Sharmistha Banerjee, Phd

Co-Founder

Guwahati, Assam, India19 yrs 8 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Expert in Design for Sustainability and Social Innovation.
Co-founder of Sustainability and Social Innovation Lab at IIT Guwahati.
Developed courses on sustainability for NPTEL and Coursera.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in sustainable design and education, focusing on innovative solutions for agriculture and urban resilience.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Design For SustainabilityProduct Service System Design

Other Skills

System Design for SustainabilityUsability EngineeringUser Research TechniquesProduct DetailingInteraction DesignDesign ManagementPlastics and compositesDesign SemanticsSustainable product-service system designResearch designCourse developmentOnline educationUser Experience Design (UED)Product DesignDesign Thinking

About

Dr. Sharmistha Banerjee is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Design and Associate Faculty at the Centre for Disaster Management and Research, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. She specializes in Design for Sustainability. As co-founder of the Sustainability and Social Innovation Lab at IIT Guwahati, she leads initiatives on transforming consumption and production systems through sustainable product-service system design interventions. The lab participates in the global Learning and Education Network in Sustainability (LeNS), a consortium of more than 150 universities across the globe, focusing particularly on design of sustainable distributed economy solutions. Her research and development primarily work focusses on: - SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) through her role at the Department of Design - SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) through her role at the Center for Disaster Management and Research.

Experience

19 yrs 8 mos

Total Experience

3 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

5 yrs 7 mos

Current Experience

Indian institute of technology, guwahati

2 roles

Associate Faculty, Center for Disaster Management and Research

Nov 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 7 mos · On-site

Over the past years, our research has been deeply embedded in exploring Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, focusing on enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanization and fostering participatory, integrated, and sustainable human settlement planning to mitigate disaster losses and bolster resilience among vulnerable populations. Our primary investigation has revolved around the effective integration of Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) into sustainable settlement design frameworks. Secondly, we develop products for disaster-resilient and climate-adaptive agriculture through machinery and technologies that support disaster management capabilities and resilience building in agricultural communities, particularly in Northeast India. Thirdly, we develop games to train people in disaster preparedness is a fun and engaging way.

Assistant Professor

Aug 2013 – Present · 12 yrs 10 mos · On-site

I am an industrial designer with experience in collaborative R&D, system design for sustainability, agricultural machinery design and serious game design. I have co-founded the Sustainability and Social Innovation Lab at Department of Design, IIT Guwahati. The lab focusses on creating systems for sustainable human consumption and production through a complete revamp of the consumption structure with our design interventions. We are part of the global network on sustainability, the Learning and Education Network in Sustainability (LeNS) consisting of 150+ global universities. Currently a large part of our sustainable product-service development projects are in the domain of agriculture.
At IIT Guwahati I teach courses like System Design for Sustainability, Usability Engineering, User Research Techniques, Product Detailing, Interaction Design, Design Management, Plastics and composites and Design Semantics. I have also developed a MooC course on System Design for Sustainability for the NPTEL platform and a course of Product Design for Engineers for the Coursera platform.
In the past few years, I have worked with several companies (like ABB, Philips, Infosys, MIDCO, VU Medical University Amsterdam, Conpax Verpakking, Beat Belly, Botanische Tuin Delft, ACC Ltd, MIDCO, Prince Plastics), educational institutes (like IIT Guwahati, MIT Institute of Design Pune, IDC, IIT Bombay and L'Ecole de Design (Indian Operations), Nantes-Atlantique, France), NGOs (like International Development Enterprise Bangladesh, Antaran) and governmental organizations (like NEHHDC, NEBDC).

System Design for SustainabilityUsability EngineeringUser Research TechniquesProduct DetailingInteraction DesignDesign Management+4

Sustainability & social innovation (ssi) lab

Co Founder

May 2015 – Present · 11 yrs 1 mo · Department of Design, IIT Guwahati · On-site

Design for Sustainability (DfS) is an emerging and significant domain. It is also one of the prime needs of the hour considering the burden of human consumption and production. In order to create sustainable human consumption and production, a complete revamp of the consumption structure os needed. Design for Sustainability stands on the pillars of innovation. Through the Sustainability and Social Innovation Lab, the Department of Design at IIT Guwahati, aims to foray into this domain. The R&D at the lab focusses on three structural components: Knowledge Innovation, Product and Service Innovation, Social Innovation

Mit institute of design

Senior Lecturer

Aug 2012 – Jul 2013 · 11 mos · Pune

Conducting classes and mentoring projects for undergraduate & post-graduate students in the discipline of Industrial Design. The various subjects undertaken are Green Design, Ethnographic Research, Research Methods, Ergonomics, Packaging Design, Techno-aesthetic Detailing, Appropriate Economics, Simple Product Design and Science in Everyday Objects & Creative Intervention.

Shenoy innovation studio, idc, iit bombay

Design Consultant

Oct 2010 – Aug 2012 · 1 yr 10 mos · Mumbai Area, India

Working on a R&D project with ACC Ltd. to develop mass production possibilities for affordable and sustainable rural and semi-uban housing solutions for the BoP market. My responsibility involves managing a multi-disciplinary team consisting of industrial designers, architects, civil engineers, energy science professional and humanities professionals; conducting ethnographic research; generating creative ideas; disseminating research through blogs and seminars and managing several student projects. Other projects undertaken in the studio include development of high-tech products like explosive detection device; creating communication material for the studio and content for D’source, a web-based learning environment being developed by IDC (IIT Bombay), NID and DoD (IIT Guwahati).

Botanical garden delft

Graduation Project

Mar 2010 – Aug 2010 · 5 mos · Delft Area, Netherlands

Working on designing an efficient and effective grabbing-positioning mechanism for Taxus branches and needles and thereby applying an electrostatic field to extract taxoids. Taxoids are used to make chemotherapy drugs. The proposed technique is looked upon as a more sustainable and economical way of winning the chemical.

Technical university of delft

Master's Student

Aug 2008 – Aug 2010 · 2 yrs · Delft, Netherlands

Integrated Product Design with focus on sustainability

Midco ltd.

Asst. Manager

Mar 2007 – Aug 2008 · 1 yr 5 mos · Mumbai Area, India

MIDCO manufactures gasoline dispensers. A gasoline dispenser is the device from which petrol/ diesel comes out at the fueling stations. My major responsibilities include market research and analysis, product design (dispenser exteriors, layout design, accessory design) and brand development. The major challenge apart from aesthetics is cost. Since the industry is driven by tenders (to oil companies), cost reduction is a big responsibility that I am handling. Secondly, being a hazardous zone product, it is governed by multitude of regulations – CE, ATEX, IP compliances, ROHS, Machinery Directives, and Pressure Directives. My job profile involves taking into picture all these aspects of the product.

Prince plastic int. pvt. ltd.

Executive Design and Development

Oct 2006 – Feb 2007 · 4 mos · Mumbai Area, India

My major responsibility involves design of FMCG plastic products. The work also involves thorough market research.

Infosys technologies ltd.

Interface Designer

Jun 2006 – Oct 2006 · 4 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

The work involved designing the information architecture, navigation & interaction stereotypes, user experience and usability evaluation for web-based applications and products.