Krithi Karanth, Specialty Chief Editor of Conservation, winner of Women of Discovery 2019 award

Specialty Chief Editor of Conservation, Krithi Karanth has been recognized with the Women of Discovery award. The prestigious award recognizes outstanding women in science.

Dr. Karanth’s research spans over 20 years and encompasses a broad range of issues examining human dimensions of wildlife conservation in Asia. She has conducted extensive research on conservation issues including mammal extinctions, anthropogenic pressures, voluntary resettlement of people, tourism trends, human-wildlife conflicts, and resource and land use change.

“This award was an extremely pleasant surprise! Even more so since very few Indians have been honored with it, so this makes me quite proud,” says Krithi Karanth. She considers winning this award as representing a generation of women being recognized as scientists globally and in India. “We all know the challenges women face, and how few of them actually become scientists. I hope that a lot more people have opportunities like this to gain recognition for their work.”

“Typically, traditional theoretical sciences such as physics, chemistry, or biology receive the most attention. Having an award that is specifically for conservation, acknowledges its value as an applied science.”

Dr Karanth was recognized in 2017 by Vogue-India among the Women of the Year and was chosen in 2015 by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. In 2013, she was University of Florida’s Outstanding Young Alumnus and INK Fellow. In the same year, she was one of Elle India’s Women of the Year. National Geographic Society honored her as their 10,000th grantee in 2011 and Emerging Explorer in 2012. She was also selected to be among India’s Power Women by Femina in 2012.

Krithi Karanth, will be inducted as a Fellow during the 2019 WINGS Worldquest Women of Discovery Awards on 23 April 2019.