Travel Grant Recipients
Mrinalini Penumaka
- 2024 J-WAFS Travel Grantee
- PhD candidate
- Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Mrinalini is a PhD candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, affiliated with the International Development Group and Professor Gabriella Carolini's City Infrastructure Equity Lab. Her research examines urban and infrastructure transitions in the context of cascading climate change. She takes a political economy approach to understand the governance interlinked of climate and development challenges in the Global South and equity in development and urban policy. Her current projects explore climate-focused infrastructure and labour transitions in South Africa, comparing transitions in water, sanitation, and energy systems; and the landscape of multilateral and bilateral urban climate finance addressing the Amazon’s rapidly urbanizing biosphere. As an international development practitioner, she worked with the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and the World Bank, conducting fieldwork in India, Thailand, China, Niger, and South Africa. Her research seeks to learn from and support community-led climate action and informs inclusive policies that address the interconnected challenges of climate change and development.