Our Team

THE STORY OF US The story of ‘SCEL’ started at Kitab Khana – one the premier book stores in Mumbai owned by the Somaiya group. Animated conversations with Mr. Samir Somaiya, President, Somaiya Vidyavihar about education in the 21st century, museums, conservation & sustainability over a cup of coffee led to the idea of starting the ‘Center for Experiential Learning’ in early 2013. The rest as they say is history. Founded in November 2014 The Somaiya Center for Experiential Learning consists of people passionate about transforming ideas into great experiences.

Parth Bapat
Consultant
Parth, with an academic base in Geography & Physics, has worked for over 25 years in the fields of education, research and documentation in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. His areas of expertise include environmental management, food security systems and non-conventional pedagogy. Parth has carried out over forty ecological impact assessments for governmental regulatory bodies and funding agencies, including the World Bank, covering a range of infrastructure development projects. He has documented the use of wild foods by tribal communities and traditional farming practices across India. He has designed specialized learning modules for educational institutions, corporate bodies and social groups, taught at reputed universities and mentored research students, besides authoring content for various publications. Parth is currently also involved in an IIT-Roorkee project for adaptive re-use of traditional Himalayan architecture and building engineering, even as he continues to pursue his long-standing hobbies of restoring his old car and engaging with traditional communities to enjoy India’s unique culinary heritage.
Shashank Bhosale
Learning Programme Manager
Shashank ducked a lucrative job in the IT industry to don the hat of a science communicator on board the Science Express Train – a unique science exhibition mounted on a 16-coach AC train. On this journey through 20,000+ kms across India, he reached out to more than 2.5 million people. Shashank holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology & his interest in Climate Change led him to pursue a specialization course from Center for Environmental Education (CEE), Ahmedabad.  At SCEL he brings his experience and expertise to design, develop, facilitate and promote experiential learning programmes focused on cultural and natural heritage for children, youth, and adults. Shashank is a passionate photographer & an award-winning filmmaker who endeavors to raise awareness on environmental issues through his photographs and films.
Aashutosh Mule
Sr. Programme Manager
Aashutosh, with a degree in Biophysics, has been teaching biology for the last 10 years to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Mumbai’s renowned colleges, including K. J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce. He has also been developing learning paradigms in cognitive neuroscience for undergraduate biology education and curating STEM education modules at Kishore Bharati. He has been actively involved in science outreach activities through Curiosity Circle, a research group that organises lectures by eminent speakers on the history and philosophy of Science. Aashutosh has over 3 years of research experience in the field of Infectious Disease Biology. His versatile experience in the domains of teaching, research, science education research and science communication proves to be an asset at SCEL in bringing out well-designed experiential learning pedagogies. Aashutosh, besides being passionate about dancing and travel, has a penchant for history and, had it not been for science, would certainly have loved to develop narratives of the past as a historian.
Apurva Patil
Programme Executive
Apurva has a bachelors’ in Botany and a masters’ in Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation and Management from Mumbai University. Her love for ecology and the outdoors got channelized into research on the Sarus Crane population of Gujarat, through a project initiated by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) and funded by the MoEFCC, Government of India. Passionate about spreading awareness on environmental conservation and sustainable living, Apurva went on to found ‘Nature Rocks’, through which she freelanced as an environmental educator. At SCEL, she thinks up creative ideas to impart curricular subjects through non-conventional methods and conducts learning programmes in Environmental Science and Natural History. Whether on or off the job, Apurva never stops nurturing her nature-lover’s hobbies of bird-watching, gardening, swimming, photography and travel.