Okapi Research & Advisory

Okapi’s practice draws extensively on multidisciplinary research for insights and creative approaches to address the complex socio-ecological challenges often aggravated by climate change and rapid urban growth faced by our cities and our clients across multiple sectors of water, waste, food and energy.

Our mission is to co-create new institutional designs with public, private and community stakeholders in India and globally, in the form of catalytic policies and governance processes/platforms, innovative business practices, social enterprises and community interventions that will ultimately support our society to better align with social-environmental missions of sustainability, circularity, and equity.

Driving Principles

Co-creating knowledge / solutions with public, corporate and civic stakeholders

Leveraging interdisciplinary / innovative methodologies

Fostering integrated / holistic understanding of challenges and opportunities

Driving policy, business model, and cultural / behavioral change for sustainable growth and resilience building

Meet the Team

Okapi has a robust network of advisors and collaborators across various geographies of work and expertise.

Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam_Okapi Research & Advisory

Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam

Co-Founder

Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam is co-founder of Okapi and a Professor at the Building Technology and Construction Management division of the Civil Engineering Department at IIT, Madras. Dr. Mahalingam’s current research interests include Public-Private partnerships in infrastructure, megaproject governance and management, IT based innovation in architecture, engineering, and construction industry, and ways in which organizations react to the globalization of engineering services. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a B.Tech from IIT, Madras. Dr. Ashwin is also a Director on the boards of several infrastructure project companies and is involved in setting up the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem at IIT, Madras.

Dr Jessica Seddon_Okapi Research & Advisory

Dr. Jessica Seddon

Co-Founder

Dr. Jessica Seddon is co-founder of Okapi. She is currently Senior Fellow at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs and Senior Fellow, Air Quality at the World Resources Institute (WRI), where she earlier led the Global Air Quality Program. Dr. Seddon’s work on environmental governance focuses on how new sources of data can be leveraged to enable new (and more sustainable) ways of interacting with the environment around us. Dr. Seddon earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and her B.A. from Harvard University.

Dr Parama Roy_Okapi Research & Advisory

Dr. Parama Roy

Executive Director

Dr. Parama Roy is Executive Director at Okapi. Dr. Roy is interested in the multifaceted and complex nature of urbanization process and its social and environmental implications. She has over 10 years of research experience relating to contemporary urban planning processes and associated possibilities and challenges across varied socio-political contexts. Her work is specifically motivated by principles of socio-environmental justice and sustainable development and guided by political-economic and political-ecological theories, and mixed research methodologies. Dr Roy completed her Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has worked at Georgia State University and State University of New York-Binghamton in the US and University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Akshaya Ayyangar_Okapi Research & Advisory

Akshaya Ayyangar

Lead – Environmental Policy and Governance

Akshaya has around 8 years of research experience in urban development specifically around water, sanitation, solid waste management and urban resilience. At Okapi, she helps in research and project management. She is interested in understanding the linkages between urbanisation, society and the environment from an equity and justice perspective especially, in the areas of solid waste management, urban water and food systems. She has a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Bristol.

Ramachandran A

Lead – Urban Planner & Geo-spatial Analytics

Ramachandran ‘Ram’ leverages his expertise in urban planning to drive impactful projects at Okapi. With over 8 years of combined experience in academia and government, he has honed his skills in interdisciplinary research methodologies. Ram’s interest lies in addressing complex urban challenges, focusing on sustainability, resilience, and inclusive governance. His adeptness in geospatial analysis further enriches his contributions, particularly in unraveling the dynamics of land-use changes, urbanization, and peri-urbanization. Ram holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from School of Architecture & Planning – Anna University, Chennai.

Ayesha Ajmal

Research Associate and Communications Manager

Ayesha brings her expertise in solid waste management and consumer engagement to the organization. Her focus lies in utilizing contemporary communication channels to educate and positively influence consumer behavior and promote awareness about environmental issues, waste management, and accessible sustainable lifestyle changes. Ayesha holds a Master’s degree in Information Systems from Santa Clara University, California.

Rithika Vivek

Research Associate

Rithika is a Research Associate at Okapi with an interest in the politics that shape urban living. She focuses on climate challenges as inherently social – rooted in the ways access to resources and opportunities is negotiated, bestowed, or withheld through institutional decisions and urban priorities. She is interested in exploring policy design and its implementation as a set of choices, examining how it is experienced and refracted on the ground. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Nivedita Shridhar

Senior Research Associate

Nivedita has had the experience of working in both research and development sectors in the realm of climate change and coastal management. At Okapi, her work involves research, project coordination and stakeholder engagement. Her interest lies in understanding and bridging the gap between science, policy, and the communities, especially from the context of disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation. She has a B.Tech in Energy & Environmental Engineering from TNAU and a master’s degree in Coastal Management from Anna University.

Bindhu Bhuma

Research Associate

With a background in architecture and urban research, Bindhu’s work focuses on socio-spatial and climate change challenges across diverse contexts, particularly in urban resilience, equitable development, and sustainable habitats. She is interested in bridging research and practice to inform more inclusive and climate-resilient development. She is a former SBI Youth for India Fellow and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Catalonia, Spain, with a focus on sustainable urban development.