Bartlett PhD Alumni: Hrishikesh Ballal

Hrishikesh is currently the Managing Director at Geodesign Hub (at the time of writing).

What project are you currently working on?

I am the founder of and currently work at Geodesignhub. Geodesignhub provides a software platform for people to collaborate and discuss and negotiate over the alternative futures for a place. It is especially useful when developing a consensus, exploring options and engaging different stakeholders.

We are a small company and our mission is to make Geodesign technologies broadly available. We have completed more than 100 projects on the platform in the past two years and in the process, we have developed deep expertise in collaborative design both from the technical and social side.  A lot of my work is open source and between the projects, workshops and the code, I am plenty busy.

What working achievement are you most proud of?

I am very proud of the transition from having a job to doing a PhD and then starting and running a company. Running a small company at its early stages means a lot of things are fluid and change and I am proud of my flexibility mentally and on a technical / company level to ensure that we are agile and competitive and self-sustaining in the long term.

How do you feel about being nominated as a role model?

I am surprised and humbled by this nomination. The staff and people at CASA have always been very supportive of me and my work and I am thankful for that. I hope that the nomination as a role model helps inspire current and future students at the Bartlett. I am an honorary researcher at CASA and every now and then collaborate with a few people there. With this nomination, I hope that I can work with others in the Bartlett who are interested in geodesign. Certainly, I would love to talk to others in the Bartlett about the work they are doing in the context of geodesign.

How would you describe your journey to your current role?

The journey to my current role has been challenging but thoroughly rewarding. I am a Mechanical Engineer by background and have advanced degrees and training in Mechanical Engineering and the Bartlett / CASA came later in my life. In the last few years, I have had to learn a lot of new things in planning and spatial analysis and business. While at the Bartlett, it meant new software and learning about entire new domains (e.g. planning) and in a lot of ways retrain myself and start from scratch. Just while I thought I had got a handle on it, the company work means I must learn a whole new set of skills around business, accounting and financials etc. It is challenging for me but I constantly push myself to do the best I can.

What motivated you to complete a PhD at the Bartlett?

I feel very lucky to have been able to do my PhD at CASA. My thesis advisors Prof. Mike Batty, Dr. James Cheshire and Prof. Carl Steinitz were instrumental in my PhD completion and the credit is also to them for their support and encouragement when I was in the program. In addition, my wife Susan was a constant support and motivator throughout this program. I became a father to our daughter Tara during the PhD and when going through these changes, I was really keen to finish what I started.

With people like Mike, James and Carl as a part of my thesis committee, it was a hugely inspiring and fulfilling endeavour. My work is in geodesign which sits at the intersection of design and analysis and doing a lot of experiments around digital support for design. I worked intensely with Carl whose boundless energy and experience helped me keep moving forward. While Mike and Carl guided me in the general direction of the work, I worked a lot with James around some of the deliverables. I still work with Carl and collaborate with Mike and the relationship has continued long after the PhD. I am forever grateful for their guidance.

How did studying at the Bartlett help to shape your career?

Being associated with the Bartlett has been a tremendous experience. At the Bartlett, you are exposed to a breath of people and research, sometimes it is too much to process with seminars, conferences, trainings etc. The department provided a tremendous platform for me to expand my experience and skills.

What advice would you give to current Bartlett PhD students?

Bartlett PhD students do extraordinary things in their research, and by the end of their research they are subject matter experts in the field. One of the most important skill in my opinion in the context of a PhD is communication. In the long term, the ability to articulate your research to people who are not experts and effectively communicate is critical. I had to learn this essential skill in the context of business and sales. To that extent, I would really recommend students to learn sales either through a course or get experienced in selling in some capacity.