Chatur Ullu

I am an evolutionary ecologist primarily driven by my interest in biodiversity research and conservation ​and aim at making an impact at the grass-root level.  

An admin of DragonflySouthAsia, OwlIndia, and RoadKill Network, I am actively involved in the co-creation of knowledge by outreach through the use of popular media and citizen science.

I love teaching and the process of co-learning. I am a strong proponent of experiential learning. I believe that all the efforts that we put into research, teaching, and advocacy will help conserve our planet and life on it.

I am a TEDx speaker, Prakriti Fellow, IUCN Contributor, SAEVUS Magazine’s ‘Rising Star of Conservation‘ awardee, and Maharashtra Vruksha Samvardhini’s Young Scientist awardee. I am a published Marathi writer, badminton-er, and love to be on stage doing conservation outreach or performing.​

Dr Pankaj Koparde, PhD
Director, Chatur Ullu Lab​

Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Studies
MIT World Peace University, Kothrud, Pune, Maharashtra, India
pankaj[dot]koparde@mitwpu[dot]edu[dot]in
Faculty web-page

At the TEDx platform, I talk about how citizen science is helping India lead in biodiversity data collection. Here I narrate my journey as a wildlife researcher and what I truly feel about the biodiversity around us. I then go on to tell the stories of DragonflySouthAsia, OwlIndia, and Roadkill Network, citizen science-based groups, which I presently manage. The citizen collected data is a promising leap in biodiversity data collection and our future depends on data!

People for Dragonflies | TEDx KITCoEK 2019

At the Towards an Ecological Landscape (TEL-3) platform, I discuss the importance of odonates as an ecological indicator and how landscape architects must include odonate-friendly elements in their work

Odonates of Pune – Towards an Ecological Landscape (TEL-3)

Awards / Accolades

  • 2025: MIT-WPU Excellence Awards 2025 – Research Category
  • 2025: Maharashtra Gene Bank Major Grant Award.
  • 2024: India Bioscience Outreach Grant Extension Award
  • 2023: India BioScience Outreach Grant Award
  • 2022: EarthWatch Fellowship for the citizen science program
  • 2020: DST-SERB Start-Up Research Grant
  • 2020: SD Vaidya Memorial Lecture Series Speaker, ISOLA (Indian Society for Landscape Architects) Mumbai chapter
  • 2019: Prakriti Research Fellowship | The research grant supported the project titled ‘Conservation of City Wetlands through Crowd Studying Odonates (Dragonflies & Damselflies) in Marathwada Region
  • 2019: Young Scientist Award by Maharashtra Vriksha Samvardhini Pune
  • 2019: Science on Tap Speaker | Invited talk on dragonfly biology and how citizen scientists are changing the research and outreach scape in Indian Odonatology
  • 2019: TEDx Speaker (KIT CoEK, Kolhapur) | Presented work on how citizen science is shaping ecology research and why doesit matter.
  • 2019: TEL (Towards an Ecological Landscape) Speaker
  • 2017 – Present: IUCN Contributor | Worked as a reviewer for three bird species – Andaman SerpentEagle, Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon, Forest Owlet
  • 2017: Rising Star of Conservation by SAEVUS Magazine
  • 2014 – Present: DragonflySouthAsia Coordinator | SAEVUS Wildlife Magazine featured my profile as one of ten rising stars of conservation based on the work on owls and dragonflies that I have been conducting.

Member at

  • Panchagani Hillstation Biodiversity Committee, India
  • Pashan Lake Conservation Committee, India
  • World Dragonfly Association USA
  • International Biogeography Society USA
  • Society for Conservation Biology UK
  • Society for Studies in Evolutionary Biology, USA
  • Ecological Restoration Alliance – India
  • Network for Conserving Central India
  • Subject Matter Expert, Pune River Revival

Project Grants

  • 2025: Melghat Tiger Reserve Consultancy Project Grant.
  • 2025: EarthWatch Institute India Consultancy Project Grant.
  • 2025: Maharashtra Gene Bank Project Grant. INR 28,00,000.
  • 2024: India Bioscience Outreach Grant Extension. INR 1,50,000.
  • 2023: India Bioscience Outreach Grant. INR 1,00,000.
  • 2022: EarthWatch fellowship for the citizen science program. INR 1,00,000.
  • 2020: DST-SERB, Govt. of India Start-Up Research Grant. INR 24,62,000.
  • 2020: Bird Nest Project by Rohan Builders Pvt. Ltd. INR 3,10,000.
  • 2019: Prakriti Research Fellowship. INR 2,00,000.
  • 2019: Panelist on a MoEFCC project titled ‘Ecological assessment and biodiversity survey of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani eco-sensitive region’. INR 10,00,000.
  • 2018: Full bursary for organizing a workshop in Students Conference in Conservation Science, Bangalore, India
  • 2017: Assisted Dr. Shomita Mukherjee in writing Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Govt. of India grant for a project titled ‘Developing a conservation action plan for Forest Owlet, an Endangered species endemic to Central India’. INR 3,00,00,000.
  • 2016: International Dragonfly Fund, Germany for a project titled ‘Understanding response of odonates across a tropical urbanization gradient’. INR 52,000.

Travel Grants

  • 2023: International Travel Support from DST-SERB, Govt of India.
  • 2017: Travel bursary to attend International Biogeography Society Meeting held at Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
  • 2015: Travel bursary from Centre for International Co-operation in Science for attending 10th International Conference on behavior, physiology and genetics of wildlife, Berlin, Germany.
  • 2015: Travel bursary to for participating in National Conference on Ethology and Evolution, Mohali, India.
  • 2013, 2018: Travel bursary to attend Young Ecologists Talk & Interact Conference (Nagaland, India)
  • 2013, 2014, 2018: Full bursary to attend Students Conference in Conservation Science, Bangalore, India