Shaala (an initiative by the Kabir Project), and the Eklavya Foundation, my work focuses on research, developing educational resources, and creating inclusive learning contexts for diverse learning communities across formal and informal settings. I am interested in interdisciplinary learning practices and often immerse myself in listening to local stories, songs about the land, wildlife, and people. This interest has led me to study learners’ ideas in remote villages of Maharashtra, collaborate with folk musicians from Rajasthan, Kutch and Malwa, and work with fishing communities in coastal Karnataka on human–marine mammal interactions. As a theatre artist, I have directed, designed, written, and acted in numerous productions, using artistic practice to question inequality.

Samyamee Sreevathsa I worked part-time at the Archives at NCBS (2024-2025), where I helped manage and process Oral History Interviews. Before this, I worked on developing the sensitivity framework for the same. My academic interests lie in behavioural and community ecology, and I'm also working on a project that aims to understand how vertebrate communities in Bangalore and Delhi utilise fruiting and flowering trees.