Victor R. Shinde

Victor R. Shinde leads the water and environment portfolio at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). In this position, he has spearheaded two national level initiatives for managing urban rivers. The first is a framework called ‘Urban River Management Plan’ that requires river cities to take actions against a common ten-point agenda to ensure the holistic rejuvenation of rivers. The second is a strategic guidance document for preparing river-sensitive Master Plans. He has also led the development of the Environent and Infrastructutre chapters for the next Master Plan for Delhi (2041).

He has over 17 years of experience in diverse domains such as urban environmental management; integrated water resources management; water security enhancement; climate change adaptation in water sector; flood risk assessment; and M&E frameworks for water and environmental sector.

Prior to joining NIUA, he worked as a scientist and technical expert in nine countries in Asia and Africa-Bhutan, India, Japan, Mauritius, Philippines, Seychelles, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. He has carried out joint research and development projects with several international organizations such as APN, CTCN, DAAD, GIZ, GWP (Thai Chapter), IWMI, UNDP, UN Environment, USAID, US Army Corps of Engineers. His prior achievements include developing a performance indicator system for assessing the efficiency of small water utilities in Japan; devising a framework to quantify urban water security and demonstrating its application in India, Thailand and Vietnam; and designing an assessment system for holistic measure of the river health for rivers in Thailand.

A recipient of several awards and scholarships, he has 35+ publications as journal articles, books chapters, conference papers, and knowledge products.

Victor has a PhD in Urban (Environmental) Management from Kyoto University Japan, Masters in Water Engineering and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology Thailand, and Bachelors in Civil Engineering from Karnatak University India.