Maria Rose Francis

Biographical Sketch

I come from a small riverside town in Kerala, India. I received my bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, Kottayam and master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur. Both of these programs laid a firm background and evoked a strong interest in further researching on inclusive and people-friendly neighborhoods. I have been lucky enough to travel and stay in Bhutan and also different cities in India, as part of education and work. The experiences I gathered from each city were diverse and unique as they had their own social as well as cultural setting and each city told a different story. Being a resident near the river coastline, I have personally experienced the challenges of a natural disaster like floods. All these have been a motivation to consider pursuing my research on the field of sustainable, energy-efficient, and resilient urban settings. I am very excited to further my studies by pursuing PhD in Urban Studies program, because of its outstanding faculty and interdisciplinary approach to urban planning, management, natural systems as well as man-made infrastructure systems, participatory planning, climate change, urban ecosystems as a whole etc.