Sutirtha Lahiri is a Ph.D. student at the conservation science program. He holds a bachelor's in Science from University of Delhi and an MSc in wildlife science from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India. He subsequently held a research position at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. Hailing from Assam, Sutirtha's research interests are tied to the Northeast of India. He has conducted ornithological research on Hornbill nesting ecology, vocal behavior of Drongos, as well as bioacoustic monitoring of bird communities in grasslands. For his Ph.D., he is keen to understand how and whether fragmented populations of grassland birds are connected. He is also keen to study how floodplain grasslands shape, and are in turn shaped, by humans. He intends to combine his training and experience in ecology with interests in ethnographic research to have a holistic understanding of a complex socio-ecological system, and contribute to both biodiversity conservation and human well-being.
Apart from this, he is also a freelance writer, and his articles have appeared in several platforms including Sanctuary Asia, RoundGlass Sustain, Outlook traveller, and National Geographic Magazine. He is also recipient of several fellowships and research grants including the WII Fellowship, Rufford Small Grants, Oriental Bird Club Conservation Grant, IDEA WILD Equipment grant.