Hi!

I’m :Kaninik. In my day job, I deliver billion-dollar :offshore energy systems. I am also afliated as a researcher at TU Delft where I use :AI to make :climate adaptation policy more inclusive. Some of my impactful work includes architecting :digital solutions for urban resilience, and introducing :disruptive innovations to wastewater management.

I am energized by unlocking value from :innovations to solve :wicked problems. I thrive in :complexity and uncertainity where :engineering, finance, and regulation must be derisked simultaneously.

I grew up in :Ahmedabad, and now I live in :Rotterdam with my :wife and our :dog. After work, you’ll likely find us cooking, messing around with :DIY, or at a :concert.

I am always looking for new challenges and strategic collaborations. If you have a problem that needs a disruptive, systemic approach, lets connect via the links in the sidebar. Alternatively, if you’re interested in learning more about me, use :these links.

:x whoops

Hi! You’d like to know more, but I haven’t filled this section out yet. So, why not send me a message from the sidebar!

:x MYNAME

I’m the only person with my first name, and my last name is made up. Kaninik derives from Kaninika (gujarati) meaning ‘the apple of your eye’.

:x offshoreenergysystems

At SBM Offshore, I am part of the Engineering Management team for :FPSO projects. We lead :hundereds of engineers, and ensure project :EPCI is executed to the safety, quality, schedule and cost requirements of the client and SBM’s standards. My role focuses on risk and quality management throughout engineering. I also support the Corporate Sustainability team in developing the :CSRD Climate Risk Assessment Disclosure. In 2025, I was part of the Early Potential leadership program at SBM.

:x FPSO

Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facilities are a type of deep water infrastructure, used to :extract and process crude oil from ocean depths on the order of 1000-3000 m.

:x oilandgas

The irony of working in Oil and Gas, while also talking about climate justice policy is not lost on me. That said, I beleive that systems change requires a good understanding of the system itself, which can only come from the inside.

:x workhours

A typical project spends upwards of 1 million work-hours on engineering design development alone.

:x AI isn’t Just One Thing

My first project used evolutionary multi-objective optimisation algorithms to look at the impacts of different climate scenarios on global economic inequity. The more recent work has been looking into the structured use of large language models to transform qualitative research methods into quantitative ones.

:x CSRD PCRA

CSRD PCRA - bit jargon heavy, but what it means is the EU requires all large companies to quantify the risk they are exposed to from climate change. In response to the CSRD requirements for disclosing corporate physical climate‑related risks, I have been contributing to the development of SBM Offshore’s physical climate‑risk assessment since 2024. The result is disclosed on SBM Offshore’s Annual Report.”

:x Monitrd

In 2022-2023, I developed MoniTrd, a decentralised monitoring solution for septic tanks. The desing consisted of a system design for a service, as well as a financial model for a startup. The project once the Delft Enterprise award at the TU Delft Impact Contest.

:x Climate Justice

For my MSc thesis, I tackled the issue of ‘Who gets to decide’ when it comes ot climate change adpatation projects. One of the ironies of climate change is that those responsible for causing it, are least likely to suffer its impacts. This is true between countries, but is even more true of inequities within countries. I use :AI and Institutional Analysis to examine whether the decision making processes of cliamte change projects address these concerns through fair rules.

:x QUNEIFORM

In 2020, while working for UMC, I was challenged to find a solution to create a solution for a community led survey which would later need to be integated with social security delivery from the government. Quneiform was born from that exericise. It has since been used by multiple state and national govenrments to conduct grassroots program management.

:x whoops

Hi! You’d like to know more, but I haven’t filled this section out yet. So, why not send me a message from the sidebar!

:x wickedproblems

Wicked, not in the sense of evil, but wicked in the sense of treacherous, tricky, or atleast naughty. The concept applies to design, public policy and socio-technical problems where values are contensted, there is no optimal solution, and trial and error are not options. Solving one is a tall order. the correct mindset is one of looking for oppurtunities, and influencing the system. Read more

:x Rishika

Without Rishika Srivastava in my life, I don’t think I would have ever made it this far. She’s a lawyer, public policy professional, and all around incredible person. Learn more about her work here

:x Poppy

Poppy was born in Bosnia, and came to us in the Netherlands through a charity.

:x nrd

Energy Systems & Scale: Leading cross-functional teams to deliver billion-dollar FPSO infrastructure. I apply the “zero-failure” engineering logic of the offshore sector to ensure operational safety and risk mitigation in high-stakes environments.

:x 2

Urban Systems & Resilience: Beyond developing the award-winning MoniTrd system, my work with the Urban Management Centre (UMC) involved designing [municipal data frameworks][8], e-learning for urban practitioners, and [heritage documentation][9] to bridge the gap between community needs and institutional capacity.

:x 3

IGRI Research: Utilizing LLMs and AI within the Institutional Grammar Research Initiative to analyze the ‘DNA’ of policy. My work focuses on [procedural justice in climate adaptation][10], predicting how infrastructure investments will perform for vulnerable communities.

:x 4

Innovation Strategy: Bridging the gap between “what is” and “what’s next” by maintaining startup speed and “product thinking” within highly regulated corporate and municipal environments.

:x 5

Execution Logic: Navigating the interface between technical requirements, human behavior, and supply chain volatility—lessons learned from the 20,000+ ton topsides of energy vessels.

:x 6

System Architecture: Synchronizing thermodynamics and mechanical integrity for offshore units or deploying [Self-Help Group (SHG) integration models][11] for urban sanitation livelihoods.

:x 7

Institutional Mapping: Using AI to map institutional grammar, helping leaders identify hidden regulatory bottlenecks that stifle innovation in climate and infrastructure sectors.

:x 8

Digital Governance: Managed municipal data systems and programme designs for urban poverty schemes, translating data into actionable policy for city administrators.

:x 9

Heritage & Infrastructure: Authored engineering-focused documentation for built heritage (e.g., traditional Pol houses and stepwells), applying structural assessment frameworks to cultural assets.

:x 10

Climate Policy: Developing ex-ante assessment frameworks for climate adaptation projects to ensure inclusivity and accountability before a single brick is laid.

:x 11

Livelihood Systems: Redesigning sanitation service models to integrate social mobilization with technical execution, as highlighted in my contributions to the India Development Review (IDR).

:x SBM Offshore, Project Management

As a Engineering Project Engineer, I am partly responsbile for making sure our products are built to time, cost, and quality. Since each one costs about 1.5 billion, it’s quite a big deal. Want to know more?

:x Project execution

I support complex delivery work: cross-discipline alignment, interface resolution, progress reporting automation, and structured risk management.

:x Research focus

I’m exploring open-source LLM approaches for legal/policy analysis to strengthen institutional analysis outcomes.

:x Notes

I want to create coherence between 3 identities - engineering manager in a large company, innovative entrepreneur (monitrd etc.) and public policy thinker and researcher. the common thread of complex systems could be jargon heavy. I want this to appeal clearly to a CEO / COO audience, and to see me as a good fit for innovation in industries that need disruptive thinking

Engineering complex systems , managing people to work better in the system. Engineering Project Manager. Public Policy Researcher. Innovating to solve wicked problems. Delivering multi-billion dollar FPSOs. As a researcher, I am developing tools to ensure public policy is well designed. and trying to solve other :wicked problems.

physical climate risk assessement - CSRD early potential program sustainability and life cycle analysis

Procedural Cliamte Justice Distributive cliamte justice Institutional economics Artificial intelligence for IG annotation Institutional network analysis other essays - TU Delft and other