Information about Researcher Ram V G
Researcher: Ram V G
Information
| Role | Researcher |
|---|---|
| First name | Ram |
| Last name | V G |
| Country | India |
| Academic title | Research Scholar |
| Organisation | Indian Institute of Technology Madras |
| Thematic area/field | HS – Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences / HS4 Individuals, institutions, markets |
| Key words | Institutional issues in circular economy; Adoption of sustainable technologies and materials; Organisational change towards sustainability |
More | |
| Short summary of activities and expertise | Sustainable development has been intriguing and exciting to me. I believe that both individuals and environment interact with each other, thereby creating 'institutions' that facilitate and constrain routine behavior in the society. Quantifying stocks and flows of construction waste from incomplete databases of Municipal bodies and quantification of environmental impacts/benefits of various waste management scenarios taught me that ‘institutions’ matter. Individuals enact structures that are often sub-optimal and arbitrary (e.g. landfilling) —that result in both formal and informal barriers to achieving sustainability. While regulations are commonly advocated to disrupt practices, neoinstitutional theory taught me that institutions create specific ‘logics’ that influence different stakeholders differently, resulting in institutional complexity which must be reconciled to make the sustainable pursuit successful. Case studies of successful and unsuccessful institutional entrepreneurship cases of construction waste recycling made me realize the ‘persistence’ of institutionalized practices and the necessity of ‘institutional work’ to achieve organizational change. I believe there are multiple pathways to achieve sustainability transitions and my experience with the method ‘qualitative comparative analysis’ to analyze effective combinations of strategies leading to successful construction waste recycling projects at industry level using EU case studies will be very relevant and useful for mapping and theorizing sustainability transitions in construction sector in Poland. On the theoretical front, the understanding of the sequencing of strategies and mechanisms of organizational change will help throw light on the process of adoption of sustainable systems; On the practical front, strategies and policies would be framed to better design the value chains and contribute to business model innovation towards sustainable systems. |
| Relevant publications and/or research/innovation products | Refereed Journals: 1) Ram, V. G., Kishore, K., and Kalidindi, S. N. (2020) “Environmental Benefits of Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling: Evidence from an Indian Case Study using LCA.”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol 255, January 2020. 2) Ram, V. G., and Kalidindi, S. N. (2017). “Estimation of C&D Waste Using Waste Generation Rates in Chennai, India”, Waste Management & Research, Volume 6 (5), 610-617. 3) Ram, V. G., Prajapati, R., and Poulose, M. K. (2019)."Challenges and Prospects of Demolition Waste Recycling in India", Indian Concrete Journal, September 2019. 4) Vilventhan, A., Ram, V. G., and Sugumaran, S. (2019). “Value Stream Mapping for Identification and Assessment of Material Waste in Construction: A Case Study.” Waste Management & Research, 37(8), 815–825. Journals Under Preparation: 5) Ram, V. G., Mahalingam, Ashwin, and Kalidindi, S. N. titled “Strategic Pathways to enhance Construction and Demolition Waste Recovery through Recycling Projects” to be submitted to Journal of Cleaner Production (manuscript ready) 6) Ram, V. G., Mahalingam, Ashwin, and Kalidindi, S. N. titled “Institutional Theory as a Framework to Analyse Barriers to Adoption of Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling” to be submitted to International Journal of Project Management (manuscript under preparation) Conferences Proceedings: 1) Ram, V.G., Mahalingam, A., and Kalidindi, S.N. (2017). “Institutional struggle behind the diffusion of C&D waste recycling practices”, Proceedings of the 15th Engineering Project Organization Conference with 5th International Megaprojects Workshop, Stanford Sierra Camp, California, June 5-7. |
| Other relevant achievements | 1. Greater Chennai Corporation (Municipal Body) had implemented the Business Model created as part of the “Detailed Project Report for Construction & Demolition (C&D) Waste Management in Chennai City” in January 2020 that was submitted by IIT Madras team in November 2015 to which I am one of the contributing members. The C&D waste recycling facility is operational from August 2020. IIT Madras team had also signed an MoU with the recycling entity (the concessionaire) for ongoing technical support and finding ways to boost uptake of recycled products. 2. 1st Place in the 2nd edition of the UK India Social Innovation Challenge conducted by Social Impact Lab at University of Southampton (UK), the British Council and the Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CSIE, IIT Madras) for the project titled “Recycling of demolished waste concrete using Solar energy” (2019). |
| Preferred Host Institution type | Public, Private, Academic, Research centre |
| Additional information | I’m open and flexible to adapt the research plan to other sectors such as plastics, energy, or biomass apart from construction to suit the research needs of the host institution at Poland. |
Contact | |
| ramkrithik@gmail.com | |
| Phone number | +91 89030 16774 |
| Website | |
