Dr. Pritha Datta is an Assistant Professor at the Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, IIT Kharagpur, India. Her work brings a human lens to climate change, focusing on how it shapes everyday life, how people perceive risks, make decisions, and support one another in times of change.

She is especially interested in the idea that adaptation and mitigation begin with people, their behaviours, attitudes, and sense of well-being. In her research, climate action is not just about solutions on paper, but about how individuals and communities understand change, respond to it, and adjust their ways of living. This includes looking at how social relationships, local knowledge, and shared experiences influence people’s ability to cope and adapt.

Her work highlights that well-being is closely tied to feeling secure, connected, and capable of making choices, even in uncertain environments. By focusing on behaviour and perception, she explores how communities can move toward more sustainable and balanced lifestyles, while also strengthening social bonds, collective resilience, and happiness.