Dr Shashank Renuka Balakrishna
Lecturer
Teaching
Teaching
I am an ardent supporter of the Student-Centred Active Learning Environment with Upside Down Pedagogy strategy in teaching (SCALE-UP), which involves the active participation of students as an alternative to traditional lectures.
My teaching focuses on the development of critical thinking to evaluate the practical applications of empirical research in ecology. To this extent, I employ a set of training examples both in the classroom and on the field to gain an understanding of biological processes.
Lectures
Lectures We are living in the age of the Anthropocene which is the result of a dramatic increase in human activity post 1950s shaping the world we live in today. The Anthropocene presents a unique set of grand challenges to our existence characterised by climate change and land use changes.
My lectures focus on addressing these grand challenges through evaluating real-world scenarios and case studies. In particular, I inspire students to engage, question and learn about robust monitoring, management and conservation practices that can aid informed decision-making.
Overall, my lectures aim to foster a new generation of talented scientists widely required to address global societal challenges.
Research
Projects
As a researcher, I am primarily interested in organismal and community responses of urban adapter species and farmland species to anthropogenic disturbance. Human-mediated environmental changes such as urbanisation and agricultural intensification are critical drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss.
In line with my research interests, I offer either lab-based or data-driven projects to undergraduates and a combination of both lab and field-based projects to postgraduate students. The focal point of all my projects is to understand how local adaptations in life history strategies can improve mitigation and conservation practices.
