Faculty Profile

• Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, 2021. Thesis titled - Characterizing urban ecosystems in the capital cities of the Western Himalaya.
• M.Sc. in Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 2014.

• Lead Researcher, Miyamoto International-CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Support Project, Gurugram, India (March 2023-August 2023).
• NbS Researcher, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), Singapore (Remote)(December 2022 – February 2023).
• Postdoctoral Associate (NASA Black Marble Grant), School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, USA (December 2021-November 2022).
• Project Assistant, Urban Resilience and Adaptation for India and Mongolia (URGENT) Project, European Union, New Delhi, India (August 2022-October 2022).
• DAAD Fellow, Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Saxony, Germany (October 2019-Septemeber 2020).
• Assistant Professor (Guest), PGDAV(E) College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India (January 2016-April 2016).
• Research Assistant, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, India (September 2014-January 2015).

• I am interested in the area of urbanization science. I explore urban areas from an ecosystem perspective to understand the relationship between the spatial patterns of urbanization and ecological and social components of an urban ecosystem. This is intended to interrelate ecological and developmental issues in urban and peri-urban areas.
• My research and academic interests are intertwined in developing theoretical understanding and research frameworks that can help in simplifying interrelationships in urban areas. I utilize remote sensing data, social datasets, concepts of spatial ecology, GIS, and statistical tools. My research is mostly centred around the characterization of urban ecosystems and urbanization's influence on infrastructure, services, and vulnerability, such as energy equity and green spaces.

• Research Grant – funded by NASA Black Marble Grant (80NSSC19K0638) and Resources for the Future Molly Macauley grant, United States (2021-2022).
• Research Grant - Bi-nationally Supervised Doctoral Degree funded by DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), Germany (2019-2020).
• Senior Research Fellowship (UGC-SRF) in ‘Environmental Sciences’ funded by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India (2018-2021).
• Junior Research Fellowship (UGC-JRF) in ‘Environmental Sciences’ funded by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India (2016-2018).
• Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in ‘Ecology and Evolution’ conducted by Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (2015).
• National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) for Lectureship (Assistant Professor) in 'Environmental Sciences' conducted by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India (2014).

Journal Articles

• Anees, M.M., Banzhaf, E., Wang. J., and Joshi, P.K. (2023). Quality Index Approach for Analysis of Urban Green Infrastructure in Himalayan Cities. Land, 12(2), 1-21.
• Anees, M.M., Mann, D., and Mahato S., (2023). Urban ecosystems research in India: Advances and opportunities. Current Landscape Ecology Reports.
• Anees, M.M., Mann, D., Sharma, M., Banzhaf, E., and Joshi, P.K. (2020). Assessment of urban dynamics to understand spatiotemporal differentiation at various scales using remote sensing and geospatial tools. Remote Sensing, 12(8), 1-30.
• Anees, M.M., Shukla, R., Punia, M., and Joshi, P.K (2020). Assessment and visualization of inherent vulnerability of urban population in India to natural disasters. Climate and Development, 12(6), 532–546.
• Mann, D., Anees, M.M., Shalini, R., and Joshi, P.K. (2021). Spatio-temporal variations in landscape ecological risk related to road network in the Central Himalaya. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, 27(2), 1-18.
• Sharma, S., Nahid, S., Sharma, M., Sannigrahi, S., Anees, M. M., Sharma, R., Shekhar R., Basu A. S., Pilla, F., Basu, B., Joshi, P. K. (2020). A long-term and comprehensive assessment of urbanization-induced impacts on ecosystem services in the capital city of India. City and Environment Interactions, 7, 1-12.
• Sharma, S., Anees, M.M., Sharma, M., and Joshi, P.K. (2020). Longitudinal study of changes in ecosystem services in a city of lakes, Bhopal, India. Energy, Ecology and Environment, 6, 408–424.
• Anees, M.M., Sajjad, S., and Joshi, P.K. (2019). Characterizing urban area dynamics in historic city of Kurukshetra, India, using remote sensing and spatial metric tools. Geocarto International, 34(14), 1–24.

Chapters in Books

• Anees M.M., and Pandey B., (2023) Integrating Ecological and Social Concepts for Urban Metabolism Studies. In Bhadouria R. et al., (eds.), Urban Metabolism and Climate Change: Perspective for Sustainable Cities (Springer Nature).
• Nahid S., Mahato S., Anees M.M., Pandey D P., Joshi P K., (2023) Air Pollutants-Induced Environmental Critical Zones in Capital City of India. In Rahman A. et al., (eds.), Advancements in Urban Environmental Studies: Application of Geospatial Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Urban Studies (Springer).
• Anees M.M., Sharma R., and Joshi, P.K. (2022) Urbanization in Himalaya - An interregional perspective to land use and urban growth dynamics. In U. Schickhoff et al. (eds.), Mountain Landscapes in Transition, Sustainable Development Goals Series (Springer Nature).

Other publications/contributions

• Urban Nature Atlas – case studies from Asia (https://una.city/) 2023.
• DRI Lexicon – Shared understanding of terms that matter for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, New Delhi, India (https://lexicon.cdri.world/) 2023.

• Anees M.M. (2022). Electricity Magnitude Typology and Consistency Using Nightlights Satellite Data, presented at the Confluence Research Discussion Series, School of the Environment, Yale University, November 2022, United States.
• Anees M.M. and Seto Karen (2022). Who has consistent electricity? A satellite data analysis, presented at the 5th Annual YPA Postdoc Symposium, Yale University, May 2022, United States.
• Anees M.M. and Joshi P.K. (2021). Characterizing landscape structure and processes of urban ecosystems in the Western Himalaya – a conceptual framework, presented at the 1st Annual Symposium of Indian Regional Association for Landscape Analysis (IRALE), (online), October 2021, India.
• Anees M.M. and Joshi P.K. (2021). Characterizing urban ecosystems of the Western Himalaya – a conceptual framework, presented at the V. International Conference on Ecology, Ecosystems and Climate Change (online), 2021, DAKAM (Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Center), Istanbul, Turkey.
• Anees M.M. and Joshi P.K. (2021). Assessment of urban dynamics and landscape structure of green spaces at various scales in a touristic hill city of Indian Himalaya, presented at the VI. International Conference on City Planning and Urban Design (online), May 2021, DAKAM (Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Center), Istanbul, Turkey.
• Anees M.M. and Joshi P.K. (2021). Conceptual framework for assessment of inherent vulnerability in urban district population of the Western Himalaya to natural hazards, presented at the International Conference on Challenges of Disasters: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience (online), March 2021, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.