Environmental Informatics and Educational Opportunities in Post Graduate level—Indian Potentialities based on International Scenario

corresponding author Type of Work: Peer Reviewed. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jmss.v16.n2.p2 How to cite this paper: Paul, P.K., Aithal, P.S., Bhuimali, A. (2020). Environmental Informatics and Educational Opportunities in Post Graduate level—Indian Potentialities based on International Scenario. IRAInternational Journal of Management & Social Sciences (ISSN 2455-2267), 16(2), 45-58. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jmss.v16.n2.p2


Introduction
Environmental Informatics is the emerging practicing domain and applications of Information Technology and Computing applications in Environment, Nature and Ecology also partially related areas like Geology, Agriculture, Forestry, Geography, Climatology, Oceanography, etc. Environmental Informatics also called as Eco Informatics and Ecology Informatics in some contexts. Environmental Informatics is broader than Environmental Information Technology and may also deal with manual information management related to environment and ecology. Environmental Informatics deals with completely natural processes with language common to both humans and computers [1], [5], 911]. Different emerging technologies are applicable in different sectors allied areas of the studies related to the environment (but not limited to) following- Environmental Science  Environmental Studies  Environmental Management  Environmental Engineering etc.

Objective
The present paper is conceptual and reviews based and intends with the following aim and objective- To gain knowledge on Informatics and overview of Environment and related areas including the components of the Environmental Sciences.  To learn about the features, characteristics, stakeholders of the Environmental Informatics including its evolution.  To get the job scenario and carrier opportunities in Environmental Informatics in different sectors.  To find out the similar branches related to the Environmental Informatics at a glance.  To learn about the educational programs on Environmental Informatics and allied areas in different international universities using the proposed methods.  To learn the potentialities of offering a Masters degree in Environmental Informatics with possible nomenclature.  To get the possibilities of research-based Environmental Informatics programs at the Masters level.

Methods
This paper is theoretical as well as educational in nature. For thus different secondary sources are used to learn about the Environmental Informatics and allied fields. Various primary sources such as journals are used to get the current scenario of Environmental Informatics. Web review is undertaken to get the universities offering Environmental Informatics programs; and here search strategy used title and keywords are used 'Degrees on Environmental Informatics', 'MSc Environmental Informatics', 'Academic Programs on Environmental Informatics'. Further, the result considered up to 20 pages (if available). Then the analysis is incorporated in this paper.

Environmental Informatics: Overview with Features and Stakeholders
Environmental Informatics is the applications, design, development of IT and Computing for the environmental and ecological areas viz. ecological analysis, synthesis, including forecasting and management. Environmental Informatics is applicable in different areas of the natural systems and environment including the river systems, lakes, marine systems, forestry, disaster management agriculture, etc [2], [3], [12]. Information technology components and Computer Science components viz. AI & ES, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic are also important in Environmental Informatics practice. Moreover, in the conservation of biodiversity and fishery management also it is important. The branch is very close to the Computational Ecology, Environmental Data Sciences as well. The following are the core features of the Environmental Informatics- It is a field of interdisciplinary sciences and incorporated with different fields of environment and information science.  Environmental Informatics is an applied science field and also responsible for the different solutions in the environment and ecology.  Environmental Informatics is about technological and manual documentation and procedure in environmental management.  Contents, information systems are prime for health Environmental Information systems designing and development.  Environmental Informatics is broader than Geo-Informatics or closely allied Environmental Information Management [4], [7], [13].
Environmental Informatics is the solution for different environmental allied subjects viz. Geology, Agriculture, Forestry, Geography, Climatology, Oceanography, Anthropology, Disaster Management, etc. There are following stakeholders of Environmental Informatics-

Content and Information-
Content and information are an important concern of Environmental Informatics as without content designing of Environmental Information Systems, Monitoring Systems become useless or not possible [19], [24].

People-
People are important stakeholders in Environmental Informatics and in this context, people mean the professional who design and develop Environmental Informatics systems and users of the systems [6], [9], [19].

Environmental Affairs and Facets-
Nature including aspects, objects and systems of Geology, Agriculture, Forestry, Geography, Climatology, Oceanography, Anthropology, Disaster Management and its stakeholders are the important aspects of Environmental Informatics The stakeholders in Environmental Informatics is increasing rapidly and growing. The advantages are noticeable in different context [18], [22], [23].

Environmental Informatics: Possible Positions and Educational Programs
Environmental Informatics educated and similarly skilled professionals can get a different kind of job opportunities viz. as remote sensing specialists, ICT enable area foresters, ICT based refuge managers, environmental ICT consultants, wildlife information specialists and also in Natural resource agencies. The figure: 1 shows few possible jobs in Environmental Informatics [8], [10], [26].

Fig:1 Few common job positions for Environmental Informatics Educated/ Skilled
The jobs and opportunities can vary in Environmental Informatics from country to country. As far as the University of Michigan's (it offers degrees in the field: https://seas.umich.edu) official website is concerned some of the featured companies in US/ Internationals are include as follows- Environmental Informatics professional and their job responsibilities thus also vary from profession to professions, herewith few brief job descriptions-Ecoinformatics -Environmental Informatics professionals are responsible for developing the ideas and ways to access as well as in integrating repositories and databases of environmental-related content and information to solve environmental problems to different stakeholders.
Environmental data scientist -Weather, climate, agricultural problems can be solved by using integrated data analytics products and services, data delivery systems, and allied tools.
Ecological forecasting specialists -They are responsible for data and information delivery to the needy using different technologies of Computing and IT [3], [14], [25].
Ecosystems services consultant -Plans and executes environmental monitoring efforts through the design, evaluation, and installation of monitoring stations such as electronic data loggers, remote samplers, and remote communications systems.
Environmental modeler -Environmental Informatics is responsible for Integrating modeling, geo data analysis using IT components.
Geospatial technician -They utilize data in different settings and dedicated to building, maintaining, and accessing geographic information system databases [7], [15], [16].
Sustainability system analyst -They are responsible for system designing and development for the implementing policies and procedures for environmental management.
Hence, environmental informatics educated may enter in the job market and maybe the organizations related to the Agriculture, Space, Weather and Climatology, Environmental Protection Agency, Geological Survey, Central and State Agencies and Ministries, Departments and Organizations offers Forest Management and allied solutions, Marine Technologies, Disaster Management company and organizations, Environmental consulting firms, nonprofit organizations work on environment and ecologies, etc [10], [17], [20]. Due to this wide range of existing and future job potentialities many universities have started educational programs and as per the revealed few programs and universities listed in Table: 1.  Table: 2 to learn a detailed university offers PG programs as per the result of the study/ method adopted.

Possible Masters Program in Indian Context
India is a developing nation and growing its economy as a knowledge economy. Further, it is to be noted that, India holds a higher number of higher educational institutes comprise of 900+ Universities, 40000+ Colleges, 100+ INI, etc. In many universities, Environmental Science and allied nomenclatures are offered and it is possible to offer academic programs on these subjects as specializations in Environmental Informatics. Table: 4 depicted possible programs in this regard.

Possible Masters Program in Research Context: Indian Context
Environmental Informatics an interdisciplinary program needs skill sets of different areas, further professionals from allied subjects of the environment and informatics can be interested to join in the field as a research concentration. Hence there may be possible programs with research concentration with following degrees (also refer

Suggestion
 Environmental Informatics as a field is growing internationally and thus in India as well the field can be started at a Master's level with coursework or research.  The programs can be started at Masters directly with full-fledged manner viz. MSc/MTech, etc on Environmental Informatics.  Further if possible, subfield specializations may be offered viz. MSc Environmental Informatics (Geo-Informatics), MSc Environmental Informatics (Forest Informatics), etc as a super specialty.  There are lots of programs in the Environmental Sciences sub-areas viz. Geology, Agriculture, Forestry, Geography, Climatology, Oceanography, and in such areas Environmental Informatics or allied fields can be offered.
 Proper adjustment, procedure, and collaboration with the allied departments (viz. Informatics/ IT departments with Environment related) can be taken to start the programs on Environmental Informatics.

Conclusion
Environmental Informatics is growing internationally due to its wide range of applications not only in core areas of the environment but also in allied areas viz. Geology, Agriculture, Forestry, Geography, Climatology, Oceanography, Anthropology, etc. In India, though Informatics or Information Science departments/ or academic units are limited but can be offered from the initiative of Information Technology, Computer Science or allied departments with the Environmental Sciences or allied departments viz. Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Management, etc. In this context, initiatives from the respective departments from the universities or by the MHRD or by the state government are required. Further Government departments, Ministries, and Organizational initiatives required from the allied branches viz. Agriculture, Forestry, Environment, Disaster Management, etc. Further, if Masters programs are difficult to start initially then the short-term programs, workshops, events can be started for proper development of the field and complete sustainability.