Dr Ramit Debnath

Churchill College
  • Executive Director, Centre for Human-Inspired AI
  • University Assistant Professor
  • Director of Studies and Fellow, Churchill College
Available to supervise doctoral students
Available to supervise masters students
Available for consultancy
Dr Ramit Debnath

Contact

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Location

  • JD-1-16, James Dyson Building, Trumpington Street, Main Engineering Site, CB21PX

About

Dr. Ramit Debnath is a University Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the Centre for Human-Inspired AI (CHIA) at the University of Cambridge. He is an elected member of the UK Government's Methods Advisor Group (MAG) at Department of Work and Pensions.

Ramit is the Founder and Director of the Cambridge Collective Intelligence & Design group and the climaTRACES lab at CRASSH . He is a Fellow and Director of Studies at Churchill College and Cambridge Zero. He has visiting academic roles at the Caltech, leading the Climate and Social Intelligence Lab and at Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, leading the Inclusive Ordering Initiative. 

Dr Debnath has a background in electrical engineering and computational social sciences with an MPhil and PhD from Cambridge as a Gates Scholar. 

Research

Dr Debnath's research involves designing novel paradigms of responsible and human-centric AI systems to advance climate and environmental sustainability actions across urban and regional scales. This niche and rapidly emerging field is pivotal for mitigating global emissions and ensuring that AI is developed safely and for the public good. He uses computational social sciences and systems thinking to achieve his research objectives. 

Dr. Debnath serves as an Associate Editor for Energy Research and Social Science (Elsevier) and npj Climate Action (Nature Portfolio) and on the editorial board of Communications Sustainability (Nature), PLOS Global Public Health, iScience (Cell Press) and Humanities and Social Science Communications (Nature Portfolio).

Publications

Selected publications

Integrating tipping point concepts across diverse systems Journal article 25 April 2026 Communications Sustainability (Nature) Jesse, A., Pereira, L.M., Spaiser, V., et al. Reclassifying lethal heat Journal article 3 April 2026 Nature Communications Rouse, R.E., Debnath, R., Rouse, D.A., et al. Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences Journal article 1 April 2026 Nature Aczel, B., Szaszi, B., Clelland, H.T., et al. A megastudy of behavioral interventions to catalyze public, political, and financial climate advocacy Journal article 26 January 2026 PNAS Nexus Goldwert, D., Constantino, S.M., Patel, Y., et al. Heatwave increases nighttime light intensity in hyperdense cities of the Global South: a double machine learning study Journal article 6 November 2026 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Part A Debnath, R., Chandel, T., Han, F., Bardhan, R. Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world Journal article 1 July 2025 Nature Climate Change Cologna, V., Meiler, S., Kropf, C.M., et al. Why publishing referee reports could backfire on public trust 22 July 2025 Nature Debnath, R., Alvarez, R.M., Ebanks, D. Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries Journal article 20 January 2025 Nature Human Behaviour Cologna, V., Mede, N.G., Berger, S., et al. Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries Journal article 12 September 2024 Nature Climate Change Nielsen, K.S., Bauer, J.M., Debnath, R., et al. Bridging the gender, climate, and health gap: the road to COP29 Journal article 11 November 2024 The Lancet Planetary Health van Daalen, K., Jung, L., Dada, S., et al.
View full list of publications

Teaching and supervision

Available to supervise doctoral students
Available to supervise masters students
  • Paper 1.5 Mathematics and Programming I, Design Tripos (DSTX)
  • AI and Design, Design Tripos (DSTX)

  • AI for Sustainability course, MPhil in Human-Inspired AI (CHIA)