Krishan Shah

Figure 1. Krishan Shah

Source: LinkedIn Profile.

Email Interview with Krishan Shah: The Adventure of a Human Citrus

His smile is as big as his drive to create positive social change, despite the fact he is a self-proclaimed Devil's advocate. Krishan Shah is one of my volunteer boss's for Curtin Volunteers! I have been hounding him for a community garden for a while. At the end of last year, he was one of the students and faculty who attended a meeting to discuss the project further. I contacted him afterwards with a series of questions to flesh out this assignment further. He responded on January 6, 2025. My questions are underlined and his answers are unaltered.

How long have you been at Curtin?

About 13 years as a staff member

What faculty are you from?

Central (Office of the Deputy Vice Chancelor Academic)

What is your speciality area?

Volunteering, community programs, social impact

What do you like about the garden idea?

A way to build community, provide hands on learning experience around sustainability (across a wide range of faculties/areas), support sustainable practices at Curtin, provide locally grown nutritious food for students.

What don’t you like about the garden idea?

Rather than what I don’t like about the idea (I like everything about the idea), these are some of the challenges I see: Funding (operational and staff time), the need for a specific area in the university to be primarily responsible for the ongoing coordination of the garden (and resourced accordingly) in order to ensure it’s sustainability, buy in from senior management, a physical space, coordination (and buy in) across different and disparate parts of the university (including teaching and non-teaching).

What potential do you see stemming from this seed?

Huge amounts of potential as mentioned above

What is your investment in the garden idea?

We can help to coordinate volunteers for the ongoing maintenance of the garden once it has been established.

Do you think that the garden idea will move forward? If so, when?

This depends on the ability to have it resourced/supported by a specific staff team.

What do you see as the best source of funding?

University funding, potential to explore private sector funding/government funding through sponsorship/grants.

What is your favourite plant?

Tough question – not sure I can narrow it down to one specific plant but I like edibles (specifically fruit trees).

What is your least favourite plant?

Ones which are easily infested/attached by bugs/animals and hence, very hard to look after.

What kind of plant are you?

Citrus – thirsty (for knowledge), love the sun, strong producer (in the right conditions).

Synthesis of Krishan Shah's Answers

Krishan Shah sees a big picture and the opportunity for community building, along with answering several SDG's. The last bit are my words, not his. Synthesizing his words, a keySDG this project addresses is SDG17: Partnerships for the Goals. To achieve SDG's big picture thinking needs to be applied on the local level. He plays the Devils advocate well as he discusses the challenges, which deal with logistics and university beurocracy. He shares great ideas on funding. However, you can see it dampens his spirit not one whit. If the garden ever get approved for resurrection and funding is dispensed, the garden will have one citrus tree named Krishan.

Annotated Written Appendix for Krishan Shah

United Nations. n.d. "17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development." Accessed January 9, 2025. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17

This is a goal that is met through the community garden idea.

Shah, Krishan. n.d. "Home." LinkIn Profie, accessed December 9, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishan-shah-y/

Images are good for SEO.