Dr. Shyamala Mani, Professor, Waste Management and Environmental Health, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has an MSc. in Microbiology from Madurai Kamaraj University, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees in Environmental Science from JNU, India and an MPH from School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA. A national science talent scholar, a recipient of ICAR Fellowship in Agri. Microbiology and Fogarty Int. fellowship in Environmental Health, she has presented papers in several conferences and seminars in India and abroad. Her projects have received international recognition including the UNCHS Global 100 award for Community based waste management and Low cost sanitation in slums in Bangalore, the Plasticon India award for innovative Plastics Reuse and Recycling, recognition by International Model Forest Network Canada and Regional Centres of Expertise of the UNU-IAS Japan for setting up the Regional Centre of Expertise at Kodagu (Coorg) for management of pilgrimage places. She worked as Programme Director, Waste and Resource Management at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a centre of excellence supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India for 25 years before she joined NIUA in December 2012. At NIUA, she has helped complete Operationalizing of the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) and waste management documentation project for PEARL.