Syed Iqbal Hasnain is Managing Director of the institute.

Syed Iqbal Hasnain served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, George Washington University, Washington DC in the fall semester of 2011 and 2012. Consultant on climate change and Himalayan glaciers to many think tanks in India and the USA. He served as Chairman of the Glacier and Climate Change Commission established by the State Government of Sikkim
(India). Served, member of several high-level committees, including the United Nations Environment Program Committee on Global Assessment of Black Carbon and Troposphere Ozone and the International Mid-Term Review Committee commissioned by international donors to review the International Center for Mountain and Research Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal. Between 2002 and 2006, Hasnain served as vice-chancellor (President) of the University of Calicut, India. Previously, he held the post of Professor of Glaciology, Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), where he introduced glaciology as a subject at the postgraduate research level. He has published books as well as research papers in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Glaciology and the Journal of Hydrology .

Through lectures, television interviews, and articles featuring him in popular international magazines like Nature and leading Indian newspapers, he has long advocated the impact of long-lived carbon dioxide and short-lived climate forcers like black carbon, methane, and ozone on the Himalayan-Tibetan glaciers. Time magazine prominently featured Hasnain’s work with a photograph in its December 14, 2009 article “Climate Change: The Tragedy of the Himalayas”. Professor Hasnain was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 by the President of India for his contributions in advancing the science of glaciology in India.

Selected Publications

  • Hasnain, Syed Iqbal. “Shrinking Cryosphere in South Asia, Mountain Witnesses of Global Changes”, in Developments in Earth Surface Processes , R. Baudo, G. Tarter, and E. Vuillermoz (eds.), Elsevier, 2007, p. 342.
  • Hasnain, S. I., Kumar, S., Ahmed, S., and Tayal, S. “ A Study of Selected Glaciers under the Changing Climate Regime” in Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World: ASIA , Williams, R. S. Jr. and Ferrigno, J.G. (eds.), US Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1386-F.,2010
  • Hasnain, Syed Iqbal, Jose P.G., Ahmad, S. and Negi, D.C. “Character of the subglacial drainage system in the ablation area of Dokraini glacier, India, as revealed by dye-tracer studies”. Journal of Hydrology, 2001, Vol. 248 (1-4), 216-223.
  • Hasnain. S.I. and Thayyen, R. J. “Controls on the major-ion chemistry of the Dokraini glacier meltwaters, Ganga Basin, Garhwal Himalaya, India”. Journal of Glaciology, 1999, Vol. 45 (No. 149), pp. 87-92.
  • Hasnain, Syed Iqbal. “Factors controlling suspended sediment transport in Himalayan glacier meltwaters”, Journal of Hydrology, 1996, 181, 49-62.