Poornima Kumar obtained her master's degree in Environmental and Infrastructure Planning from the University of Groningen as an Erasmus Mundus scholar. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Carbon Management (online) with the University of Edinburgh as a Commonwealth scholar, and has completed a PGCert in Climate Change Management with the same, as a Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation scholar. She obtained her bachelor's degree in Architecture from Anna University, Chennai. Prior to joining CSTEP, Poornima worked as a researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc, Bengaluru. At CSTEP, her work focuses on climate policy and energy pathways for improving quality of life. Her research interests lie in carbon management and resilience planning.