Bhaskar Vira

Bhaskar Vira is an Indian academic, professor of Political Economy, and the current Pro Vice Chancellor for Education for Cambridge University. From 2019 until 2022, he was Head of Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. He was the founding director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, and is a fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. In 2018, he was awarded the Busk Medal by the Royal Geographical Society for his contributions in the fields of environment, development and economy. In 2021, he was elected to a Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences for his contributions to social science. Vira was born in New Delhi, India and was educated at The Doon School in Dehradun. After Doon, he went to St. Stephen's College, Delhi for a bachelor's degree in economics and then got a second BA from St. John's College, Cambridge. He then stayed in Cambridge to pursue an MPhil and a PhD in economics and political economy respectively. While working on his doctorate, Vira lectured at St. John's College, Cambridge in 1993–94. After receiving his doctorate in 1994, Vira became a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Environment, Ethics and Society in Mansfield College, University of Oxford, and remained there till 1997.