System Thinker. Science Diplomacy. Quantum Technologist.#
Dr. Chitresh Saraswat’s is an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner operating at the nexus of questions such as “how can emerging technologies (such as Quantum Technologies, AI Symbiotic and others) accelerate transformation towards sustainability?”, “What are the new models/arrangements of governance for water limited and climate vulnerable communities?”, and “What alternatives the cybernetic governance could provide to heal the fractured global commons?”. His work is deeply rooted in systems thinking, science diplomacy and emerging technologies across academia and multilateral forums.
He is a Fellow at the School of Cybernetics in the College of Systems and Society and an Affiliate of the Institute for Water Futures, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University (ANU). In these roles he leads work on experimentation for governance redesign through exploring the new governance models for water limited communities in the Murray–Darling Basin (Australia) to cities across the Global South. He also focusing on investigating the convergences of emerging technologies such as Quantum Technologies (Sensing, Computing and Security & Communication) and AI-enabled cyber-physical-system to enhance societal resilience and inclusive leadership decision making.
Dr. Saraswat is an André Hoffmann Fellow (Alumnus) for Innovation in Climate Adaptation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva, Switzerland. During his tenure, he co developed thought leadership on emerging technology and systemic climate risk. He architects a new discourse on business driven climate adaptation through co authoring the WEF Davos 2025 launched flagship white paper on “catalysing business engagement in early warning systems” in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization, ANU and WEF.
His professional journey is defined by strategic roles with multiple United Nations Agencies, national ministries and embassies, facilitating science diplomacy and technology-policy dialogues. He has more than 39+ publications (over 2050 citation on Google Scholar) include a widely cited book on urban water security and more than thirty peer reviewed articles and book chapters across water governance, climate adaptation, cyber physical systems and sustainability transitions.
His professional journey also includes roles with multiple United Nations Agencies, national ministries and embassies, where he supported climate and energy diplomacy, technology policy dialogues. He has honed skills in international negotiation and science diplomacy by collaborating with global agencies, think tanks and innovation ecosystems to advance evidence based governance of climate services and emerging technologies.
His academic foundation spans premier institutions in India (IIT Kharagpur) and Japan (UNU & UoT) blending the Computer Science & Engineering and Sustainability Science. This path continued to completion of PhD at Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, focused on accelerating transformations towards water sustainability in the Global South. Just like the quantum superimposition, Dr Saraswat holds emerging technologies and sustainability governance in entangled states simultaneously by designing adaptive cyber-physical systems for water security and catalysing the cross-sector wave functions that collapse into action.
As founder of an innovation venture focused on quantum driven climate and water applications he is keen on developing and exploring new tools for the public good. He infuses each initiative with a strong emphasis on collaboration and dedicated to democratising access to transformative capabilities and building anticipatory leadership in a rapidly changing world. “He likes not passively observing the future’s wavefunction, but keen on coherently engineering its operating system.”
Areas of Expertise: Systems Thinking and Foresight, Science Diplomacy, Quantum and Emerging Technologies, Accelerating Sustainability Transformations, Innovation Ecosystems, Climate Adaptation, Cyber Physical Infrastructure, Water Security, Public–private Alliances and Multistakeholder Governance.