Earth Observation & GeoAI
Understanding environmental and shoreline change through geospatial observations, with emerging work on predictive analysis and interpretable GeoAI.
Geospatial science · Water · Climate adaptation
Dr. Ravinder
Dhiman.
Assistant Professor
Centre for Water Policy and Governance
School of Habitat Studies · TISS, Mumbai
Connecting Earth observation and spatial decision science to understand environmental change and inform the decisions that follow.
Research grounded in environmental systems.
Methods shaped by decision relevance.
Remote Sensing & GIScienceSpatial Decision SupportEmerging GeoAI
01 / Research
Three connected directions
Across my work, a common question is how spatial evidence can support planning under uncertainty.
Spatial Decision Science
Combining GIS, multi-criteria analysis and socio-spatial evidence to assess vulnerability and support decisions about water and environmental systems.
Urban & Coastal Climate Adaptation
Examining flood risk, environmental planning and adaptation pathways through quantitative analysis and participatory approaches.
I am extending this work toward GeoAI and scenario-based approaches, with an emphasis on validation, uncertainty and decision relevance.
Research approach and directions02 / Current projects
Research in progress
Connecting geospatial methods with field evidence, institutional collaboration and questions of adaptation.
Bihar Flood Vulnerability
Principal Investigator
Examining socio-economic flood vulnerability across sixteen highly flood-affected districts of Bihar. The project combines hazard information, field evidence and GIS-based multi-criteria analysis to develop village-level vulnerability models and a composite atlas.
- Sanctioned project budget
- ₹28,32,979
- Project period
- May 2025–May 2027
TRANSCEND
India Principal Investigator · LMU Munich collaboration
Examining transformation decisions for urban adaptation and sustainability under environmental and socio-economic change. My work focuses on urban climate risk, participatory scenario-downscaling and adaptation pathways in Mumbai.
- Research focus
- Urban climate adaptation
- Project period
- 2022–2027
03 / Selected publications
Contributions to the field
10+ peer-reviewed journal articles.
Selected work across methods, vulnerability and adaptation.
npj Climate Action
Identifying future challenges for climate change adaptation through insights from participatory scenario-downscaling in Mumbai.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Localising vulnerability assessment to urban floods: A comparative analysis of top-down and bottom-up geospatial approaches in Patna City, India.
Habitat International
GIS coupled multiple criteria decision making approach for classifying urban coastal areas in India.
04 / Teaching & supervision
Beyond software.
Toward scientific reasoning.
My postgraduate teaching connects geospatial methods with water resources, disaster risk and decision science. I encourage students to question data limitations, modelling assumptions and uncertainty, and to develop reproducible analyses grounded in real problems.
Teaching and supervisionSelected curriculum contributions
- Geospatial Advances in Water Resource Management
- Introduction to Urban Geoinformatics
- Geo-intelligence for Preparedness and Early Warning Systems
16 Master’s dissertations supervised
One Ph.D. scholar registered in July 2026.
Supervision record as of September 2026.
05 / Academic background
Scholarship, teaching
and institutional service
I completed my Ph.D. in Urban Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay in 2020. My doctoral research brought together remote sensing, environmental assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis for land-use planning in coastal urban regions.
My academic path connects computing, environmental systems and geospatial science. Alongside research and teaching, I contribute to curriculum development, academic coordination and institutional governance.
Excellence in PhD Research Award · IIT Bombay
Award cycle 2018–2020
Selected leadership roles
June 2025–present
Programme Coordinator
Centre for Water Policy and Governance, TISS
November 2025–present
Faculty In-Charge, Computer Centre
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
July 2021–December 2024
Leadership and service Chairperson, Centre for Geo-Informatics
Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, TISS
School of Habitat Studies
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Deonar, Mumbai 400088, India