Professor Bhaskar Vira is a Founding Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute. Bhaskar is Reader in Political Economy of Environment and Development at the Department of Geography and a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College. He is also closely involved in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and the Global Food Security Strategic Research Initiative at University of Cambridge, and works with the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

Bhaskar's research at the Political Ecology group in the Department of Geography is centered on the social, political and economic dimensions of natural resource management, and the relationship between natural ecosystems and human well-being. His research on political economy has a focus on the changing context for development in contemporary India and his research on political ecology covers forests, wildlife, land use change and the social and political context for biodiversity conservation. 

This, together with the examination of justice and fairness in the context of economic change can impact the lives of world’s poorest 3 billion people. 

Bhaskar’s personal motivation to participating in Cambridge Global Challenges is shown in the leaderhips of a number of research projects which link the values of nature, ecosystem services and natural capital with aspects of poverty and wellbeing, including in relation to water security in the Himalayas, on developing an environmentally-adjusted measure for multidimensional poverty, and on the roles of biodiversity and conservation in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. He blogs regularly on The Conversation.