Dr. Krithi K. Karanth is CEO at Centre for Wildlife Studies and Adjunct Professor at Duke University. She has a Ph.D. from Duke (2008), a M.E.Sc. from Yale (2003), with B.S. and B.A. degrees from the University of Florida (2001). She has also completed executive education courses at Harvard, Oxford and Stanford.

As a scientist, her research in India and Asia, spanning almost three decades, encompasses many issues in the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. She has conducted macro-level studies assessing patterns of species distributions and extinctions, impacts of wildlife tourism, consequences of voluntary resettlement, land use change and understanding human-wildlife interactions.

She has published 150+ scientific and popular articles in English and Kannada. Dr. Karanth served as an editor for Frontiers in Ecology and Environment, Human Dimensions of Wildlife, Conservation Biology, and Conservation Letters. She has mentored over 300 young scientists from India, US, Chile, UK, Australia and Indonesia and engaged over 1,000 citizen science volunteers in her research and conservation projects. As a conservationist, she has designed Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, Wild Surakshe, Adopt-a-PHC, Wild Carbon and Wildlife Hunting & Trade programs. As a storyteller, Dr. Karanth has collaborated with painters, illustrators, film-makers and photographers.

Dr. Karanth’s conservation and research work has been featured in three award-winning BBC series: The Hunt, Big Cats and Dynasties , and in documentaries by CBC & PBS. She has co-produced five documentaries: Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale, Flying Elephants and Wild Surakshe. In 2020, she co-starred with Kevin Pietersen in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic. Dr. Karanth’s work has been covered by over 250 media outlets, including Washington Post, Time magazine, Al Jazeera Television, BBC, Christian Science Monitor, GQ India, Harper’s Bazaar, Mongabay, Monocle, National Geographic, National Public Radio, New York Times, Scientific American, All India Radio, Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Herald, Down to Earth, Kannada Prabha, LiveMint, New Indian Express, Prajavani, The Hindu and Times of India.

Dr. Karanth has been honored with more than 50 awards and recognitions, including National Geographic Society’s 10,000th grantee and 2012 Emerging Explorer, University of Florida’s Outstanding Young Alumnus, India’s Power Women by Femina, Women of the Year by Elle India, Vogue Women of the Year, Seattle Zoo’s Thrive Conservation Leadership Award, GQ Man of the Year- Environmental Hero, and Beyond Duke University Alumni Award for Service and Leadership. She is an Ananta Aspen Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, WINGS Fellow, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, INK Fellow, Government of India’s Invest India Women Achiever and Varshada Kannadiga (Kannadiga of the year). In 2019, she was recognized with the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and in 2021, she became the first Asian woman to be chosen for the Wild Innovator Award. In 2023, she received the MDPI World Sustainability Award for her outstanding work in the field of conservation and 2024 chosen by the Explorer’s Club for EC 50: 50 people changing the world. In 2025, Dr. Karanth and CWS were one of three recipients worldwide awarded the John P. McNulty Prize and in 2026, Dr. Karanth became the first Asian recipient of the Esmond B. Martin Royal Geographical Society Prize and the first South Asian recipient of the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year.

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