Geospatial Systems -

Yashvini Shukla

Biography

About Yashvini

I started off with an interest in Space travel and Climate change after getting enamoured by the images of earth and other planets of the solar system as a child. Space travel is about the future, and climate change is about the present. By studying civil engineering, I was able to pander to these interests in unexpected ways, however I wanted to more – hence the PhD. Here’s a brief summary of my academic journey;

• MEng ,Civil and Environmental Engineering, UCL class of ‘21

• Year abroad, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI),’20

• Undergraduate Research Project, Bluff Body fluid mechanics, RPI, Sept ’20 – Aug ’21

• Delay Analyst, Kroll Advisory Services,  Sept ‘21-Jul ‘22

During my final year of MEng at UCL, I became interested in investigating how climate change would impact food security, an interest fuelled by the stories about grocery shelves running empty because of the Covid crisis. To give you some context, the UK imports 50% of its gas supplies as opposed to 80% of its food supplies. The UK as of November 2022 faces record high inflation rates due to gas shortages from the Ukrainian war. Similarly, it is not hard to imagine what would happen to food prices from supply chain shocks from worsening stressors like the pandemic, war, and climate change.

This research was at the back of my mind when I decided to take up a job under an expert witness to explore the world of industry. It involved investigating interesting civil engineering projects in the Middle East that had faced delays in their completion and needed an independent expert to settle the dispute. This experience taught and helped me understand the industry from a very uncommon bird’s eye perspective, as civil engineering is often a very siloed process. After learning from this wonderful experience, when I did get a chance to persue academia, I took it and now I’m here. The CDT programme is very comprehensive, I hope to be able to take my interest in food security further, but I am open to being an explorer and go where the wind takes me. Stay tuned to see where I end up. 🙂