Host City India: Athens

Balaji Sedithippa Janarthanan

Dr. Balaji Sedithippa Janarthanan is a s cientist at the ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP), New Delhi. His research work revolves around agricultural growth, transformation and development in India. His current work focuses on farmers’ income, governance impacts and agricultural trade. He has been part of the research team contributing to the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income, and has coordinated the research of a network of institutions in the project Structural Transformation, Regional Disparity and Institutional Reforms in Agriculture at NIAP. He obtained his Ph D for his thesis titled ‘Agricultural Growth, Rural Non-Farm Employment and Poverty in India’, from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He was a Visiting Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC. He received R.T. Doshi Award in 2021 and 2018, Young Agricultural Economist Award in 2020, Uma Lele-AERA (India)-AAEA Mentorship Award in 2018, and Best Research Paper Presentation Award in 2015.

As a Fulbright- Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, at the University of Georgia, Dr. Balaji SJ will focus on the means of achieving inclusive income growth in agriculture and reducing poverty among the Indian farmers. He will explore the spatial income characteristics at a highly disaggregated level for about two decades in the country, and will develop a model to explain how technology, resource use, market, and policies shall enhance farmers’ income across space, notably the poor.

Abhijeet Atmaram Ghanwat

Dr. Abhijeet Atmaram Ghanwat is currently an NBHM postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Tamil Nadu. He earned his B.Sc. in 2012 from Tuljaram Chaturchand College, Baramati, affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University, and completed his M.Sc. in 2014 at Savitribai Phule Pune University. In July 2021, he was awarded a Ph.D. from the Chennai Mathematical Institute, Tamil Nadu. Dr. Ghanwat was a visiting fellow at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai from August 2021 to July 2023.

Dr. Ghanwat’s research interests are primarily in the field of low-dimensional topology, with a focus on the open books of 3-manifolds, Lefschetz fibrations of 4-manifolds, and trisections of 4-manifolds. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals. He has qualified for the CSIR-UGC NET and GATE examinations, and he was also awarded a gold medal by Savitribai Phule Pune University for achieving the first rank in his M.Sc. program.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Dr. Ghanwat is focusing on trisections of 4-manifolds, a pioneering area of study introduced in 2016 by Prof. David Gay and Prof. Robion Kirby. The trisection theory has quickly become an important tool in understanding the topology of 4-dimensional manifolds. During his fellowship, Dr. Ghanwat aims to explore minimal genus (relative) trisections and investigate their properties.

Kavita Yadav

Dr. Kavita Yadav is currently teaching at a government school in Delhi. She recently completed her PhD in linguistics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Throughout her academic journey, she has been deeply interested in the interplay between language and society. Dr. Yadav has presented numerous papers at prestigious national and international conferences, exploring language through various linguistic principles. She has also published several papers in media studies and linguistics. She was awarded a national fellowship by the University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.

Dr. Yadav’s research interests include critical discourse analysis, media linguistics, and English Language Teaching (ELT). Her work examines the power dynamics within language use and media representations, providing insightful critiques and fostering a deeper understanding of societal issues. She has collaborated with various NGOs and international organizations to support underprivileged children and women, striving to blend her education and social consciousness holistically.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Dr. Yadav is teaching Hindi at Ohio University in Athens, OH. Her rich experiences with diverse cultures inform her efforts to build cross-cultural connections through literature, culinary arts, and performing arts. She aspires to create a dynamic, student-centred classroom that integrates literature, food, art, and media, fostering multicultural perspectives and enriching the educational experience of her students.