Psychology Archives - Welcome to

Lijiya Chacko

Ms. Lijiya Chacko is a PhD candidate and a teaching assistant at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay. She completed undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Calicut and postgraduation in neural and cognitive sciences at the University of Hyderabad. Her doctoral research examines how attentional priority is shaped by multiple influences, including emotional salience, reward associations, and prior experience.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Lijiya gained substantial experience in experimental cognitive science through research positions at Cognitive Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory, IIT Bombay, and the Action Control and Cognition Lab at the University of Hyderabad. She has also contributed to research training initiatives, including conducting workshops on experimental methods and eye-tracking applications at the Annual Conference of Cognitive Sciences, 2024. She was awarded the International Brain Research Organization’s Neuroscience Training Grant to attend Cognitive Neuroimaging Skills Training in Cambridge, held at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, UK, in September 2025.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow, Lijiya is examining the behavioral and neural mechanisms of statistically learned spatial attentional biases, with particular emphasis on whether such biases operate automatically and persist over time, or whether they remain flexible and responsive to current goals. Through her research, she aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how past experiences shape attention, with implications for cognitive theory and real-world adaptive behavior. She enjoys music, books and movies in her leisure time.

Barani Kanth Devarajan

Prof. Barani Kanth Devarajan is a Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Pondicherry University, India, where he has been a founding faculty member since 2007. A recipient of the UGC Raman Postdoctoral Fellowship at Kent State University, USA, his expertise centers on cross-cultural quantitative research methods, psychometrics, youth mental health, and family relationships. He has led and collaborated on several international research projects involving scholars from the United States and Europe, with publications in leading peer-reviewed journals.

In addition to his academic contributions, Prof. Devarajan coordinates student mental health and counseling initiatives and professional training programs promoting accessible and culturally sensitive psychological support systems in higher education. He received the Certificate of Merit for Teaching from Pondicherry University for seven academic years.

As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Prof. Devarajan is examining the cultural and psychological factors influencing student mental health across India and the United States, as well as the structure, challenges, and best practices of campus mental health services. The project aims to support the development of culturally sensitive and effective campus mental health systems in India.

Mehreen Fatima

Dr. Mehreen Fatima is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Azim Premji University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. She was awarded a PhD in psychology in 2025 from the University of Delhi, under the supervision of Prof. Nandita Babu, with her doctoral work focusing on the development of empathy in children with autism spectrum disorder. She has also qualified for NTA NET-JRF in Psychology at the 99.82 percentile (June 2019).

Dr Mehreen’s research interests lie at the intersection of developmental and cognitive psychology, with a particular focus on socio-cognitive abilities across neurotypical and neurodivergent populations. She has published in major international journals and has a forthcoming book, Empathy Spectrum: Understanding Connections in a Diverse World, under contract with John Wiley & Sons, Inc. She has presented her research at major international conferences, including the 33rd International Congress of Psychology in Prague, Czech Republic, where she was selected as one of forty Emerging Psychologists by the International Union of Psychological Sciences. She was also selected for the inaugural Emerging Psychologist Programme (2025) by the National Academy of Psychology, India.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Jaswal Lab at the University of Virginia, Dr. Mehreen is investigating communication support practices for non-speaking autistic individuals, with a focus on neurodiversity-affirming approaches. Her research seeks to develop evidence-based frameworks that honor the communicative strengths and preferences of such individuals. She also aims to contribute to the growing body of research that centers autistic perspectives in the design and evaluation of communication interventions.

Malavi Srikar

Dr. Malavi Srikar is a certified speech-language pathologist and researcher specializing in early social communication and autism. She completed her BSc at the SR Chandrashekar Institute of Speech and Hearing, Bangalore (2016), followed by an MSc from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), Mysore (2019). She subsequently earned her PhD in Speech-Language Pathology from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore (2025). During her professional journey, she has also served as a tele-interventionist at AIISH (2020) and was a research scientist on an ICMR-funded project at NIMHANS (2026).

Dr. Srikar’s research centers on caregiver-infant dyadic interaction and caregiver-mediated tele-interventions for infants at elevated likelihood for autism. In 2022, she was awarded a Virtual Research Internship in Autism and Cultural Diversity by the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), collaborating with mentors from the University of Manchester to study these interactions in Indian dyads. She has received travel grants in 2024 and 2025 to present her work at the INSAR annual meetings and has published several articles in major international journals.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Srikar will examine dyadic engagement in infants at elevated likelihood for autism. During her fellowship, she will build on work pioneered by Prof. Grace Baranek to investigate the interrelationships between dyadic engagement and sensory responsivity patterns, representing the two core domains of autism, with the goal of informing early identification and intervention strategies.

Meenakshi Shukla

Dr. Meenakshi Shukla is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India, with more than seven years of teaching and research experience. Her research interests involve exploring the relationship of emotions and emotional disorders with health. Her research delves into the intriguing phenomenon of cardiovascular emotional dampening, exploring how challenges in recognizing emotions relate to elevated blood pressure.

Dr. Shukla has completed her graduation, post-graduation, and PhD from Banaras Hindu University. She was awarded the Junior and Senior Research Fellowships by the University Grants Commission of India to pursue her PhD research. She has been the recipient of the Commonwealth Split-site (PhD) Scholarship in 2016-2017 by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) to carry out a part of her doctoral research work at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, United Kingdom. She is a member of the CSC Alumni Advisory Panel.

Dr. Shukla’s Fulbright-Nehru project investigates the role of cardiovascular emotional dampening — a reduced ability to recognize emotions linked to elevated blood pressure — in shaping the cultural adaptation and health of first-generation Indian immigrants in the United States. It examines whether cardiovascular emotional dampening influences the choice of acculturation strategies (assimilation, integration, separation, or marginalization) among Indian immigrants and how these strategies impact their long-term cardiovascular health. The study also examines the “immigration paradox”, exploring why recent Indian immigrants often have better health than long-term residents despite greater stressors.

Shamini Warda

Dr. Shamini Warda holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. She earned a master’s degree in Cognitive Sciences from the Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Following PhD, she served as an Institute of Eminence Postdoctoral Fellow affiliated with the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay. She has also been an Academic Research Visitor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Dr. Warda’s research interests lie at the intersection of cognition and action, with particular emphasis on human timing and time perception. Her PhD work investigated how various predictive processes influence the human perception of time. During her postdoctoral tenure at IIT Bombay, she integrated her knowledge of experimental psychology with motor control research and addressed questions pertaining to how timing affects whole-body movement and, conversely, how movement can influence temporal judgments. She has published articles in reputed international journals. She is a recipient of the Kuppuraj-Bishop study visit award from the Experimental Psychology Society.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Prof. Richard Ivry, Dr. Warda is seeking to advance the understanding of attentional influences on the internal clock model, examining how distinct sub-processes of attention modulate parameters of the internal clock and is investigating contributions of sub-cortical structures, particularly the cerebellum and basal ganglia.

Shilpa Ashok Pandit

Shilpa Pandit is an Associate Professor, at the School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University, Gujarat. Dr. Pandit’s research has focused on immersive experiences of Indian art and aesthetics; how affect generates well-being from philosophical and lived perspectives. As part of her enquiry, Dr. Pandit has worked with music and dance students, teachers and performing communities in some Indian cities. Dr. Pandit’s search for elements of immersive well-being in Indian music theory and practice are part of her studentship in both psychology and music. At Ahmedabad University, she teaches social, developmental as well as positive psychology, having completed her education in psychology from Delhi university and the University of Madras.

In her other avatars, Shilpa has co-founded a Bengaluru based NGO—Dreampath Foundation that works with adolescents for career exploration and counseling; worked with NGOs in the domains of health, nutrition and livelihoods. She worked closely on rural employment, as a UNDP Research Officer at MoRD, from 2014-2016. She was also a Chevening CRISP scholar, studying at University of Oxford, UK in 2018.

Through the Fulbright fellowship, Dr. Pandit is working closely with domain experts in music and Indian philosophers of well-being, to generate new insights on the relationship between, self, affect, art/aesthetics and well-being.