Ashoka Expands Research Ecosystem with New Planetary Health Centre

On 14th July, 2026, Ashoka University, financially supported by Dr. Amit Varma, established the Dr. Ajit Varma Centre for Planetary Health, a new transdisciplinary centre under the Trivedi School of BioSciences. The centre aims to study environmental change and human health through collaborations with three different disciplines: computer science, for health modelling through AI, Economics, for climate change evaluation, and Psychology, for studying community adaptation. Established with philanthropic support from Dr. Amit Varma, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Quadria Capital and HealthQuad, the centre is named in memory of his father, Dr. Ajit Varma.

The centre will focus on five key areas: research, academic programmes, innovation, industry partnerships, and policy engagement. The centre’s research will be across climate and health systems, pollution, agroecology, marine ecosystems, and emerging infectious diseases.

In its research, the Centre will collaborate with existing initiatives across Ashoka University, including the Centre for Health Analytics Research Trends (CHART), the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (3CS), and the Koita Centre for Digital Health (KCDH-A). Within the Trivedi School of BioSciences, it joins a broader ecosystem of research centres, laboratories, and initiatives, including the Datla Human Immunome Lab, the Precision Biology Centre, and the Centre for Glycans and Metabolic Programming.

At the inauguration, Anurag Agrawal, Dean of BioSciences and Health Research, shared that the centre would bring together experts from multiple fields to develop “practical solutions to enable healthier communities and ecosystems” against challenges posed by “climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and changing ecosystems [that are] demanding new ways of studying health.”

The centre also plans to introduce courses, certifications, and symposia, and to provide seed grants and industry collaborations. Director Poornima Prabhakaran shared that over the next five years, the centre aims to expand partnerships across academia, industry, and government, eventually hosting a Regional Planetary Health Conference for South Asia.

The Centre marks a further expansion of Ashoka University's investment in the natural sciences and interdisciplinary research, strengthening its growing focus on addressing global environmental and public health challenges.

[Edited by Antara Kulkarni and Avika Mantri]