Mr Dhaval Joshi

Profile

Dhaval Joshi is an ESRC postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Geography and Environmental Science. Building on his experience of working as a practitioner of groundwater management and governance with communities in India, his research examines how groundwater is governed in India, specifically analysing initiatives by both government and non-government organizations, and how these programs and policies shape everyday governance practices of farmers, communities, and local groups. Through this fellowship, he aims to advance his career as an environmental human geographer, focusing particularly on being a research leader in the socio-politics of groundwater governance and climate change.

Research

Research Interests:

Inspired by questions encountered during his experiences as a practitioner working with non-profit organisations in India, Dhaval’s doctoral thesis explored groundwater knowledge politics in western India. His thesis develops a research approach to pluralise ways of knowing groundwater with an intent to contribute towards efforts to seek just governance transformations. It brings together work in Critical Political Ecology on politics environmental knowledge, and Science and Technology Studies work on practices of mapping and monitoring the subsurface, to explore the politics and processes of groundwater knowledge production, application, and (re)circulation in the state of Maharashtra. During his post-doctoral fellowship, Dhaval will be deepening understanding of how and why local and expert knowledge matters to groundwater politics through publications, an art installation in Pune and districts of Marathwada, and workshops with local communities and state planners. He will also extend his research further to consider how climate change impacts on groundwater are filtered through these existing, often contested ways of knowing water.

Publications

• D. (in review). Situating socio-hydrogeology: Towards a transdisciplinary understanding of groundwater monitoring practices in western India.
• Joshi, D. 2022. Book Review: Running out: In search of water on the high plains, Princeton University Press 2022, by Lucas Bessire, Water Alternatives
• Aslekar, U., Joshi, D., & Kulkarni, H. (2022). What are we allocating and who decides? Democratising understanding of groundwater and decisions for judicious allocations in India.Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture.
• Kulkarni, H., Joshi, D., Aslekar, U., & Patil, S. (2021). Catalysing Groundwater Governance Through People’s Participation and Institutional Reform. In Water Governance and Management in India. Springer Singapore.
• Zwarteveen, M., Kuper, M., Olmos-Herrera, C., Dajani, M., Kemerink-Seyoum, J., Frances, C., ... & Joshi, D., De Bont, C. (2021). Transformations to groundwater sustainability: from individuals and pumps to communities and aquifers. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 49, 88-97.
• Joshi D., Kulkarni H., and Aslekar U (2019). Bringing Aquifers and Communities Together: Decentralised Groundwater Governance in Rural India. In Water Governance: Challenges and Prospects, pp. 157-185. Springer
• Kulkarni H., Aslekar U., Joshi D. (2018) Specific Yield of Unconfined Aquifers in Revisiting Efficiency of Groundwater Usage in Agricultural Systems. In: Saha D., Marwaha S., Mukherjee A. (eds) Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India. Springer Hydrogeology. Springer, Singapore
• Joshi, D and Aslekar, U. (2018). Understanding the triggers of groundwater competition in Maharashtra. Economic and Political Weekly, 53, Issue No. 2.
• Joshi, D. (2017). Promoting Farm Ponds. Economic & Political Weekly, 52(16), 71.

Presentations

• Joshi D. (2025): The crisis of excess water: monsoonal variability and politics of water governance in drought-prone western India. Departmental Seminar- Geography and Environmental Sciences, Queen Mary University of London
• Joshi D. (2024): Letting go, holding onto- politics of excess water in Maharashtra, India in era of monsoon variability; paper presented in panel on Monsoonal Geographies of South Asia at Royal Geographical Society’s Annual Conference London
• Joshi D. (2024): Beyond the ‘water level’: entangled ontologies and epistemologies of groundwater monitoring in Maharashtra, India; seminar at Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy at Edinburgh (SKAPE), University of Edinburgh
• Joshi D. (2023): Peeping down, looking forward: exploring knowledge(s) of groundwater governance in Maharashtra, India; paper presented at Centre for South Asian Studies organised South Asian Anthropocenes workshop, University of Edinburgh
• Joshi D (2022): Recognising ‘other’ knowledges of groundwater: Case from Maharashtra, India ​presented in ‘Valuing Groundwater (III) session: Ear to the Ground: community-based approaches to groundwater management’​ organised at World Water Week 2022.
• Joshi D (2021): Situated knowledges, global discourses: Exploring the ‘neutral’ and ‘universal’ in groundwater governance presented in session Situated knowledges of water justice organised at Delft Socio hydrology Conference, Delft, Netherlands.
• Joshi D. (2019): Dependencies, vulnerabilities and changing practices of groundwater use and access in Maharashtra; Presented at Conference on Rural India 2019: Towards inclusion of the marginalised; organised by Vikasanvesh Foundation, Tata Trusts, Pune
• Joshi, D. (2017): Why are there seldom any conflicts over groundwater? - An analysis; Paper presented at Round Table on Water Management and Governance, organised by JTSDS, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• Aslekar, U. and Joshi, D. (2015): Participatory groundwater management: an effective tool for groundwater management and strengthening drinking water security. Workshop on water conservation, water security and water quality under Jal Kranti Abhiyan, Central Groundwater Board, Nagpur

Awards and certifications

• Economic and Social Research Council (UK) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Oct 2025
• Associate Fellowship of the Advance HE (formerly Higher Education Academy, UK): Jan 2025
• Royal Geographical Society’s Postgraduate Research Award-Dudley Stamp Memorial Award and Geographical Club Award for fieldwork: Feb 2022
• Geographical Endowment Grant, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh: Aug 2021
• University of Edinburgh’s Principal Career Development Scholarship and Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship (PhD): May 2020
• IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands’s Orange Knowledge Programme Fellowship for short course on Water and Environmental Policy Analysis 2019
• Certificate for National Eligibility Test for Assistant Professor (Lectureship) in Environmental Sciences issued by University Grants Commission: Nov 2017