Joseph Edmundson

Age: 25

Home Town: Pittsburgh

Education: B.S International Economics, Georgetown University

Specific Field Interests: Livelihoods, Economics, Sustainability, Environment

Placement: WASSAN, Hyderabad, Telangana

Area of Focus: Environment Protection, Rural Livelihoods, Agriculture, Climate Change

Fellowship Project: Common Ground (CG) initiative to strengthen the capabilities of civil society, governments and businesses to collaborate in system-level change for resilient social, ecological and economic outcomes through robust decentralized governance of Commons, centering the agency of women, Scheduled Castes and tribal peoples.

Highlights: Joseph focuses on the intersection of environmental change and livelihood resilience in vulnerable communities. He graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a B.S in International Economics and minors in International Development and Mathematics. Most recently, he completed a Fulbright Research Grant in affiliation with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He researched agroecological transitions in rural Assam with particular attention to economic feasibility and water management. Alongside this work, he contributed to research on dietary transitions as well as knowledge sharing in natural farming. During his grant year, he earned an Agroecology Certification organized by Welthungerhilfe. As an undergraduate, Joseph researched the economic implications of India’s NGREGA program, investigated stakeholder impact evaluations of Maharashtrian infrastructure projects, and analyzed rural Indian moneylending risks. Immediately following his undergraduate studies, Joseph worked at Goldman Sachs in the Global Banking & Markets Division where he developed financial and economic expertise as well as voluntarily participated in nonprofit fundraising. Joseph is eager to advance equitable models of environmental management, agriculture, and rural livelihoods with WASSAN, with a focus on the Commons and the needs of rural women, Scheduled Castes, and Tribal Communities. He plans to pursue graduate study in development studies.