THE LEAF Fellowship

In June 2018, LEAF introduced the LEAF Fellowship - a research grant instituted in the name of the its Founder, Prof. Prabhakar B. Bhagwat. It furthers research in areas that were of interest to him - Ecology, Vedic Literature, History, Plant Material, Landscape Design, Ethno-botany, Archaeology, and Anthropology.

The Fellowship promotes adaptable and applicable research that can extend well beyond the immediate context and circumstances under which the research was conducted in the first place. It aims to look at fields that have the ability to govern the discourse on urbanity, environment, and culture on a larger scale; constantly drawing connections between these ideas.

The process for the fellowship is a rigorous one – it requires that interested applicants first provide information on their area of interest in the form of a project brief, and rationale. Upon review, they are provided with a second form that delves into their research methodology, literature background, expected timeline, and approximate budget. At each stage, the Foundation, along with our review committee, guides the research process, and the development of the outcome of the research.

2018- 2019

• Dr. Deepak Atpe - Director, Bombay Natural History Society.
• Prof. Iftikhar Khan - Professor, Faculty of Arts, M.S University, Baroda
• Dr. Meghal Arya - Associate Professor, CEPT University; Partner, Arya Architects
• Dr. Shrikant S. Bahulkar - Secretary, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

2019- 2020

• Dr. Meghal Arya - Associate Professor, CEPT University; Partner, Arya Architects
• Vinay Kushwah - Senior Landscape Designer, M/s PBB
• Anjali Jain - Founder, Shared Grounds

Apart from creating peer-reviewed literature, the grant is also an effort towards creating a community of researchers invested in developing and furthering these fields.