Rajasweta Datta

Program Manager - Mapping and Monitoring

Bio

Rajasweta is the Program Manager for the Mapping and Monitoring Team within the Food, Land and Water Program. She is responsible for developing robust mapping and monitoring methodologies tailored for restoration-based initiatives. The role extends to conducting comprehensive investigations into the ecological impacts of WRI’s restoration initiatives, contributing to the overarching goals of ecosystem preservation.

She is a seasoned geospatial researcher with over a decade of experience in Remote Sensing, GIS, Hydrology, and Microclimate studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, a Master's in Remote Sensing from Banasthali University, and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Rajasweta played a key role in the New Zealand DryVER project, where she focused on assessing the effects of foehn induced warming across McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, the largest span of ice-free region in the continent, using satellite remote sensing. Her research during this time included being part of the 2017 New Zealand Antarctic team, providing her with a unique opportunity to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica. Her post-doctoral research at the Geospatial Research Institute, UC, centered on the Rongowai Project, a NASA, Air NZ initiative, involving the estimation of near-surface soil moisture from GNSS-R signals using a Machine Learning framework.

Earlier in her career, Rajasweta served as a Junior Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, her collaboration with the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad during her master's project focused on estimating evapotranspiration across the Sundarbans mangrove using satellite remote sensing. During her Ph.D. journey, she dedicated four years to teaching at the University of Canterbury, tutoring multiple courses in GIS, Remote Sensing, and R programming.

Throughout her tenure at UC, Rajasweta contributed to various smaller projects, such as Tasman Glacier crevasse surface temperature studies under the Marsden Fund and assessing long-term climate data across New Caledonia for climate adaptation and policy change in agriculture to tackle changing global climatic conditions. Her career has been marked by involvement in multiple projects addressing various remote sensing applications in different fields.

In her leisure time, she enjoys listening to audiobooks and indulge in switch gaming. She likes reading classic Bengali literature focused on detective and suspense genres. Additionally, she identifies herself as a cat lover and an ardent fan of Oda Sensei.

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