When Afsal Ayub Khan first told his family he wanted to study climate change, he was met with amused smiles and puzzled looks. It was a subject unfamiliar to most around him and there was no one to turn to for guidance. Yet, with quiet determination, Afsal walked away from a guaranteed engineering seat and left his hometown of Karunagappally in Kollam for Mannuthy Agricultural University in Thrissur, where he joined the Integrated B.Sc. and M.Sc. Programmes in Climate Change Adaptation.

That decision has now taken him all the way to the University of Bristol in the UK, where he is pursuing a PhD on a fully funded scholarship worth ₹2 crore. His research focuses on mitigating methane emissions from cattle, one of the significant contributors to global warming.

The first turning point
Afsal's journey into climate science began to take shape while still a student at Mannuthy. He worked on a project linking renewable energy, backwater tourism,and pollution, which received approval from the American Meteorological Society. That project earned him an invitation to present a paper at an international conference in New York, organised in association with the World Meteorological Organization. This moment served as a turning point for him.

He later attended a week-long course on Population and Environment at Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, USA, further sharpening his interest in the intersection of environment and society.

From Kerala to Europe
After completing his integrated programme, Afsal joined Kerala Veterinary University as a research associate. In 2021, he secured admission with a scholarship to the University of Padua, Italy, for a Master’s in Sustainable Agriculture. That led to his current PhD programme at Bristol University.

Afsal’s scholarship came through a direct application to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) platform. After a preliminary round and written test, he was selected via an interview process conducted by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), one of UKRI’s major funding bodies.

Global platform
Now, Afsal is gearing up to present his work at some of the most prestigious global forums. He will be speaking at the Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture (GGAA) international convention in Nairobi, Kenya and the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) conference in Ireland this April.

Climate studies at KAU
The five-year Integrated M.Sc. programme in Climate Change Adaptation that Afsal Ayub Khan pursued at Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has now been restructured into a 4-year undergraduate and 2-year postgraduate structure. The new undergraduate degree is offered as B.Sc. (Hons.) in Climate Change and Environmental Science.At the postgraduate level, students can now choose from specialised courses such as M.Sc. in Climate Science, M.Sc. in Environmental Science and M.Sc. in Ocean and Atmospheric Science.

“The separation of the integrated program into B.Sc. and M.Sc. has significantly increased job prospects. There are many roles in India and abroad in areas like carbon computing and carbon footprint analysis,” says Afsal.