Join the Institute for Water Futures for a seminar by Dr Navarun Varma, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore.

This seminar reflects on a journey at the interface of science, policy, and pedagogy, drawing on experiences of knowledge co-production in ecologically and politically fragile regions of Asia. Through three problem-based learning contexts - Indonesia’s river normalisation policy, flood and riverbank erosion along the Brahmaputra in Northeast India, and out-migration from the Kumaon region of the Western Himalaya, the seminar examines how different forms of partnership can support knowledge co-production. These cases show how collaboration among students, scientific experts, and community development practitioners can generate multiple kinds of impact: mutual learning among partners, community-facing outputs, new research questions, and contributions to policy dialogue.

Finally, the seminar considers how universities can cultivate “T-shaped” learners, graduates with disciplinary depth, interdisciplinary fluency, and the capacity to engage with complex public policy issues. It will be of interest to scholars and educators working in sustainability science, policy education, systems thinking, experiential learning, and higher education innovation.

About the speaker

Dr. Navarun Varma is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies at Residential College 4, University Town College Programme, National University of Singapore. His scholarship sits at the intersection of policy education and sustainability science, with publications in Sustainability Science, Environmental Research Letters, and Journal of Environmental Policy and Governance. He is part of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Water Resources Development. He is the co-editor of Emerging Pedagogies for Policy Education: insights from Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) which received the NASPAA Outstanding Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Book Award in 2024. At NUS, he has led and contributed to initiatives on Fieldwork-based learning and Impact-driven policy education and has been recognized with Teaching Excellence Awards (2021 Early Career Award and 2026 Team Award Lead). 

The venue is Forestry Building Room 48.1.02 and the online Teams link is here. We endeavour to record this seminar for those unable to attend and this recording should be available two weeks after the event on the IWF website.