Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment
University of Oldenburg
Schleusenstr. 16
26382 Wilhelmshaven
Dr. Mansee Bal Bhargava is a transdisciplinary practitioner of the built environment that includes architecture design, development, planning, management, and governance of large-scale developments. Engaging through entrepreneurship, research, education, public speaking, and mentoring for nearly three decades, she has developed her interests in water worries and wisdom with focus on community water management and water governance frameworks. Mansee holds a PhD in Public Administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam on ‘Social-ecological Systems to Urban Lake Governance and Sustainability in India’ in which she gained scholarship from Nobel Laureate Prof. Elinor Ostrom on Social-ecological Systems Framework and Institutional Analysis Development Framework. In her MPhil from University of Cambridge, she used the Total Economic Value framework to compare the goods and services of developed and undeveloped waterbodies. She has received global scholarship with several fellowships including Fulbright-Nehru Professional and Academic Excellence-USA where she worked on the Ontology of Urban Lakes using the Social-Ecological Systems Framework. She was selected by the Swedish Embassy in India and the Swedish Institute to be at the Nobel Prize Teacher Summit 2022 for ‘Teachers for Change’ in Stockholm. She is the Co-Founder-Director of WforW Foundation and Research Entrepreneur Partner at Environmental Design Consultants Ahmedabad, in India. She holds the National President position at the Water Resources Council (2022-) of the Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry leading a network of professional women leaders from the water sector from across the country. She believes that water conversations are crucial to move towards water conservation and thus has initiated water conversation series (300+ sessions) namely, Wednesdays.for.Water, Friday.Waters, and Monday Munching-Musing with Women for water besides doing extensive workshops, seminars, walks and talks on water matters. She writes on both scientific and citizen science platforms besides, runs an open access YouTube Channel about water, women, and the built environment. More about her personal and collaborative experiences can be found at