Resume
Utkarsh Roy Choudhury
University of Alabama · Department of Geography and the Environment
Education
Ph.D., Geography (Environmental Governance & Political Ecology)
May 2026University of Alabama
Advisor: Dr. Jared Margulies Dissertation: "The Unfinished River: A Political Ecology of Restoration and Nonhuman Erasure on the Ganga River"
M.A., Development Studies (Distinction)
September 2020Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
Advisor: Dr. Amber Huff
B.B.A., Environment Management & Marketing
May 2019Symbiosis International University
Research Interests
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Choudhury, U.R., Margulies, J.D., Mariyam, D., Rajeev, B.R. & Karanth, K.K. (2023). "Seeing Animals Like a State? Divergent forester subjectivities towards managing human-wildlife conflicts in South India."
Choudhury, U.R. (Under Review). "Maintained disrepair: accumulation by rejuvenation, financialization, and the politics of restoration in India's Namami Gange Program."
Choudhury, U.R. (Under Review). "The Politics of Invisibilization: Environmental Performativity and the Erasure of Nonhuman Life in India's Namami Gange Program."
Choudhury, U.R. (In Preparation). "How will the turtles know?": Ecological Substitution and the Act of replacing a Wildlife Sanctuary on the Ganga River.
Policy Reports & Strategic Documents
Siddiqui, A. & Choudhury, U.R. (2018). "Moving from Wages to Livelihood in Rural India -- Creation of Micro-Entrepreneurs."
UNDP Maharashtra
Siddiqui, A. & Choudhury, U.R. (2017). "Developing rural entrepreneurship programs with FMCGs and Skill Sakhi's in Maharashtra."
UNDP Maharashtra
Grants & Awards
Research & Travel Funding
UA Graduate School & Department of Geography
2023-2026
SEDAAG Conference Funding
SEDAAG
2025
International Activity Funding
Capstone International Center
2024
Dr. Bobby Wilson Award for Environmental Justice Scholarship
UA Department of Geography
2024
Levitetz Innovation Seed Grant
Levitetz Leadership Program
2023
Conference Presentations
Maintained disrepair: accumulation by rejuvenation, financialization, and the politics of sacred spectacle in India's Namami Gange Program
SEDAAG, Lexington, KY
Stuck in a temporal loop: The securitization, extraction, and conservation nexus in India
AAG, Detroit, MI
Seeing Animals Like a State? Divergent forester subjectivities towards managing human-wildlife conflicts in South India (with Jared Margulies)
AAG Virtual
Between Symbolic Mascots and Endangered Inhabitants: The Contested Spaces of Aquatic Wildlife in the Ganga
DOPE+, Lexington, KY
Against the Flow: Unpacking contemporary river and wildlife conservation politics in India
AAG, Denver, CO
COVID-19: The Great Equalizer? (Invited)
New Chance Better World Online Youth Meet
Organized Sessions
Corridors of Ecological Power: Navigating the Environmental State
AAG, Detroit, MI · with P. Prajapati
Animal Geography Graduate Student Paper Competition
AAG, Detroit, MI · with JH Pitas
Teaching Experience
University of Alabama
GY101 Atmospheric Processes & Patterns
Head GTA
GY102 Earth System Processes
GTA
GY377 Cultural Geography
Guest Lecturer
GY101 Atmospheric Processes & Patterns
GTA
Leadership & Professional Service
Board Member
AAG Animal Geography Specialty Group
Student Board Member
AAG Animal Geography Specialty Group
Forum Panel Reviewer
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025
Vice President
Graduate Association for Geography and Environmental Studies, UA
Treasurer
Graduate Association for Geography and Environmental Studies, UA
Judge
UA Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference
Graduate Student Advocacy Committee
House of Delegates, Graduate Student Association, UA
Reviewer
Global Development Network -- Global Development Awards Competition
Conference Organizer
Dimensions of Political Ecology (DOPE+) 2024
Conference Assistant
AAG Annual Meeting, Denver, CO
Conference Volunteer
POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) Conference