Archives at NCBS | Team Profiles

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. Over the past six years, the archiving team has been a crew of about 100 students and professionals working for different stints (months to years!) between 2016 and 2024. 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). 

Get to know us and read the profiles of current team members. If you want to know about our alumni or what they were/have been up to, head to the Archives Alumni Pages (https://archives.ncbs.res.in/alumni and https://archives.ncbs.res.in/alumni-profile). And if you'd like to be part of this team, write to us at archives at ncbs dot res dot in

Revision Date: Jan 1, 2026

Abishai V I work 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.

Anjali Ramachandran I work as an archivist at the Archives at NCBS, where I coordinate archival processing and lead education outreach through internships, school and volunteer programs. I have worked at IIT Bombay Archives and Museum as an archivist and researcher, and was part of a team that set up the Virtual Experiential Museum on Ajanta, a digital museum on the Ajanta caves at the National Museum, New Delhi. I also made a short documentary on the role of the local community in the conservation of heritage precincts in Mumbai. Prior to this, I taught English in a high-school in Pune.

Deepika S. I work as Senior Archivist and manage new accessions and oral histories, among other things. I’ve previously worked in the Indian Institute of Science’s Archives and Office of Communications and helped produce their magazine Connect. Prior to this, I worked as a journalist, and have written and edited for The Hindu, the long-form journalism platform Yahoo! Originals India, and the feminist webzine The Ladies Finger. I also worked for Agents of Ishq, a multimedia sex education project.

Dhanya Shree R I am an intern at the Archives at NCBS, working in the Conservation Lab where I assist with the stabilization, preservation, and reintegration of archival materials. I hold a background in Art and Heritage Conservation from the Indian Institute of Heritage, Delhi, and have experience in the preservation and digitization of palm-leaf manuscripts at the Mythic Society, Mysore.

Dhatri S Aradhya I work as an archivist, handling physical material at the archives to arrange and catalogue them for online access and offline storage. I am also a graphic designer. I like to curate using objects in the archives. I also occasionally work with the team to develop posters and other visual outputs to aid our public engagement.

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. Now, at the Archives, I’m working to make public engagement more diverse, inclusive, and accessible.

Kinjal Shah I am currently working as an Assistant Conservator at the Archives at NCBS, where I prepare condition reports for archival materials and assist the conservator with various preservation treatments. I hold a fine arts background with a specialization in ceramics, which I continue to explore through my studio practice in Bangalore. I instruct at various ceramic studios and have actively participated in numerous gallery exhibitions and workshops nationally and internationally.

Nisha Bhakat I am a researcher and archivist, and have been associated with the Archives at NCBS in various capacities since 2024. I have worked on research projects, archival processing, and have been a metadata archivist for ecology and conservation collections. I also lead a PAST project in collaboration with Nature Conservation Foundation, on Archiving Bengal Natural History Society papers. My academic background includes a postgraduate degree in wildlife biology & conservation from NCBS, and a graduation in chemical engineering. My research interests lie in the past and present of wildlife beyond protected areas, and in the history and culture of science in Eastern India.

Ojas Kadu I work as a Software Architect for web development at the Archives at NCBS, where I maintain the open source forks of ArchivesSpace – an archives information management application and DSpace – a repository management application for digital content. I also implement the end-to-end workflow to make the collection catalogues and digital objects at Archives at NCBS accessible to the public and work on developing tools for archival annotation, research and discovery. Prior to this, I have worked at the IDC School of Design at IIT Bombay as a Project Technical Assistant and was part of the team that set up the Virtual Experiential Museum on Ajanta at the National Museum, New Delhi.

Parvathy Venukuttan I work as an archivist, organising and cataloguing collections at the Archives at NCBS to make them accessible freely to the public. With a background in environmental history, I have archived collections that document the intricate relationships of communities with their environment and highlight the critical narratives of environmental activism. I also try to actively research these collections to find connections and curate research guides to aid scholars and the public navigate our collections.

Pricilla P. Rozario I work as a researcher and archivist, 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.

Ravi Kumar Boyapati I work as a Facility Coordinator at the Archives at NCBS, where I ensure the seamless operation of the facility by coordinating across departments and addressing issues vital to its function. Prior to this role, I worked as a researcher in Dr. Axel Brockmann’s Lab at NCBS, focusing on the navigational and foraging behaviours of honey bees and fruit flies, specifically exploring how these insects learn their pathways home and locate food sources.

S. Prashant Kumar I’m an Honorary Fellow at the Archives at NCBS, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Rank of Instructor at the University of Chicago. 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 am teaching a course at NCBS introducing first-year PhD students to the history of science. As part of the Archives team, I also work 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.

Sahamatha I work 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.

Sanjna GY I am a researcher, archivist and poet with a background in political science and anthropology. I am interested in crafting an ethnographic approach to the archives and my quests so far has revolved around the questions of violence, institutions, memory and archives. I have been associated with the Archives at NCBS in various roles since May 2021 and move between processing collections, researching and writing with archival material both academically and creatively. Previously, I have worked with the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh and with the UN Archives and Library in Geneva.

Sindhu Nagaraja I work as an Archival Conservator at Archives at NCBS, where I manage the condition of the physical collection by maintaining condition reports and performing conservation treatments of deteriorated materials. Previously, I worked with the Museum of Art and Photography as a Course Anchor for training in paper conservation. Prior to this I obtained training and worked at INTACH Conservation Institute, Bangalore. Here I was part of in-situ conservation projects and worked on prominent collections like Karnataka State Museum, Roerich Collection and private collections at the lab.

Venkat Srinivasan I head the Archives at NCBS, with a core interest in archival processing of manuscript collections and oral history interviews. I am also a founding member of the Milli Archives Foundation, which is committed to nurturing archives in India (milli.link/about), and serve on the review boards for the archives at IIT Madras and ISI Kolkata, and a sub-committee of the ICA SUV. Prior to this, I worked as a research engineer at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, which is where I developed an interest in the intersection of science, its history and its presence in public discourse. My independent writing has appeared in Nautilus, Aeon, Guernica, Wire, and the Caravan.

Vinay Kumar I am a metadata archivist at the Archives at NCBS, working on enhancing metadata for material related to indigenous communities. Previously, I held a fellowship at Coexistence studies, TDU, where I worked with the Solega community in B.R. Hills to learn about and document traditional forest management practices. Over the past few years, I have also collaborated with social organizations working in the rural areas of South India.