Shivira is a wildlife biologist with the Indian Seabird Group. She is slated to intern with the seabird conservation team led by Laura Shearer at the Ascension Island Government Conservation and Fisheries Directorate.

She spent her childhood in the heart of Kanpur city, nurturing a deep bond with nature through long hours spent reading about the wilderness and birdwatching from her window. After developing an interest in animal behaviour during her Bachelor of Science at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, she pursued an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from Edinburgh Napier University in the United Kingdom, where she investigated the activity patterns of Eurasian otters for her thesis. She spent a considerable amount of time at the St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve, observing cliff-side nesting colonies of kittiwakes, razorbills, and guillemots, which led her to develop a keen interest in seabird behaviour. A member of the Indian Seabird Group since 2023, Shivira was awarded a grant by The Seabird Group to undertake a field course on bird migration, organised by the Bombay Natural History Society.

As a recipient of the Inlaks-Ravi Sankaran Internship for Field Biology, Ecology & Conservation 2025, Shivira will work with the Ascension Island Government Conservation and Fisheries Directorate to assist the seabird conservation team with the annual seabird census. Under the supervision of Laura Shearer, the Seabird Scientist and Coastal Reserve Manager, she will undertake training in research techniques that include manual counts and drone surveys, as well as productivity monitoring and associated bird tagging in the Ascension Island Marine Protected Area. She hopes to utilise these skills to study seabird behaviour and ecology, and strengthen efforts for the conservation and monitoring of vulnerable seabirds.