EARTH COLAB SCIENCE DESIGN & LEARNING - Key Persons

Hayat will ensure a fabulous meal and music regardless of where one is... An accomplished musician, Hayat has spent several years introducing and teaching music to children. Her unique manner of developmental interaction impacts pedagogical approaches. A certified PADI dive Instructor, for the last six years Hayat has expanded her interest and love for the ocean, through dive education and training. Her strong administrative and organisational skills, along with a deep interest in wildlife have made her an integral part of many marine education programs, researcher dive training initiatives, scientific diving module development and citizen science efforts.

Savita can be lured into anything if one uses a good book at bait ... She is curious about how ideas of 'nature' and 'society' are produced and connected to one another. By drawing tools from the field of political ecology, she examines the relationship between knowledge and power in the process of place-making that depicts the oceans as a frontier(s). For many years, she have worked on public policies which affect livelihoods across fisheries, agrarian, and forest ecologies.She am interested in the locations of political-agency and the production of resistance mounted by coastal societies. More broadly, her work speaks to the imaginaries of people's relation to places that are at the cusp of land and sea. At Earth CoLab she specifically works on conceptualising and delivering the learning programmes, to which she brings perspectives on human geography, political economy and political ecology.

Initially having explored the world of academics through Marine Biology, Umeed realised that his heart and mind were happier while submerged. He has spent the last 25 years scuba diving, teaching and furthering the spirit of biophilia through his area of expertise. Professionally teaching as a PADI staff instructor, Umeed now conducts specialised underwater photography courses designed to address both ecology and photography. His imagery ranges from fine art to scientific documentation - his practice draws one's eye to aquatic systems and the detail within. Umeed has applied this combination of skills and interests across fields - with numerous popular publications, book and film contributions, exhibitions, educational material and in the setting up of a marine research dive facility on the Andaman Islands.