Dr. Saravanan Subramanian
Department
Environmental Governance
Function
Senior Researcher
Specialization
Geography
Work areas
- Water governance
- Water supply & sanitation
- Water reclamation
- Drought resilience
- Urban metabolism
- Socio-epidemiology
- Environment & health
- International aid & cooperation
Regional expertise
- Africa
- East Asia
- South Asia
Responsibilities in education and training
Doctoral lectures at Center for Development Research, & masters program at University of Bonn
- 2017-2018 ‘Spatial Epidemiology’
- 2017-2018 Urbanization and Development
- 2016 & 2017 Coordinator-Certificate course on Environment and Health, Tashkant Medical Academy, Uzbekistan
- 2013 & 2015 Urbanization and Development
- 2009-2011 & 2014 Institutional Analysis & Development: Application of New Institutionalism in Social and Ecological Science
- 2009-2011 Integrated Water Management- International Experiences of Polarised Discourses at Tashkent Medical Academy (Uzbekistan)
Vita
| Since 4/2021 | German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (until 6/2022 German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)) Senior Researcher, Research Department "Environmental Governance" |
| 8/2020-3/2021 | Department of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering, Technical University Munich, Garching Research Scientist |
| 1/2007-12/2017 | Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn Senior Researcher |
| 2003-2006 | University of Queensland, Australia PhD in Geographical Sciences and Planning |
| 2000-2003 | National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, India Junior Economist |
| 1998-1999 | Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India Research Fellow |
| 1996-1997 | Centre for Development Studies & Activities, University of Pune Project Planner |
| 1994-1996 | Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), New Delhi Project Executive |
| 1991-1992 | Department of Geography, University of Madras Research Scientist |
Member of
- Global Framework on Water Security in Agriculture (WASAG) Working Group on 'Drought' & 'Water & Nutrition'.
Refereed Publications
- Subramanian, Saravanan (2024)
The poverty of sustainability: behavioral choices of drinking water in Kenya and Germany
in: Frontiers in Sustainability 5, article 1378146 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2024)
The dichotomous world of sanitation management: ‘Matter out of place’ in urban India
in: Applied Geography 165, article 103228 - Subramanian, V. Saravanan (2024)
Sanitation in a changing world: the need for a paradigm shift in the mindset of development agencies
in: Water International 49 (1), 23-31 - Fekete, Alexander / Saravanan Subramanian (2024)
Multi-risks attributed to climate change and urbanization in East Africa: a bibliometric analysis of a science gap
in: African Geographical Review 43 (6), 735-757 - Cho, Min Jung / V.S. Saravanan / Eun, K.J. (2021)
Governing the pandemics: moving towards an assertive institutional environment
in: Journal of Global Health 11 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Min Jung Cho / Fotima Mukhitdinova (2018)
Health risk in urbanizing regions: examining the nexus of infrastructure, hygiene and health in Tashkent Province, Uzbekistan
in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15 (1), article 2578 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2018)
Contestation and negotiation of urban health in India: a situated political approach
in: World Development 104, 375-387 - Panagiota, Kotsila / V. Subramanian Saravanan (2017)
Biopolitics gone to shit? State narratives versus everyday realities of water and sanitation in the Mekong Delta
in: World Development 93, 374-388 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Marissa Ayessa Idenal / Shahin Saiyed / Deepak Saxena / Solvay Gerke (2016)
Urbanization and human health in urban India: institutional analysis of water-borne diseases in urban India’
in: Health Policy & Planning 31 (8), 1089–1099 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2015)
Agents of institutional change: the contribution of new institutionalism in understanding water governance in India
in: Environmental Science & Policy (53), part B, 225-235 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Dileep Mavalankar / Suhas P. Kulkarni / Sven Nussbaum / Martin Weigelt (2014)
Metabolized-Water Breeding Diseases in Urban India: Sociospatiality of Water Problems and Health Burden in Ahmedabad City
in: Journal of Industrial Ecology 19 (1), 93-100 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Daphne Gondhalekar (2013)
Water supply and sanitation as a ‘preventive medicine’: challenges in rapidly growing economies
Water International 38 (7), 867-874 - Subramanian, Saravan (2013)
Urbanizing diseases: contested institutional terrain of water- and vector-borne diseases in Ahmedabad, India
in: Water International 38 (7), 875-887 - Prakash, Anjal / Subramanian, Saravanan / Jayati Chourey (eds.) (2012)
Interlacing Water and Human Health
New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd - Butsch, Carsten / Patrick Sakdapolrak / Subramanian, Saravanan (2012)
Urban health in India
in: Internationales Asiaforum - International Quaterly for Asien Studies 43 (1-2), 13-32 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Patrick Sakdapolrak / Carsten Butsch (2012)
Urban health in South Asia: case studies from India and Bangladesh
in: Internationales Asiaforum - International Quaterly for Asien Studies 43 (1-2), 7-11 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Peter P. Mollinga / Janos J. Bogardi (2011)
Global Change, Water and Health in Fast Growing Economies
in: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3 (6), 461-466 - Mollinga, Peter P. / Anjali Bhat / Subramanian, Saravanan (eds.) (2010)
When policy meets reality: political dynamics and the practice of integration in water resources management reform
Berlin: Lit-Verlag - Subramanian, Saravanan / Geoffrey T. McDonald / Basil van Horen / David Ip (2010)
Policies are never implemented, but negotiated’: analyzing integration of policies in managing water resources in the Indian Himalayas using a bayesian network
in: Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research 2 (2), 117-136 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2010)
Negotiating participatory irrigation management in the Indian Himalayas
in: Agricultural Water Management 97 (5), 651-658 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2008)
A systems approach to unravel complex water management institutions
in: Ecological Complexity 5 (3), 202-215 - Subramanian, Saravanan (2008)
Top-down or Bottom-up?: Negotiating Water Management at the Local Level in South Asia
in: Kuntula Lahiri-Dutt / Robert J. Wasson (eds.), Water First - Issues and Challenges for Nations and Communities in South Asia, New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd - Subramanian, Saravanan (2007)
Integrated water resource management: stakeholders, their dynamics and institutions
in: Pushpam Kumar / B Sudhakara Reddy (eds.), Ecology and Human Well-Being
Non-refereed Publications
- Strupat, Christoph / Sandul Yasobant / Srinivasa Srigiri / Saravanan Subramanian (2025)
Overcoming silos for One Health: key determinants of One Health governance platforms in low- and lower middle-income countries
(Discussion Paper 13/2025) - Subramanian, Saravanan (2025)
Anderes Denken führt zu besserem Handeln: Wasser und Sanitärversorgung
in: Politische Ökologie 179, 66-72 - Subramanian, Saravanan / Katharina Höreth / Nathalie Sänger / Diego Jara / Lutz Becker (2022)
Catchment, streams and sewers: Strengthening flood resilience in Bonn
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) - Strupat, Christoph / Liz Grant / Maike Voss / Katharina Molitor / Sophie Gepp / Alexia Faus Onbargi / Saravanan Subramanian / Anna-Katharina Hornidge (2022)
Global transformation towards planetary health
in: T7 Task Force Global Health, 30.03.2022 - Subramanian, Saravanan et al. (2021)
Thinking ahead: drought resilience and COVID-19
WASAG Working Group Paper on drought preparedness, Rome: UN Food & Agriculture Organisation
Opinion Pieces
- Faus Onbargi, Alexia / Saravanan V. Subramanian / Katharina Molitor (2021)
On the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Bonn: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), The Current Column of 20 December 2021