Who we are

The Bengaluru Sustainability Forum (BSF) is a multi-institutional collaborative initiative that brings together diverse voices to engage with the long-term sustainability of urban and peri-urban landscapes. Our primary focus is on urban commons and public goods such as water, air, soil, and biodiversity through a city-specific lens, rooted in Bengaluru.

At its heart, BSF is a platform for dialogue, learning, and connection. We believe that to meaningfully address the complexities of sustainability in a city like Bengaluru, we need interdisciplinary thinking and inter-sectoral collaboration. That’s why we have created a forum for researchers, policy makers, civil society actors, educators, artists, entrepreneurs, citizen groups, and others to listen, share, and act.

What we do

Convening conversations

We host invitation-based retreats that provide space for open, reflective dialogue on themes such as water, biodiversity, urban resilience, and climate change. These gatherings are designed to break silos, spark collaborations, and surface diverse perspectives.

Learn more about our retreats

Seeding local action

While BSF is not a traditional funding agency, our Small Grants Programme offers seed support for locally rooted, innovative projects that bridge the gap between research and action. These projects often lead to new insights, networks, and real-world impact.

Explore the Small Grants Programme

Reaching the wider public

Through workshops, webinars, film festivals, podcasts, exhibitions, interactive games, and community events, BSF takes sustainability conversations beyond academic and policy spaces and into the public realm.

Browse our past events

Steering committee

Jahnavi Phalkey

Founding Director, Science Gallery Bengaluru

A filmmaker and historian of science and technology by training, Jahnavi has authored Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and is director of the documentary film Cyclotron.

Jagdish Krishnaswamy

Dean, School of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute of Human Settlements

A field ecohydrologist and a landscape ecologist, Jagdish was the Coordinating Lead Author of the Special IPCC Report on Climate Change and Land. He has a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai, Mumbai, a Master’s in Statistics and Decision Sciences and a PhD in Environmental Science, both from Duke University, North Carolina, USA. 

Mahesh Sankaran

Community and Ecosystems Ecologist, National Centre of Biological Sciences

Prof Mahesh’s research interests lie in understanding the impacts of global climatic changes on the structure, functioning and stability of ecosystems, He was the coordinating lead author on the IPBES Land Degradation & Restoration Assessment and a review-editor for the IPCC special report on land.

L S Shashidhara

Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, Bangalore

Prof Shashidhara specializes in Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolutionary biology and is one of the founding academic members of IISER Pune and Ashoka University. He has contributed to the Pune Knowledge Cluster, a consortium to promote multi-disciplinary collaborative work to address problems of health, water, environment and sustainable mobility. He has also been very involved in the promotion of science and science education.

P S Narayan

Head of Sustainability, Wipro Ltd.; Managing Trustee & Head of Wipro Foundation

Narayan has led Wipro’s sustainability initiatives since its inception in 2008. He  is Visiting Faculty at Azim Premji University and Xavier University, Bhubaneswar where he teaches post-graduate classes in ecology and sustainable Development. He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering with a post-graduation in management and comes with over 25 years of cross-functional experience.

Satyajit Mayor

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore

An Indian cell biologist, Prof. Mayor has an M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Bombay, and obtained his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Rockefeller University, New York. He has worked in the Department of Pathology at Columbia University before returning to India in 1995.

Uma Ramakrishnan

Molecular Ecologist and Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences

Prof Uma’s work involves using genetic and genomic data to make inferences about populations of endangered species, and suggest measures to avoid extinction. She also investigates the ecological and evolutionary contexts of emerging infectious disease. She is passionate about science communication and science capacity building.

S Vishwanath

Trustee, Biome Environmental Trust

A civil engineer and an urban planner, Vishwanath has 32 years of experience in the water, waste-water and sanitation sector helping design rainwater harvesting, aquifer recharge, wastewater recycling and ecosan systems. He was Adjunct Professor and teaches a course on Water at the Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India. He wrote a longstanding weekly column, Waterwise, for The Hindu, for several years.

Wipro anchors

Coordinators

people / past