Rinchen Angmu Lama is a researcher with nearly 10 years of experience working on climate-resilient development, climate change adaptation, disaster risk, and sustainable mountain settlements, with a regional focus on the Indian Himalayas. She brings interdisciplinary expertise from both academic and applied settings, having worked with institutions such as University of Reading, University of East Anglia, International Alert, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), and Pragya.

Her research focuses on the intersecting vulnerabilities faced by mountain communities, particularly in relation to climate change, large-scale infrastructure development, and socio-political marginalisation. She works closely with local communities, government institutions, and civil society actors to co-produce knowledge and develop inclusive, context-specific solutions. Her approach is grounded in long-term field engagement and aims to inform policy and planning processes that support just and sustainable transitions in high-risk mountain regions.

Before her PhD, Rinchen worked in applied research, monitoring, and community engagement roles focusing on climate-vulnerable populations in remote Himalayan regions. She has worked on issues including change of land use changes, water access, rural livelihoods, cultural preservation, and wasteland development in remote Himalayan areas.
Most recently, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, where she where she worked on Climate Resilient Development Pathways in Semi-arid Regions of Africa and Asia, examining institutional gaps, equity concerns, and adaptive capacity in sub-national and national planning in the countries of Kenya, Namibia, and India.