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Moira Donovan is a writer and community-based development professional with six years of work experience. In 2020, Moira graduated magna cum laude from the Ohio State University with a BA in political science. Immediately upon graduation, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for one year with a local refugee resettlement agency in Columbus, Ohio. As she developed the institutional capacity of the organization, her work ranged from organizing conferences for community leaders to developing multiyear fundraising strategies. After her service ended, she remained with the agency for an additional year as their communications specialist, building up their recognition in the community. For the next two years, she worked as a grants and contracts specialist at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Ohio State University. There, she managed comprehensive financial operations for grant-funded cancer research portfolios. From 2024 to 2025, she served as a Banyan Impact Fellow with the American India Foundation in New Delhi, India, leading the design and planning of the organization’s 25th anniversary campaign. After returning from India, she has been involved in early childhood education as a teacher, thereby further deepening her commitment to lifelong learning. With a particular passion for migration studies, she integrates research and data-driven insights with storytelling to create measurable impact and influence.

Moira’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining how colonial legacies, religion, and caste shape migration from South Goa to Dublin, Ireland. Following Brexit, Ireland has become a key destination for Goans holding Portuguese passports. The project is investigating how caste persists within Goan Catholic communities and influences migration opportunities, aspirations, and socioeconomic mobility. Using ethnographic methods, including interviews and participant observation across Goa, the study is exploring who migrates and why. It is also considering how migration reshapes the home communities. By analyzing this under-explored corridor, the research contributes to broader discussions related to contemporary migration in terms of caste, religion, and transnational mobility.

Anuka Upadhye is a recent graduate from George Washington University where she studied international affairs with a concentration in international environmental studies and a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Anuka’s research interests include gendered adaptation to climate change, and she has conducted research on agriculture and adaptation in Maharashtra, India. Professionally, she has worked on environmental issues at The White House, House of Representatives, and think tanks such as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Center for American Progress.

Although Goa’s coastline is only 104 kilometers long, its fishing industry is considered one of the most economically and culturally significant entities of the country. However, recent studies have shown that climate change has already been affecting Goa, especially its fisheries sector. Additionally, it has been disproportionately impacting the marginalized communities. Specifically in Goa, women who work in the fishing industry experience exclusion and marginalization. As climate change-induced disruptions increase the institutional need for comprehensive adaptation plans and economic relief, the invisibility of women’s labor in this industry may exclude them from such adaptation strategies. Anuka’s Fulbright-Nehru research project aims to provide a more gender-disaggregated data on fisheries in Goa.