GRRID Corps

26/04/2026

Recently, our co-founder, , had the privilege of attending JIS Tech 2k26 to evaluate projects at the intersection of Disaster Management and Climate Action.

A huge thank you to Dr. Partha Sarkar and Dr. .broto for the invitation—and a special shout-out to Dr. Partha Sarkar for recognizing that we need to get young minds thinking about these critical domains early. Shoutout to Prof. Sanjukta Chatterjee for making the evaluation process seem like cakewalk!

The energy was electric. Seeing 50+ projects from such bright students was nothing short of inspiring.

Quoting - “As I walked through the exhibits, I had a bit of a “lightbulb” moment—and it was a sobering one - Are we innovating for the cure or the prevention?”

Most projects presented in the core domain of disaster management focused almost entirely on managing the aftermath.

Have we accidentally conditioned the next generation to believe that disasters are inevitable? That our only role is to clean up the consequences?

If we treat disasters as a “natural” part of life, we’ve already lost half the battle. We have significant work to do to shift the societal mindset.

Disasters don’t just happen; they are often the result of choices we make.

Looking forward to more extensive collaboration with !

Let’s start building for a world where we prevent the crisis, rather than just getting better at managing the chaos. 🌍

PreventionFirst

02/03/2026

At , we often ask ourselves: How do you truly measure the growth of an organization?
Is it strictly through revenue? Throughput? Scaling numbers? 📈

While those markers matter, we believe in a different North Star: The holistic achievements of every single person involved. We celebrate the massive milestones, the tiny wins, and yes—even the failures that teach us how to be better.

Today, we are bursting with pride to celebrate a major win for our leadership team.
Our co-founder, .sriparna, has been awarded the Professor Douglas Paton Disaster Risk Reduction Course Scholarship for 2026 at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at !

The committee highlighted Sriparna’s thoughtful, big-picture approach, specifically her work in:
• Integrating indigenous perspectives into disaster resilience.
• Innovative thinking at the intersection of climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

This scholarship isn’t just an individual honor; it’s a reflection of the values we bake into GRRID Corps every day. When our leaders grow, our impact grows.

Please join us in the comments in congratulating Sriparna on this prestigious recognition!

IndigenousKnowledge GRRIDCorps

01/03/2026

Most climate interventions follow a predictable script: workshops, training sessions, and discussions. We give them different labels, but the output is often the same—a hope that the message sticks.

However, in our work, we decided to move several steps ahead.

Instead of just conducting workshops, we used Artificial Intelligence (AI) through Agent-Based Simulation (ABS) to stress-test our interventions. We modeled a synthetic network of 300 community members to see exactly how resilience-worthy behaviour “infects” a population.

Our simulation and Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) revealed something amazing that traditional surveys often miss:
• While Climate Knowledge is the structural foundation, it has the lowest transmission rate (24.1%).
• Action Intent (Intent to Act) and Confidence are highly “contagious,” spreading at a rate of 38.3%.

The takeaway?

Behavior propagates faster than information. By leveraging the traditional social practices, such as Hathai (say, in Jodhpur) as decentralized AI-modeled nodes, we found a high-speed pathway to reducing social vulnerability.

This isn’t just capacity building; it’s evidence-based social engineering for a climate-resilient future.

Check out the full study by .sriparna in the Journal of Hazards, Risk and Resilience (JHRR):
🔗 https://www.sciltp.com/journals/jhrr/articles/2602003063

Resilience DataScience WomenInClimate

29/01/2026

Why are we using Generative AI for reels, but not for Resilience? 🤔

We are incredibly proud to share that our latest work was published on India’s Republic Day—a fitting coincidence as we advocate for the democratization of climate action & disaster risk reduction (DRR).

We see Generative AI everywhere today, from viral videos to art. But at , we asked a different question: Can GenAI bring climate science and disaster risk reduction (DRR) closer to the people who are keen / interested?

Our study, ledy by and .sriparna, proposes a two-part assistive framework:

1. Building Trust: Using GenAI to analyze and visualize past climate data, connecting it to lived experiences so users can see the “why” behind the science.
2. Predicting Futures: Leveraging open climate ensembles to help non-experts understand future scenarios and the probability of extreme events.

We tested this framework in Kolkata, but it is built to be replicated anywhere. Is it a perfect scientific silver bullet? Perhaps not yet. But it could be a massive step toward making climate action accessible, engaging, and urgent for everyone.

If we can use AI for everything else, why not use it to build a resilient, sustainable future?

🔗 Read the full paper here: https://www.sciltp.com/journals/jhrr/articles/2601002757

💻 Open Source: The codes and framework are available—try it out and share your experience!

16/01/2026

India’s CSR mandate has the power to transform national resilience, but we are missing a massive opportunity!

New research by our co-founder, Repaul Kanji and the CRRP.India's Country Lead, Tanmay Gound, reveals that "Structural Biases" are preventing CSR funds from reaching the areas that need them most—long-term Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

Key Takeaways:
📍 The Gap: We love "visible" projects, but ignore "complex" risk reduction.
📍 The Geography: Vulnerable states are losing out because of investment "proximity bias."
📍 The Fix: You would have to read through the full insights here - https://www.sciltp.com/journals/jhrr/articles/2601002765

We need to transform "compliance" into "impact."

This body of work critically evaluates the efficacy of India’s mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regime, as a potential alternative financing mechanism for Disaster Risk Management (DRM). While the mandated framework demonstrates significant potential in ex post disaster response, re...

12/12/2025

We are absolutely thrilled, privileged and honoured about the fact that our co-founder, , spoke at the 34th General Assembly of , sharing amazing insights from our work in Net Zero in India!

A huge shoutout to the the team (.aparna, and ) for making this possible! Grateful to for their generous support!

And most importantly, cheers to our colleagues, without whom is just a name and not the fame - , , Saran Prakash, , !

03/11/2025

We are absolutely delighted to announce that the "Lessons from Jodhpur: Putting Indigenous Knowledge and Place-Based Wisdom to Practice", acquired from our year-long intervention has found its rightful place in the Encyclopedia of Disaster Risk Reduction!

In this era which trends on and , this study puts the focus back on how indigenous knowledge is vital to fully harness the potential of existing resources (community based natural resource management, ) for sustainable development and climate adaptation.

In fact, the study posits that integration of modern science with indigenous knowledge and place-based wisdom, along with a people-centric, inclusive approach, is essential to enhance community resilience and develop practical solutions.

Congratulations Jeevan for taking the lead on this one, along with Sriparna and Repaul!

If this is of interest, you can read here - https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-981-97-4547-0_233-1

First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis
Cultural Emergency Response

'Lessons from Jodhpur: Putting Indigenous Knowledge and Place-Based Wisdom to Practice' published in 'Encyclopedia of Disaster Risk Reduction'