Sneha Mendiratta

My research aims to analyse Human-Wildfire Interactions through Social Media data along with Perceptions of Wildfire in Mainstream Media, such as News Resources and Print Media. This analysis aims to generate a real-time alert system towards Wildfire Detection and Calls for Help. Beyond detection, I aim to understand how pyrogeography is shaped for India and the UK. I am currently researching various Text Mining and Natural Language Processing techniques for Wildfire Social Sensing if you are interested in my work or would like to collaborate, please write to: [email protected]

Primary Supervisor: Dr. Gareth Clay

Co-Supervisors: Prof. Sarah Lindley & Dr. Riza Theresa Batista-Navarro

UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership

Indian Space and Reserach Organisation's Research Fellowship 

Offered UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) Studentship in Data Science & AI for Sustainable Futures

Offered National Institute of Technology, India's Research Fellowship

European Geosciences Union

Sneha is a PhD Student at the Department of Physical Geography and Department of Computer Sciences, jointly supervised by Dr. Gareth Clay, Prof. Sarah Lindley, and Dr. Riza Theresa Batista-Navarro. Before commencing her PhD, she was employed at the Indian Space and Reserach Organisation (ISRO) as a Researcher/Computer Scientist and worked with National Aeronautics and Space Association's (NASA) Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) team to leverage Machine Learning Techniques for retrival of biophysical parameters using Satellite Data.

Sneha was awarded a postgraduate degree in Computer Sciences with a specialisation in Artifical Intelligence (Distinction), where she undertook a reserach project at Indian Space and Reserach Organisation's Disaster Management Department to create a Predictive Model for Wildfires employing Satellite Data and Machine Learning Techniques.

She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pune in Bachelors of Engineering (First Class). In addition, Sneha has been a part of various trainings held at NASA and ISRO.

Sneha has worked with CommunityMapping.org as a volunteer at the BlueDot Festival (2023). Community Mapping aims to map previously un-mapped areas of the world in order to help address chronic humanitarian crisis.

Sneha is also a Student Representative for the Second year PhD Cohort at Physical Geography and a co-supervisor for undergraduate projects in the Department of Computer Sciences and oversees final year undergraduate project for Atmospheric Sciences.

Her expertise lies in Machine Learning, Statistical Modelling, GIS, Remote Sensing and Natural Language Processing. Her reserach affiliation is with the Environmental Processes Reserach Group and Natural Language Processing Group. 

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Software Engineering

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Fundamentals of Synthetic Aperture Radar

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Tutorials and Profile of a Research Geographer

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Environmental Monitoring and Modelling Concepts

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Text Mining

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Pyrogeography: Fire in Earth System

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Foundations of Machine Learning (Robotics) 

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Foundations of Machine Learning (Advanced Computer Sciences) 

Graduate Teaching Assistant - Skills for Geographers 

Natural Language Processing and Text Mining

Environmental Processes

Sneha has worked with Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the School of Environment, Education & Development to curate a reading list of underrepresented BAME authors in the the field of Physical Geography. This resource is available through the University of Manchester's Library & can be accessed now.

Sneha has worked with CommunityMapping.org as a volunteer at the BlueDot Festival (2023). Community Mapping aims to map previously un-mapped areas of the world in order to help address chronic humanitarian crisis.