Aayushi Malhotra is Program Lead for Research Integrity at WRI India, where she oversees research and knowledge production processes across programs. She works to strengthen the quality, credibility and rigor of knowledge outputs and supports teams in developing and communicating evidence across formats.

Before joining WRI India, Aayushi worked as an Assistant Scientist at the International Rice Research Institute with CGIAR’s Gender Accelerator. Her work focused on advancing gender equality, youth opportunities and social inclusion across food, land and water systems through research, evidence synthesis and policy engagement.

Aayushi holds an interdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Anthropology from BITS Pilani and is interested in diverse questions around human environment relationships, approached through a systems thinking lens.

Outside work, Aayushi enjoys growing houseplants and going on long walks. She also loves to explore local markets while travelling and has been finding joy in coffee, running and chess lately.