STEM Untapped Role Model, Kerry Hill, interviews her colleague Gargi Vijayaraghavan about her journey into STEM and life as a Conservationist in Mumbai, India. 

Kerry: Gargi, what are you up to at the moment career and science-wise? 

Gargi: I work as an information officer at the Environmental Information System at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS-ENVIS), Asia’s oldest natural history organisation. As my title suggests, my work is to mainly provide information related to birds as we are a resource partner on Avian Ecology. BNHS-ENVIS is associated with the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, India. My work involves education and outreach as well. 

As an information officer, I respond to queries regarding avian ecology and also provide references as and when requested. I interact with a wide array of audience ranging from school kids to old people. Our team BNHS-ENVIS also maintains a database on birds which is regularly updated and is accessible to the users through our website. The most important part of my work is to compile and facilitate the publishing of our tri-annual newsletter named BUCEROS (which is the genus of the Great hornbill). The newsletter consists of organisational, national and international news. This newsletter also gives a platform for writers from across India to present their observations and writing regarding birds and sometimes theme specific articles for special issues.  

In my free time, I like to write articles, conduct nature trails and observe the interactions in nature. I live in Mumbai, a metro-city with rapid urbanisation. Mumbai being a fast-paced city, has plenty of urban biodiversity and green spaces which need to be protected for our own sustenance. The citizens are unaware of the biodiversity and hence do not understand the need to conserve fragile habitats like grasslands and wetlands. As a coastal city, Mumbai has mangrove belts which provide shelter to a number of marine species. The trails I conduct are completely focused on showing people backyard biodiversity to understand their importance and need. For example, I have two Baobab trees near my house and many other indigenous fruiting trees which provide food and shelter to native as well as migratory birds. The residents need to understand the importance of indigenous trees to prevent them from being replaced with an exotic ornamental tree with no benefits.  

Since the 2022 monsoon, my colleague (an excellent naturalist) and I are trying to document the diversity of Fungi in Mumbai and how these organisms are thriving in the weirdest places. Fungi are relatively under-studied and we are going to publish a photographic article by this year end for people to understand why we need fungi around us.  

Kerry: What are your aspirations in science? 

Gargi: I want to do a PhD to strengthen my research skills as well as test my patience haha! I’m interested in natural history and behavioural ecology both of which are important to understand the concepts of how nature works and how we as humans fit in the ecosystem. Ultimately, I want to dedicate my work towards conserving nature by opening a forest/nature school. India has biodiverse regions with some primary untouched forests. I feel starting young has a stronger impact rather than forcing people to go in a forest or green space and observe wildlife. The school I want to open will host school children of different age groups. I also want to provide free education for the tribal/local communities residing near a forest to help them understand the importance of their land. Showing the children how we can lead a sustainable lifestyle especially in this era of social media influencers and fast fashion, is the need of the hour. I want to connect behavioural ecology to community conservation by showing the children a world in their backyard that is beyond their school textbooks. This might sound a bit bizarre but hey! I’m scientist and experimenting with my ideas is my work.  

Kerry: What pathway did you take to get into your job? 

Gargi: Since the eighth grade, I wanted to become a Veterinary doctor. Because, I thought that’s the only way I could be close to animals. I never explored any other option until I was rejected from vet school. That day I thought everything was finished and I felt like a failure. I was so wrong! That day was the best day of my life as it helped me realise what I actually wanted to do. I took admission in Bachelor’s of science and started studying zoology. During my final year of Bachelor’s, I realised that wildlife conservation is what I always wanted to do. I just had the wrong idea of what a conservationist does. I always associated it with a veterinary doctor who treats animals and saves them. After my Bachelor’s, I chose to do a Master’s in Environmental Science where I learnt more about pollution, environment and waste. To be honest, I wasn’t satisfied with my studies. I always felt like I was learning concepts by heart, and never getting to apply those concepts in real life. To deal with this, I started volunteering, interning at organisations and conducting nature trails to understand the knowledge gaps in the community. After having switched three jobs in three years in conservation itself, I thought of updating myself and learning skills which were important for my research. So, I decided to do a second Master’s from the Manchester Metropolitan University, England. I enrolled myself in Zoo Conservation Biology and learnt concepts of species recovery, statistic and research design etc. This was a much-needed international exposure as I realised my potential and was proud of myself to have bagged a placement at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise for me and I got a year extension on my VISA which helped me work at WWT for 9 months and interact with amazing naturalists and conservationists from the UK.  All these experiences along with my passion to conserve our natural world helped me get the job I’m currently doing and hopefully will help me get into a great PhD program in the UK in the near future. 
 

Kerry: So, I know you from your placement at WWT Slimbridge, where you were a Biologist and Amphibian Technician. But I know your love of natural science started long before, and your parents have worked in wildlife rehabilitation. How do you most identify as a scientist? 

Gargi: I think my passion and curiosity to learn about the natural world. There is still this image of a ‘scientist’ as somebody always writing proposals, someone getting grants, but that puts pressure on budding naturalists – who ARE scientists with curiosity – who have this very rigid definition. For me, a scientist is anyone interested in science, who wants to study, who is curious and experiments and that’s what I’m doing currently! Learning about fungi, their identification, their interactions etc. They’re such a critical foundation to all other biodiversity but nobody really cares about them. What I’m doing, I FEEL like a scientist when I go to the forest to do this work, taking photographs and collecting data. 
I’d love to expand my skills with a PhD, and I want to focus on science communication. I don’t always know what my goals are, and it is OKAY to not know. See, this is what a scientist does – we think! We don’t always know what we’re doing, we’re just curious, we want to learn, and we want to share our results. 
Like I mentioned above, with my current work, I do have plans to publish two articles and a scientific paper on fungi, and I want these to be accessible to everybody reading, both scientists and laypeople. I can illustrate so I will be adding some sketches and field notes so that it doesn’t get boring with plain texts and scientific jargons. I want to make people aware that during our monsoon season the city is just blooming with an amazing diversity of fungi and their associated organisms! 
 

Kerry: What advice would you give to young women in STEM? 

Gargi: I have actually written a letter to my younger self about my career in conservation, and the difficulties I’ve faced and I have published it for anyone who wants to read and feel a bit better about what they are doing. I’d like to say to young women in STEM; this field is challenging, but don’t give up. If you choose to become a conservationist there will be days where you are filled with self-doubt and it can be tempting to compare yourself with peers that you feel are more successful than you. Remember, you are here for your passion. Don’t think your work is small. Tigers and elephants are considered keystone species, but insects are just as important in ecosystems. Self-care and motivation are really key, I think. Conserve yourself AND wildlife. You are going to do great! Don’t worry about who’s getting more grants or more research published – it doesn’t measure your potential. Be inspired by your peers, not needlessly competitive with them. 
My hope is that budding naturalists feel safe when they find a community of women in STEM. In India it can still be a male-dominated field. I wouldn’t want that to hold anyone back – we are going to change that!