Dr. Aran Castro A J — Mid-length Bio (≈400 words)

Dr. Aran Castro A J is a GIS Manager and research consultant based in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Geology, completed through years of field-based coastal research, and works at the intersection of geology, remote sensing, and academic research support.

He is the founder of Geospatial Campus, a registered MSME unit (Udyam TN-09-0048222) that operates three streams of work in parallel. The first is structured, hands-on training in GIS and remote sensing — running from undergraduate fundamentals through advanced spatial data science, deep learning for earth observation, and reproducible Python and R workflows. The second is end-to-end research support for PhD scholars in Indian universities who need to move their field data through a defendable methodology, into publication-quality figures, and onward to a Scopus or SCI-indexed manuscript. The flagship of this stream is the 14-Week Publication Bridge, a co-authored programme for mid-stage scholars. The third stream is institutional consulting on coastal vulnerability, hydrological analysis, LULC change detection, and faculty development.

Dr. Castro is the author of three books — Mapping Peace (geospatial reflections on conflict landscapes), Systems Over Software (a methodological playbook for GIS researchers), and Coastal Geomorphology (a field-and-lab reference). He is a frequent resource person and invited speaker at academic institutions across South India. Recent engagements include the University of Madras Department of Applied Geology, Holy Cross College Nagercoil (where he sits on the Board of Studies), Kangeyam Institute of Technology, Nesamony Memorial Christian College, EASA College, and Stella Mary's College. He has delivered Faculty Development Programmes at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), SRM University, and TRP Engineering College.

His professional roles include serving as researcher with ICWM on water-resource projects, and Professor of Practice at Holy Cross College, Nagercoil. He works in person from his Nagercoil studio and remotely from Kochi and Chennai through partner campuses, and supports clients across India.

Beyond his core practice, Dr. Castro publishes free toolkits and workflow manuals for GIS researchers covering Land Surface Temperature mapping in ArcGIS Pro, Landsat and Airbus satellite systems, hydrological analysis, and Digital Shoreline Analysis using DSAS. The toolkits are downloadable from draran.online and have been used by scholars across India and South Asia.

Contact: aran@draran.online · WhatsApp +91 74187 42406
Online: draran.online · linkedin.com/in/drarancastro · ORCID 0000-0001-8038-606X