At Thumbi Labs, we put research to work for a sustainable future.

Yashwin Iddya

Director

Yashwin Iddya is a data analyst and designs and builds tools that help planning for a sustainable future. He has worked in the domains of urban resource planning, and energy efficiency. He has a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from NITK Surathkal, and a Master’s in Sustainable Resource Management from Technical University of Munich, where he majored in Environmental Economics and Policies.

Bharath M. Palavalli

Bharath M. Palavalli is a tool builder. He works at the intersection of technology and social sciences to design and develop tools to address societal challenges in a collaborative manner. His work informs both the theory and practice of game and simulation design. He has served on the jury of international gaming competitions and conducts Masters’ level game design courses in different universities. He has extensive experience in conceptualising, designing, and implementing games and agent-based simulations that have been used for scenario planning, learning, and participatory planning. Bharath was elected to the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in 2018. He has published research papers in Nature and other journals.

Karthik Natarajan

Director

Karthik’s interest lie in finding cross-industry applications of research tools and the use of them in advocating for systemic change. A trained architect and product designer with 18 years of working in various industry verticals from FMCG, Construction, to scrap metal recycling and Plastic recovery. in the past his primary area of work has been in sustainable resource management, material recovery and research communication.

Sridhar Raman

Sridhar's interest lies in software, technology and modelling. He has more than 15 years of experience working in technology, transport modelling and web development. He has worked on public policy as part of non-profit organisations as well as being part of local governments. His interests focus on sustainability, active travel and tool building.

Sruthi Krishnan

Sruthi Krishnan is a writer and researcher who is interested in how technology and culture shape each other. She works on designing and implementing participatory media, tools that allow diverse people to critically engage with complex information and collaborate. She has co-authored "We are not users - dialogues, diversity, and design", published by MIT Press in January 2020. The book describes the pitfalls in adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and elaborates on a vision of designing where diverse voices can come together to shape our world. She has a degree in computer science and engineering and a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, after which she worked at The Hindu, a national newspaper, covering technology and culture.

Srinidhi Santosh

Srinidhi Santosh’s work combines urban planning and participatory design. She has expertise in designing tools for participatory planning at the community-level and planning for large-scale urban infrastructure. She holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from NIT, Tiruchirappalli along with master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

Vaibhav Dutt

Vaibhav Dutt’s work lies at the intersection of law and data analysis. He has expertise in designing and implementing tools for urban planning and governance, with a focus on participatory planning. He is a graduate from National Law University, Delhi. He has previously worked on projects to address violations of civil liberties such as custodial torture and death penalty. His research interests include law, human rights, and urban infrastructure.

A. Selva

A. Selva’s work focuses on organisational infrastructure and administration. He has around a decade of experience in various industries including information technology, hospitality, and handicrafts. He works on designing physical artefacts, such as woodworks, and on visual and audio media.

Ursula Uday

Ursula is a Narratives and Visual Designer who holds a Bachelor of Design degree from Srishti Institute of Arts, Design and Technology, Bangalore. You will mostly find her playing tabletop games or reading about mythology or young fiction.

She is passionate about breakthroughs in AR/VR/XR possibilities. She challenges herself to always make her creations, designs & tasks simple to perceive, retain and practice with inclusivity. Her ideologies are circular economy-driven & DIYs. She pursues Game Design and study of Experience & Social Economy to explore dimensions of learning in Education, Community, Health, Family & Financial Planning and Spirituality. Being part of World Oneness Youth Changemaker, Ekam Mithras & learning from the stories of people, she aspires to be a compassionate human coming from a beautiful state of consciousness.

Kavitha Singh

Kavitha has experience of more than ten years in the field of finance and accounts. She has experience in different sectors such as telecommunications, education , advertisement, manufacturing industries and hospitality. She enjoys baking and traveling.