Chaitanya Solank
Assistant Professor
Head- Marketing, People Supply Chain (RMG) & Corporate Services
Overview
Overview
Dr. Chaitanya Solanki is an Assistant Professor at the School of Design Innovation, Mahindra University. Chaitanya holds a Ph.D. from IIT Hyderabad and an M.Des from NID Ahmedabad. He is also the author of the book ‘Me or We: Individualism and Collectivism through Six Contemporary Lenses’.
Chaitanya is a game designer and an HCI researcher whose future goal is to investigate empathy for the future of the world. Chaitanya also frequently delves into product design and wearable technology for medical assistance and inclusivity.
Education
- Ph.D. in Game design and Education Design, IIT Hyderabad, India (2019-2024)
- M.Des in Visual Communication (Image Making), IIT Hyderabad, India (2013-2017)
- B.Sc in Electronic Media, Educational Multimedia Research Centre, DAVV, India (2009-2012)
Experience
- Assistant Professor, School of Design Innovation, Mahindra University (October 2024- present)
- Associate Professor, Department of Design, College of Architecture Trivandrum (July 2023 – September 2024)
- Senior Research Fellow, Design Department, IIT Hyderabad (January 2019 – June 2023)
- Research Associate, Design Innovation Centre, IIT Hyderabad (July 2018 – January 2019)
- Design Faculty, Thinc Institute of Design, Kerala (January 2017 – July 2018)
- Exhibition coordinator, National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar (2015)
- Wildlife photography intern, Forest Department of Madhya Pradesh (2015)
Key Contributions
- ICoRD’25, Research Paper Reviewer (2025) DoD, IIT Hyderabad
- India Human-Computer Interaction Conference, Research Paper Reviewer (2024) IDC, IIT Bombay
- Doctoral Consortium, Senior Reviewer, DiGRA Conference (2023), Seville, Spain
- CHI Late-Breaking Works Conference, Research Paper Reviewer (2023) Hamburg, Germany (Hybrid)
Teaching, Guidance and Mentoring
- Digital and Analogue Game Design, Principal Instructor, College of Architecture, (Present) Trivandrum
- Technical Writing, Principal Instructor, College of Architecture, (Present) Trivandrum
- Interaction Design, Principal Instructor, College of Architecture, (Present) Trivandrum
- User Experience, Principal Instructor, College of Architecture, (Present) Trivandrum
- Inclusive Design and Universal Design, Lecturer, (2023), NID, Bhopal
- Introduction to Digital Game Design, Principal Instructor (2022), IIT Hyderabad
- Visual storytelling through photography, Lecturer (2022), Woxsen Institute of Design, Hyderabad
- Research Writing, Principal Instructor (2023), Woxsen Institute of Design, Hyderabad
Teaching Assistance
- ‘Design Culture’ Visual Design UX (2022), with Prof. Deepak J Mathew, Dr Neelakantan PK, and Dr Srikar AV, IIT Hyderabad & NSE TalentSprint
- History of Art (2022), with Prof. Deepak J Mathew, IIT Hyderabad
- Samagrah Gram Vikas (2022), with Prof. Prasad Onkar, IIT Hyderabad
- Contemporary Photography (2022), with Prof. Deepak J Mathew, IIT Hyderabad
- Universal Design (2022), with Prof. B K Chakravarthy, IDC Bombay & IIT Hyderabad
Invited Talks
- Tools for quick and efficient gamification workshop, Principal Instructor, (2023), ICoRD, IISc Bangalore
- Photogrammetry: A tool for enhanced heritage preservation, Lecturer (2022), Woxsen Institute of Design Hyderabad
- Basics of photography & Reading photography, Principal Instructor (2022), IIT Hyderabad
- Fashion photography workshop, Principal Instructor (2019), Woxsen Institute of Design, Hyderabad
- History of Photography, Lecturer (2015), Vivekananda Institute of Science and Technology, Indore
Research & Publications
- Me or We: Individualism and Collectivism from Six Contemporary Lenses C Solanki, 2023, Retrieved from https://amzn.eu/d/21tVUTG
- Empathy towards Nonhumans in Popular Media as Insight into Sustainable Thinking – A Case Study of Ghibli Movies C Solanki, AS Nair, F Farhana, ICON Conference on Sustainable Design Practices. NIFT Kangra, 2023
- Inherent Circularity, Modularity, and Multifunctionality of Fashion in Culture: A Case Study of Traditional Kerala Wear C Solanki, TS Greeshma, A Alice, ICON Conference on Sustainable Design Practices. NIFT Kangra, 2023
- An empirical investigation into the impact of the first-person role-playing games to improve knowledge retention in middle-school children in India: A pre-post study of ‘Tattva Bhoomi’ C Solanki, DJ Mathew, 2023 DiGRA International onference: Limits and Margins of Games
- Games an inherent learning environment: A thematic analysis of Indian population C Solanki, DJ Mathew, 9th ICoRD Conference, 2023
- “This has been written by a bot”: A study of the SubSimulatorGPT2 subreddit C Solanki, 9th ICoRD Conference, 2023
- Habit and perception towards games and game-based learning in India: A survey study of awareness and experience with digital games C Solanki, DJ Mathew, 2022 DiGRA International Conference: Bringing Worlds Together
- An exploratory study using the first-person role-playing game ‘Tattva Bhoomi’ to improve learning in middle school children: A quasi-experimental study C Solanki, D John Mathew, Innovations Journal, 2022
- First-person role-playing game to improve learning in middle school children: A quasi-experimental study in participatory design C Solanki, D J Mathew, Participatory Design Conference, NID Ahmedabad India, 2022
- Habit and perception towards games and game-based learning in India: A survey study of awareness and experience with digital games C Solanki, D John Mathew, DiGRA Conference, Krakow, 2022
- Factors Affecting Engagement in Digital Educational Games C Solanki, D John Mathew, India HCI 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1145/3506469.3506491), 128-132
- Designing Criteria for Developing Educational Multimedia Games C Solanki, DJ Mathew, International Conference for Design Education Researchers Engaging with Challenges in Design Education
- 3D Game Asset Generation of Historical Architecture Through Photogrammetry C Solanki, D John Mathew, Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games
- Digital Preservation of the Qutb Shahi Monuments: Archiving Architecture for Historical Education C Solanki, D John Mathew, Design for Tomorrow—Volume 2; Proceedings of ICoRD 2021
- Developing the P.O.L.E Framework for User Subjective Experience C Solanki, Design for Tomorrow—Volume 3, 3-15
- Designed for the Desert: The Indian Wild Ass Solanki, C. (2020, June 1). Designed for the desert: The Indian Wild ass. Sahapedia. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.sahapedia.org/designed-desert- indian-wild-ass
Projects
- ‘Penance of Padmanabha’, a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired Indian mythology-based role-playing board game, creator (Ongoing- 2023)
- ‘Tattva Bhoomi’, an exploration-based game-based learning application, creator (2022), IIT Hyderabad
- Shaanti Tiles, Sustainable Bamboo tiles for soundproofing (2021), IIT Hyderabad
- B’Mukh, 3D Printed multi-connector for construction scaffolding (2021), IIT Hyderabad
- Pondering Sonder Podcast (2020-2021), Youtube, Spotify, and Soundcloud
- Photogrammetric archival of the Qutb Shahi tombs (2019-2020), Hyderabad
- Virtual reality walk-through of the Qutb Shahi Tombs, development and installation (2019), Annual DIC meet, Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Delhi
- Holographic turntable of the Qutb Shahi Tombs, development and display (2019), Hyderabad Design Week, HICC & Hyderabad International Airport
OTHERS:
Awards
- PDF Fellowship (2023), IIT Hyderabad
- Research Excellence Award (2022), IIT Hyderabad
- MBPF Design Excellence Award (2021), for Bamboo, Product Design category
- MBPF Design Excellence Award (2021), for Bamboo, Structure Design category
- Finalist, Toycathon hosted by the Government of India (2021)
- Winner, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) design challenge (2019), Hyderabad Design Week
- Winner, Prakriti Wildlife Photography Competition (2019), IIT Hyderabad
Grants & Scholarships
- Solidarity Scholarship Recipient (2022), DiGRA Conference, Krakow, Poland
- BUILD Project Grant (2022), IIT Hyderabad
- Selection, Swinburne -IIT Hyderabad joint PhD program (2019)
- Sahapedia Frames Grant (2018), ‘Asiatic Wild Asses of Little Rann of Kutchh’
Exhibitions
- Collective exhibition, ‘IPF’ (2019), IIT Hyderabad.
- Photobook exhibition, ‘Zones of Privacy’ (2016), Chatterjee and Lal Gallery, Mumbai.
- Book exhibit, Third Delhi Photo Festival (2015)
- Image publication, Wildlife calendar by Earthcare Productions (2015)
- Image publications, www.nationalgeographic.com (2014)
- Collective exhibition, ‘Medium and Large format’, NID Gandhinagar (2013)
- Collective exhibition, ‘Alternative Printing process’, NID Ahmedabad (2013)
- Collective exhibition, ‘Pratibimb’, Pritam Lal Dua Gallery Indore (2013)
Media Mentions:
Indore: Chaitanya Solanki receives Research Excellence Award
IIT- Hyderabad creates 360 degree virtual reality of Qutub Shahi tombs
Hyderabad: Gear up for a virtual tour of seven tombs in all its maginficence
