We are excited to share that both Dr. Krithi K. Karanth, (CEO), and the Centre for Wildlife Studies have been named 2025 recipients of the prestigious John P. McNulty Prize!

The Prize honors breakthrough leaders and organizations tackling some of the world’s most pressing social, environmental, and economic challenges with bold vision, moral courage, and lasting impact. CWS is the first wildlife organization in the world to be selected as a recipient of this prize.

Dr. Karanth and CWS join two other pathbreaking 2025 McNulty Prize winners: Layla Zaidane and Future Caucus, who are bridging political divides by empowering millennial and Gen Z lawmakers to build bipartisan solutions, and James Mugo and the Lwala Community Alliance, who are transforming rural healthcare and community development.

Each year, three winners are selected by an international jury that includes leaders in international development, human rights, and philanthropy. Prize Winners receive $150,000 in funding and tailored support to amplify their work. The McNulty Prize, created in 2008 by Anne Welsh McNulty in partnership with the Aspen Institute, has recognized over 57 leaders across more than 25 countries who are advancing innovative solutions to pressing global issues.

“These leaders embody what the world needs right now,” said McNulty Foundation President and Aspen Institute Trustee Anne Welsh McNulty. “In this moment of unprecedented global division and tumult, the 2025 McNulty Prize winners are showing us what it takes to persevere when problems seem unsolvable — and remind us that progress is always possible. With the right support, these models for real change have the power to address some of the world’s toughest problems now and long into the future.”

Recognized as a 2021 Aspen India and Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellow, Dr. Karanth has dedicated close to thirty years to the conservation of wildlife and wild landscapes. Through CWS’ award-winning conservation programs, Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, Wild Surakshe and Wild Carbon, our team has provided conflict response services, conservation education, alternative livelihoods through agroforestry, worked towards mitigating human-wildlife conflict and more, to hundreds of thousands of people living alongside wildlife in India. To date, CWS is serving 7000 villages, mitigating conflict for 80,000 people, partnered with 10,000 farmers to integrate wildlife-friendly practices, educated over 55,000 students from 1200 rural schools and trained 31,000 local stakeholders across eight states and 100-plus wildlife reserves.

“Dr. Karanth’s entrepreneurial energy has been the driving force behind the remarkable growth of the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS). In 2018, she spun out CWS into a fully independent civil society organisation—stepping into uncharted territory both for herself and for the broader Indian wildlife ecosystem. Wildlife conservation in India is uniquely complex, requiring a careful balance between human-wildlife conflict and the country’s rapid economic growth. In just seven years, Krithi has built CWS into a team of 140 dedicated individuals, running multiple programs that are delivering meaningful impact across India. Today, CWS is among the top wildlife nonprofits in the country, backed by a distinct and growing base of global funders—including some of India’s leading individual philanthropists. What inspires me most is Krithi’s vision to build a scaled, mission-driven institution, and her ability to rally a diverse group of stakeholders—across science, policy, philanthropists and local communities—towards a common conservation goal.”, said Vikram Vaidyanathan, Managing Trustee at CWS and Managing Director Z47.

Dr. Karanth also joins a growing global network of 57 McNulty Prize Winners and Laureates, including five trailblazing leaders from India: Manoj Kumar, Srikumar Misra, Mukti Datta, Govind Ethiraj, and Amit Bhatia. She is one of three exceptional leaders recognized with the 2025 McNulty Prize: