Ramanarayanan has 10 years of experience in working on building environmental solutions. He has worked with industries and governments in building a variety of climate change solutions. He holds a Master Degree from the National University of Singapore and worked at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. In his current avatar along with the fellowship, he is also the founder of a social start-up called Civic Fulcrum.
What kind of exchange program is it you are participating in?
I am part of the International Climate Protection Fellowship by the Humboldt Foundation. This fellowship is provided to 20 promising young scientists and researchers in the field of environmental sustainability and climate change. I am joined by fellows from Egypt, Mexico, Ghana, Brazil, Columbia, and a lot of other countries. All of us are working on Climate Change Protection one way or the other. The fellowship gives me an opportunity to be a bridge between India and Germany and at the same time work with all the other fellows and researchers from across the globe.
What are the current scientific topics you are working on?
I am working on the Climate Change Resilience of cities. My focus is on energy and water management. I am interested in presenting my story with strong data and data visualization tools. I would like to build a tool that is a decision-making platform for the cities and also act as a platform for citizen engagement for them to understand and work with cities.
My passion is to make cities better. I think there is a lot to learn from German cities and also lot for German cities to learn from Indian cities and Singapore (places that I have lived so far). I am looking forward to collaborations within the Beuth University as well as to build some innovative solutions.
Is this the first time you visit Berlin or Germany in general?
I have visited Germany and Berlin a couple of times before. My first time was in 2015 when I visited Copenhagen to present a paper and then came to Bavaria to meet my friend. Since then I have made a couple of visits for conferences, client meetings and not to forget my fellowship selection meeting in Bonn (September 2019).
I have always had a fondness for Germany because 2 of my housemates in Singapore (when I was doing my masters in NUS) were Germans. What started as housemates became good friendships.
How do you like your time in Berlin so far? And what are your expectations or challenges?
Personally, I like Berlin very much so far. Apart from being a general newcomer to the city who is fascinated by the lakes and the parks, I think the diversity the city provides is really amazing.
Professionally I broadly aim at doing two things.
I have been in touch with Professor Schindler from Beuth University for a long time now and want to take this opportunity to work with him in very close quarters. Publish papers, build modules and build the tools that are creating a long-term impact.
Also, I like to work with start-ups in Berlin working in the space of Sustainability and Urban Parameters. Many companies who are creating a high impact in Urban Decision making are based out of Berlin. I would like to collaborate with them as part of the fellowship or to explore other innovative solutions/projects.
I have minimal knowledge of the German language now. That is a challenge. I want to join German classes and learn the language that will help me grow both professionally and personally.