Bibhu P. Nayak is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Hyderabad Campus. He is an economist by training and has been working on environmental and resource governance issues. He teaches courses like Ecological Economics, Development Economics, Economic Policy, and other courses linking institutions, environment, and development.  Prior to TISS, he worked for The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, and Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru in India. 

He has worked on several research and consultancy projects funded by various national and international agencies. His research interest includes the economics of conservation, community-based institutions, social capital, and collective action, participatory natural resource management, and rural livelihood systems. He has worked on research projects with an interdisciplinary focus and traveled extensively across different states in India for field research. He published some of his research in different national and international journals and participated in several international summer schools, national and international conferences, and workshops. He is the recipient of the First Prize in the Global Development Network (GDN) Medal for Research on Development in 2013.

He has been associated with professional associations like the Indian Society of Ecological Economics (INSEE), Odisha Economics Association (OEA), and several academic networks like South Asia Network for Environment and Development (SANDEE); Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR); Research Committee on Behavioral Insights, Green Growth Knowledge Platform; Ronald Coase Institute Alumni Network, among others.