Manu Mathai
Research Fellow
- INSTITUTE:
- UNU-IAS
- OFFICE:
- Pacifico-Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, 220-8502 Yokohama
- E-MAIL:
- PHONE:
- +81 (0)45 221-2309
- NATIONALITY:
- India
Research Interests
Energy and Environmental policy
Political economy of sustainable developmentEducation
Ph.D., Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware
M.P.M., International Development and Environmental Policy, University of Maryland-College Park
M.Sc., Wildlife Science, Wildlife Institute of India
B.Sc., Environmental Science, Bangalore UniversityKey Publications
Mathai, Manu V. (2013). Nuclear Power, Economic Development Discourse and the Environment: The Case of India. New York and London: Routledge.
Biographical Statement
Manu Verghese Mathai is a research fellow in the Science and Technology for Sustainable Societies programme at UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Prior to joining UNU-IAS, he was a visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Science, Technology, Society and Public Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, US. His research and teaching interests gravitate around interlinkages between the themes of energy, environment and development, with a focus on science and technology policy and conceptions of human and economic development amenable to sustainability and equality. Deeply interested in change from the dominant unsustainable status quo, he is drawn to the literature on technology, environment and society studies for insights to appreciate power and possibilities for change in society.
Dr. Mathai has researched and critiqued India’s economic development discourse and proposal of civilian nuclear power as a “green” alternative. He has proposed alternative ideas for a sustainable synergy between energy technology, human development, policy tools and institutional arrangements. He has also been an early student of extending the human development and capability approach to address the environmental challenge. Dr. Mathai has also researched environmental and energy justice issues in Wilmington, Delaware (US); reviewed the global status of solar energy technologies, policies and markets; and researched the effects of human use of dry-deciduous forests in central India on tiger prey species.
Dr. Mathai’s awards include the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, the Young Researcher Award in Human Development and Sustainable Development of the Human Development and Capability Association and Fondazione Lombardia per l’Ambiente and the Save the Tiger Fund Fellowship.
Peer-reviewed Books
- Mathai, Manu V. (2013). Nuclear Power, Economic Development Discourse and the Environment: The Case of India. New York and London: Routledge.
Peer-reviewed Book Chapters
- Mathai, Manu V. & Govindan Parayil (2012). “Toward Equity and Sustainability in the Green Economy,” in Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira (ed.), Green Economy and Good Governance for Sustainable Development: Opportunities, Promises and Concerns. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2012). “Towards a Sustainable Synergy: End-Use Energy Planning, ‘Development as Freedom’, Inclusive Institutions and Democratic Technics,” in Jeroen van den Hoven and Ilse Oosterlaken (eds.). Human Capabilities, Technology and Design. Dordrecht: Springer.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
- Mathai, Manu V. (2009). Elements of an Alternative to Nuclear Power as a Response to the Energy-Environment Crisis in India: Development as Freedom and a Sustainable Energy Utility. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 29 (2), 139-150.
Technical Papers, Policy Briefs, etc
- Chandran, R., Chong, N. S. T., Doll, C. N. H., Lee, L. Y., Mathai, M. V., Nguyen, K. and Parayil, G. (2013). Bytes Beyond Borders: Strengthening Transboundary Information Sharing on Wildlife Crime Through the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) Initiative, Policy Brief (pp. 8.). Yokohama: United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies.
- Co-author (2010). World Solar Energy Review: Technology, Markets and Policies. Newark, DE: Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.
- Contributor (2009). 2009 Delaware Energy Plan. The Governor’s Energy Advisory Council. Dover, Delaware.
- Co-developer (2008). Knowledge of Power – Energy Education Series. Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, Newark, DE.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2007). Energy Infrastructure and Democratic Space: A Case for Decentralization. IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer.
- Co-author (2006). UHELP Responds to Community Health and Environmental Needs. Newark, DE: Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2005). Voices of Power and Whimpers of Values: A Challenge to Animating the Capability Approach. Maitreyee, March.
- Co-author (2005) Cooperation in Sustainable Energy Technology Development: U.S. Activities in South and Southeast Asia. Country-by-Country Reports. Newark, DE: Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware.
Other Publications (Conference Proceedings, etc)
- Mathai, Manu V., Parayil, G. and Suwa, A. (2013). Transition or Continuity: A Framework for Developing Governance Indicators for a Low Carbon Societies Context in Asia. Semi-plenary II, Tokyo Earth System Governance Conference (28-31st January).
- Mathai, Manu V. (2012). Green Economy at 40. China Dialogue (June). Available at: http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4989-The-green-economy-at-4-
- Mathai, Manu V. (2012). Green economy and growth: Fiddling while Rome burns? Our World 2.0, January.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2011). Fukushima and India: Lessons in Sobriety. Janata (66), 14.
Translated into Hindi for the April (2011) special number of Samayik Varta. - Co-author (2009). A Sustainable Photovoltaic Roadmap and Policy Initiative for Gujarat, India. 2009. Paper presented at the 18th International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference and Exhibition, Kolkata, India.
- Scholtes, Fabian & Manu V. Mathai (2005). The Capability Approach as a Response to the Environment-Development Crisis. Prepared for the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) Strategy Workshop, 4-6th May, University of Maryland at College Park, MD, USA.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2004). Exploring Freedom In a Global Ecology: Sen’s Capability Approach as a response to the Development-Environment Crisis. Paper presented the 4th International Conference on the Capability Approach: Enhancing Human Security, University of Pavia, Italy.
- Mathai, Manu V. (2003). Case Studies: Observations on Operationalizing Sen’s Capability Approach. Paper for the 3rd Conference on the Capability Approach: From Sustainable Development to Sustainable Freedom, University of Pavia, Italy.
- Mathai, Manu V. & Ashwin Mahesh (2003). The Road to Starvation. IndiaTogether, April.
