Swayam Thakkar

About the Teacher

• Freelance consultant for biodiversity assessments

• Wildlife conservationist

• Database analyst

• Educator

Swayam Thakkar, a Computer Science Engineering graduate with a deep passion for wildlife and its conservation, and over three years of experience working with diverse wildlife datasets. His work lies at the intersection of technology, ecology, and conservation, where he focuses on applying data-driven approaches to understand biodiversity.

He has spent considerable time in the field collecting ecological data and has participated in several large-scale wildlife and habitat surveys, primarily across the semi-arid and arid landscapes of Rajasthan and Maharashtra. These experiences have strengthened his understanding of species ecology, habitat dynamics, and field-based monitoring methodologies.

He was part of the Bustard Recovery Program at the Wildlife Institute of India, where his team developed a multi-class species classification model for the fauna of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, with a particular focus on the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard. This work combined field ecology with machine learning, enabling improved monitoring of species in challenging landscapes.

In addition to research and technical work, he functions as a freelance consultant for biodiversity assessments, supporting organisations in documenting species diversity, evaluating habitats, and interpreting ecological data for planning and compliance purposes. He has been actively involved in biodiversity audit processes, including survey design, field data collection, species documentation, and reporting, with an emphasis on making audits both scientifically robust and practically applicable for decision-making.

Through his works, he aims to bridge the gap between conservation science, field practice, and technology, while contributing to more informed and sustainable environmental management.