Gilang Mahadika holds a master's degree in Anthropology from Gadjah Mada University (UGM). His research interests revolve around political ecology, environmental and development studies. 

In 2021, during his master’s degree, he was one of the Asian Graduate Student Forum (AGSF) held by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. In 2022, he was also a research fellow under the BiPoN (Beyond the Domesticated and Wild Divide) project at the University of Cologne, Germany.  In 2024, He won master’s dissertation prize by the Association of Southeast Asian Studies (ASEAS), the United Kingdom.

Currently, his research focuses on Central and East Borneo specifically within the Kutai Barat region, where he conducts immersive ethnographic fieldwork. His work examines how local communities, specifically the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq people and Javanese transmigrants, navigate and adapt their traditional ways of living and agroforestry practices in the midst of massive, aggressive industrial monoculture plantations. Through this focus, Mahadika explores the delicate balance between commercial commodity needs, local subsistence, and biodiversity restoration within the Anthropocene.