Dr. Jyoti Yadav is a geographer whose interdisciplinary scholarship brings cultural and historical geography into dialogue with allied fields of inquiry. Her academic interests include socio-cultural geography, historical geography, sacred landscapes, mental health and well-being, ecology in ancient Indian literature, Indian Knowledge Systems, social medicine, and Ayurvedic thought. Her work is particularly concerned with exploring geographical ideas and knowledge traditions through interdisciplinary perspectives that connect geography with classical Indian texts, Ayurveda, ecology, health, and cultural studies.

Dr. Yadav served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she worked on the report entitled “Geographical Aspects in the Ramayana: A Study in Ancient Indian Geography.” Her post-doctoral research examined the geographical imagination of the Ramayana, with particular attention to landscapes, environmental knowledge, cultural practices, and the conceptualization of place in ancient Indian literary traditions. This work contributed to an interdisciplinary understanding of ancient Indian geography by bringing together textual interpretation, cultural geography, environmental perspectives, and Indian Knowledge Systems.

She completed her Ph.D. in Geography at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, with a thesis titled “Educated Unemployed Youth and Their Mental Health with Special Reference to Prakriti: A Study in Varanasi City.” Her doctoral research focused on the relationship between mental health and the Ayurvedic concept of Prakriti. She also completed her graduation and postgraduation from Banaras Hindu University. Dr. Yadav qualified the UGC NET–JRF & also awarded foreign travel grant from Indian Council of Social Science Research, Government of India, reflecting her academic merit and eligibility for research fellowship support.

Her research publications span mental health, youth and spiritual well-being, healthy ageing, Ayurvedic Prakriti, educated unemployment, migration and cultural adaptation, and the socio-cultural dimensions of geography. More recently, her research has expanded to include hydrological knowledge, ecology, sacred landscapes, and traditional knowledge as represented in ancient Indian literature. Dr. Yadav has published several research papers and book chapters indexed in Scopus, UGC-Care list and peer-reviewed journals. She has also contributed chapters to edited volumes published by Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis and has served as co-editor of Bharatbodh Patrika, a peer-reviewed journal covering literature, humanities, social sciences, and performing arts. She has presented research papers at numerous national and international conferences, seminars, and academic forums, including international presentations during her academic visits to Italy, Peru, France, Switzerland and Germany. She has also undertaken training in qualitative and quantitative research methods, ArcGIS, QGIS, and NVivo. As a former professional volleyball player, Dr. Yadav has also engaged with themes related to ethics and the shaping of sportsmanship among youth. This area of work reflects her broader interest in youth development, values, well-being, and the social dimensions of sport.

At the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Dr. Yadav is pursuing a two-year fellowship project titled “Mapping of Ramcharitmanas: Landscapes, Ecology, and Sacred Spatial Consciousness in Pre-modern India.” The project explores the interconnections among sacred geography, landscape, ecology, environmental knowledge, and spatial imagination as articulated in the Ramcharitmanas, thereby contributing to interdisciplinary understandings of India’s cultural and intellectual heritage.

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