ABOUT
Himalayan Permafrost Consortium (HiPERC) is an international collaboration of researchers and institutions focused on studying permafrost in the Himalayan region. HiPERC aims to advance scientific understanding of permafrost and its role in the Himalayan cryosphere, as well as to provide information on the implications of permafrost degradation for water resources, infrastructure, and society. The consortium brings together researchers from diverse fields, including glaciology, geography, geophysics, hydrology, and social sciences, to facilitate interdisciplinary research on permafrost. HiPERC intends to collaborate with local communities and stakeholders to ensure that research findings are useful and relevant to the region's development and sustainability.
Intact Rockglacier near Kibber. PC- Soumik Das
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Prof. Milap C Sharma
Team Leader
Prof. Milap Chand Sharma is a distinguished glacial geomorphologist at JNU, specializing in glacial geomorphology, Quaternary studies, and Himalayan cryosphere research. His extensive work on glacier fluctuations and climate impacts in the Himalayas contributes significantly to understanding high-altitude environments and their changes.
Prof. Lewis Owen
Advisor
His research and teaching focus on understanding the nature and dynamics of Quaternary paleoenvironmental change, landscape evolution, environmental geology, and natural hazards along active plate margins. He has concentrated his efforts on two major geologic-geographic regions: 1) the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen; and 2) the western Cordilleras of North and South America. This is because these regions provide some of the best natural laboratories for understanding the dynamics of geomorphic, tectonic and climatic processes. Ultimately, they provide analogues for understanding the evolution of many ancient plate boundaries.
Prof. Marcus Nüsser
Advisor
Prof. Marcus Nüsser, a faculty member at Heidelberg University since 2006, researches socio-hydrology, cryosphere changes, and regional development in high mountains, focusing on the Himalayas and Alps. He emphasizes local knowledge-building and adaptation. He also serves on editorial boards for several prominent journals and edits Springer’s Asian Human-Environmental Research series.
Dr. Simon Cook
Advisor
A geoscientist interested in Glaciology and Alpine Geomorphology, much of his work focuses on understanding the mechanisms that shape landscapes (including glacial, fluvial and mass movement processes) and geohazards in mountain environments (including landslides and outburst floods).
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Dr. Pankaj Kumar
IUAC
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Dr. Susanne Schmidt
SAI-Uni Heidelberg
Dr. Susanne Schmidt has been with Heidelberg University's South Asia Institute since 2007. She studied geography at the University of Cologne and earned her PhD at Bonn. Her research focuses on cryospheric changes and related hazards in high mountains using remote sensing. Since 2023, she serves as Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer for the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences.
Dr. Pavitra V Kumar
IUAC
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Dr. Atul K Singh
NEHU
Dr. Atul Kumar Singh works in the field of Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology with expertise in OSL and cosmogenic radionuclide dating methods. He has extensively worked in the field of Laser Ablation and plasma mass spectormeter. He is presently engaged as Assistant Professor in Department of Geology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.
Soumik Das
PhD Candidate
PhD candidate working on Periglacial landscapes of High altitude Arid landscapes of the Himalayas. His primary focus is to see the dynamics of Permafrost and Rock glaciers in the trans-Himalayan region of Spiti and Ladakh, using both traditional survey techniques and space-borne satellite imageries.
Dr. Dagmar Brombierstäudl
Scientific Employee
Dagmar Brombierstäudl is passionate about earth observation and approaches from an applied perspective. Her research area is the Trans-Himalaya and although she primarily works on the cryosphere, her interests are versatile and she is eager to explore the possibilities remote sensing provides to support and answer problems emerging from a rapidly changing world. She has worked at the department since 2020 and holds a Bachelor in South Asian Studies and a Master in Geography.
Elora Chakraborty
PhD Candidate
She works in reconstructing event chronology in the Higher Himalayas using Dating techniques and stratigraphy
Lucia Manatschal
PhD Candidate
She is a geologist interested in surface processes and how the landscape reacts to a changing environment. Her PhD work focuses on glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalayas and includes a combination of remote sensing, geomorphic modeling, and fieldwork.