Krithi K Karanth

Krithi Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies at Duke University. She has a Ph.D. from Duke (2008), a M.E.Sc from Yale (2003), and B.S and B.A degrees from the University of Florida (2001 ).

Karanth’s research in India and Asia for the past 23 years is on the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. She has conducted macro-level studies assessing patterns of species distributions and extinctions, impacts of wildlife tourism, consequences of voluntary resettlement, land use change, and understanding human-wildlife interactions. She has published 100+ scientific and popular articles in English and Kannada. Karanth served on the editorial boards of journals Conservation Biology, Conservation Letters, and Frontiers in Ecology and Environment. She has mentored over 200 young scientists from India, US, Chile, UK, Australia, Indonesia etc. and engaged 750 citizen science volunteers in her research and conservation projects. As a conservationist, she has designed the Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, and Wild Surakshe programs.

Karanth has collaborated with painters, illustrators, film-makers, and photographers. Her conservation and research work has been featured in three award-winning BBC Series and in documentaries by CBC and PBS. She has co-produced 4 documentaries Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale, and Flying Elephants. In 2020, she co-starred with Kevin Pietersen in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic. She has written a bilingual children's book with artist Raghava KK.

Karanth’s work has been covered by over 250 international media outlets and has garnered her more than 40 awards and recognitions. In 2019, she was chosen as one of the five Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureates. In 2020, she became an Eisenhower Fellow and in 2021, she was recognized as a WILD Innovator, Ananta Aspen fellow, and featured by the Government of India’s Invest India.