Hello! My name is Pooja Pandey; I am an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) 13 with Pyrolife. I am excited to be working under the guidance of Dr George Boustras at European University in Cyprus. Specially, I will be working within the Centre of Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES) researching interagency exchange. I will also be working within the FireAid in Denmark and Tecnosylva in Spain for my secondments. 
I am from India and have spent most of my life living in the northern part of the country. I have always read news about wildfire fueled by human activities (intentional or unintentional) in the north which is accompanied with thunderstorms and snowfall in the winter. I currently live in Delhi and this is where I developed my interest in disaster risk management while working on my thesis project which was based on forest fire risk modelling. My experience includes training with the Defense Research Development Organization and National Institute of Disaster Management where I learnt monitoring, modelling and maintaining GIS databases, converting complex data into information with mindful but competitive approach.
I hold a bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Delhi and MSc in GIS and Remote Sensing from the Amity University. While I was learning about managing risk, I was keen to know more of it and this is how I got into doing another master’s degree with the University of Leeds in River Basin Management. I am fueled by my passion for understanding the nuances of cross-cultural knowledge. I consider myself a ‘forever student’, eager to maintain my academic and work life balance. I believe mindfulness in the work you do is a key to success – a tenet I live out through my interests in hiking, meditation and writing.
I am excited to be a part of the Pyrolife team because it is not only a platform for our academic progression but it will help us grow personally through its focus on diversity and inclusion in the background of people, where they come from and what they have studied. All that matter is if you are willing to contribute for a safer environment and I am sure we will excel in our respective fields as researchers and also as great human beings
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