Prof. Vishal Narain holds a PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He is an inter-disciplinary water researcher and his work cuts across the frontiers of the natural and social sciences, with a specific interest in institutions, governance and policy. His teaching and academic interests are in the inter- disciplinary analyses of public policy processes and institutions, water governance, gender, rights and equity analyses in water management, peri-urban issues and vulnerability and adaptation to environmental change. He received the SR Sen Prize for the best book on Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (2002-03) conferred by the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics.