Asiem Sanyal
He/Him
I am gay and I am a marine biologist and conservationist.//
I am a marine conservationist working for a conservation organisation in the little-known country of Timor-Leste. Additionally, I am also a dive instructor, which synergises beautifully with my work in the country’s biodiverse waters. Island ecosystems fascinate me, and diving to conduct reef and fish surveys off the little island where I am based (in the Coral Triangle) affords me every opportunity to be enthralled and enraptured by the multitudinous species interactions at play. I also enjoy creative writing, and my nature-themed stories have been published on various platforms. I hope to keep communicating my immense love for the oceans to a wider audience. My STEM journey has taken me from India to the UK (and subsequently to various islands around the world), where friends and colleagues have engendered a conducive environment for the realisation of my sexuality as a person of colour. Queerness in the Indian STEM circles simmers just beneath the surface, and so many beautiful queer brains are at the forefront of research in the sciences. I hope that younger generations are afforded a chance to be themselves from the outset, and that the coming decade heralds an increase in queer representation in STEM, especially in India.