India Fellows Years: Indian Fellows 2026-2027

Reetu Sogani

Dr. Reetu Sogani is a development practitioner, researcher, and academician working on the protection, strengthening and enhancement of cultural and biological diversity, its integration to address food and nutrition security and build climate resilience in the Himalayas as well as in other parts of India, for over 27 years. She is a PhD in Environmental Management from R.A. Podar Institute of Management, Jaipur.

Dr. Sogani has conceptualized, implemented, and coordinated several projects at the grassroots and evaluated several developmental projects funded by reputed donor agencies such as IFAD, IRMA, and PAC on sustainable agriculture, food and nutrition security, and climate resilience. Since 2012, she has been Program Director, Deodar Himalaya Project on Eco-health, Chintan International Trust (India), Uttarakhand. She is also a resource person for faculty in institutions across the country. She has served in an advisory capacity with reputed institutions such as Afromontane Research Unit, the University of the Free State, IDS, Sussex. She has been an Action Researcher in Uttarakhand with the University of East Anglia, UK. She has authored several research papers and chapters in reputed publications. She has delivered talks on several national and international forums in Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa.

As a Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence, Dr. Sogani will be teaching classes on environmental ethics, international conservation strategies and food policy and politics at The Clark Family School of Environment and Sustainability, Western Colorado University. She will also be engaged in enhancing and expanding existing international programming and assist in integrating international dimensions within existing course offerings.

Nagamani Gnaneswaran

Dr. G. Nagamani is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at The Gandhigram Rural Institute. She specializes in passivity analysis, neural networks, control theory and fractional calculus. She earned her PhD in mathematics from the same institution for her highly commended thesis on passivity analysis of neural networks with time-varying delays. Her research focuses on nonlinear dynamical systems, fuzzy systems, delayed neural networks and fractional-order models.

Dr. Nagamani has served in academic and research positions for over two decades, including DST-funded Junior and Senior Research Fellowships, and guides doctoral research. Eight PhD scholars have graduated, and she is currently guiding five. Her contributions include numerous publications, international collaborations, editorial activities, and reviewer roles for various journals published by Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, and IEEE (https://scholar.google.com/GN).

Dr. Nagamani has completed funded research projects supported by the University Grants Commission, National Board for Higher Mathematics, and Science and Engineering Research Board. Her distinctions include the Tamil Nadu Young Women Scientist Award, the Overseas Research Professor Fellowship at Kunsan National University, South Korea, and the Best Researcher Award 2024 from The Gandhigram Rural Institute. She has organized several international conferences and workshops in mathematical modelling, machine learning, quantum computing, applied mathematics and has delivered more than 50 invited lectures at national and international academic forums.

As a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Nagamani will be teaching a course on advanced computational intelligence and engaging with the broader academic community in research-oriented projects on computational intelligence.

Kamlesh Kumar Dubey

Dr. Kamlesh Kumar Dubey is a mathematician, researcher, and academic administrator with over 19 years of experience in higher education and university administration. He completed his B.Sc. in 1999 and M.Sc. in 2002 at the University of Allahabad.

Dr. Dubey earned a PhD from Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh in 2006. His interests include differential geometry, mathematical modelling, cryptography, modern algebra, and linear algebra application to blockchain, cryptocurrency, network security, cyber security and quantum cryptography. Dr. Dubey has published more than 30 research papers and holds 10 patents. He has authored three books and a book chapter. Five scholars have completed their PhD under his supervision, and three are currently pursuing it.

Dr. Dubey has been a Professor in the Department of Applied Sciences and Humanities at Invertis University, Bareilly from 2007. Dr. Dubey has been working as a Domain Expert at the Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Science, Lucknow, since 2025 on one-year contract.

Dr. Dubey is a life member of the Indian Science Congress and the International Academy of Physical Sciences. He has organized conferences, Faculty development programs (FDP) and government funded INSPIRE programs. His achievements include the Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Excellence Award 2025 and the Best Paper Award 2023 from Engineered Science Publisher, USA.

As a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Dubey will be teaching predictive analytics, business analytics, descriptive analytics and data mining and engaging with the broader community through interactive projects.

Wairokpam Yaiphaba Chenglei

Dr. Wairokpam Yaiphaba Chenglei is an Assistant Professor of English at Pravabati College, Manipur. He earned his BA from Manipur University, completed his MA in English from IGNOU, New Delhi, and received his PhD in English from Manipur University in 2024. He is now serving as an ICSSR Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of English & Cultural Studies, Manipur University, Imphal for the period 2024-26. His research focuses on indigenous folklore, oral traditions, cultural identity, eco-criticism, and comparative cultural studies. He has authored books and published several scholarly articles in reputed journals.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Chenglei is undertaking a comparative philosophical study of the Meitei festival Lai Haraoba and the Cherokee Green Corn Ceremony as living expressions of indigenous metaphysics and embodied knowledge. His project examines how ritual, myth, and performance preserve shared values of kinship, sacred ecology, gratitude, and cultural resilience. Through this fellowship, he aims to contribute to global scholarship on indigenous philosophy and promote cross-cultural dialogue on traditional knowledge systems.

Tanu Gupta

Dr. Tanu Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Southampton Delhi (UoSD), Gurugram. Before joining UoSD, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. She earned her BA (Hons) in economics from the University of Delhi and her MA in economics from the Delhi School of Economics. She received her PhD in economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai. She was a Visiting PhD Scholar at UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, from September to November 2021, and is an active member of Environment for Development (EfD).

Dr. Gupta’s research is primarily in development economics, with a focus on environment, labor, and identity. She has published in reputed international journals and has received several research grants including J-PAL and ICIMOD. In addition to academic publications, she writes for policy platforms such as IndiaSpend, Policy Edge, and Ideas for India to reach a wider policy audience.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Gupta is studying household demand for electric stoves and how demand responds to various subsidy and price levels. The project will examine whether access to electric cooking reduces reliance on traditional solid fuels and lowers household air pollution and related health risks.

Sweta Sen

Dr. Sweta Sen is an Assistant Professor at the Madras School of Economics (MSE), Chennai. She pursued BSc in economics (Hons) from Serampore College, affiliated with the University of Calcutta in 2011, and an MSc in economics specializing in applied econometrics, environmental economics, and international economics from University of Calcutta in 2013. She was awarded an MS by Research in 2016 and a PhD in Economics in 2023, both from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Before joining MSE, she was Senior Researcher at the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.

Dr. Sen’s research lies at the intersection of climate change impacts, disaster risk reduction, household behavior under uncertainty, and sustainable development. She has published extensively in major Scopus-indexed international journals. She has worked as a consultant in the World Bank on quantifying renewable energy drivers across Indian states, and is currently the Co-Project Director of an ICSSR longitudinal study on post-tsunami housing reconstruction and livelihood revitalization along India’s vulnerable coastlines. Dr Sen has qualified in the UGC NET examination, is a recipient of the Berkner Fellowship from the American Geophysical Union and a SANDEE Fellow. She is also actively engaged in student mentorship.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Sen is investigating how geo-climatic risks — particularly cyclonic shocks and extreme weather events — shape household time use decisions. During her fellowship, she aims to apply geo-spatial techniques and remote-sensing data to economic outcomes and generate policy-relevant insights for climate adaptation planning in both developing and developed country contexts.

Sushruth Ravish

Dr. Sushruth Ravish is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, before transitioning to philosophy. He completed his MA in Philosophy in 2015 at Savitribai Phule (SP) Pune University and in 2021, he was awarded a PhD in Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Dr. Sushruth Ravish is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore, before transitioning to philosophy. He completed his MA in Philosophy in 2015 at Savitribai Phule (SP) Pune University and in 2021, he was awarded a PhD in Philosophy from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Dr. Ravish’s areas of specialization are in metaethics and epistemology. He has published several research articles in reputed international journals, and currently serves as Associate Editor of the journal AI & Society. He has been awarded the Naik and Rastogi Award for Excellence in PhD Research at IIT Bombay (2020–22), the SS Barlingay Prize and the KA Dattatray Prize for the highest marks in MA Philosophy at SP Pune University.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Ravish is undertaking a comparative investigation of how conspiracy theories, particularly those surrounding vaccines and public health, emerge and spread within the democratic societies of India and the USA. Building on recent work in social epistemology and democratic theory, the research examines conspiracy theories not merely as informational distortions or cognitive failures but as alternative epistemic frameworks. During his fellowship, Dr. Ravish aims to develop a normative framework for epistemic repair and trust-building in conditions of institutional distrust and democratic fragility.

Suneetha Saggurti

Dr. Suneetha is currently an Assistant Professor in human resource management and organizational behavior at the Indian Institute of Management, Raipur. She holds a PhD in Management from XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur and did her master’s from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Before joining academia, she spent seventeen years in human resources within the manufacturing industry. She was a Visiting Fellow at the ILR school of Cornell University from March-June 2025. She was a Fellow of International Humanistic Management Association (2024-2025).

Dr. Suneetha’s research centers on human flourishing, dignity, and well-being in organizational life, reflected in her doctoral thesis, Being Who We Are (Loving Beings) and Doing What We Know (Holding and Being Held): Reimagining Group Life and Leadership for Peace and Sustainability. Her current work explores the Ecozoic paradigm and Ecozoic leadership based on the work of Thomas Berry. Her work also focuses on micro-affirmations, the Keatsian concept of negative capability, and slowing down. She also works in critical pedagogy, examining how business education must be reimagined to confront the ecological and social crises of our time. She is trained in micro-phenomenology. She completed TECTU (Training in Embodied Critical Thinking and Understanding), an interdisciplinary European Erasmus+ program.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Suneetha is aiming to develop labor metrics and auditing practices for the construction industry, drawing from the more developed practices and metrics in apparel and footwear supply chains. The study will contribute to better due diligence practices and governance in construction supply chains.

Shaifali Arora

Dr. Shaifali Arora is a scholar of colonial and postcolonial South Asian history, with a particular interest in the cultural and linguistic history of the 1947 Partition of India. Her research examines how histories of displacement are remembered, reworked, and transmitted through everyday practices, with a particular focus on Punjab.

Dr. Arora received her PhD in English from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Indore. She holds an MA and MPhil in English and a BA (Hons) in English from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi. She has also qualified the UGC-NTA NET in English. She received the Alliance of Digital Humanities Bursary Award to visit McGill University, Canada, in 2017 and the ASEM-DUO Fellowship to visit Lancaster University, UK, in 2020.

Dr. Arora’s research papers have been published in international journals such as South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies (Taylor & Francis) and Contemporary South Asia (Taylor & Francis).

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Arora will document and analyze the culinary practices of refugees from regions such as Bahawalpur and Multan, focusing on how food functions as a living archive of displacement, resilience, and gendered memory. Her project is significant as South Asian Studies programs in the US are increasingly foregrounding micro-histories, gendered narratives, and diasporic memory in understanding Partition. This project will illustrate how domestic culinary practices serve as cultural repositories, particularly among women whose roles as preservers and transmitters of subregional identities through food remain critically underexplored.

Satyabrata Mohanty

Dr. Satyabrata Mohanty is currently Guest Faculty at the College of Horticulture, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar. He earned his BSc in agriculture (2018) from OUAT, Bhubaneswar, MSc in agricultural extension and communication (2020) from SHUATS, Prayagraj, and PhD in agricultural extension education (2025) from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, as first class topper and ICSSR Doctoral Fellow.

Dr. Mohanty’s research is centered on strengthening agricultural extension and advisory systems, with a focus on building climate-resilient, gender-responsive, and digitally-enabled decision-making frameworks for farming communities. He has authored over 13 peer-reviewed research articles, two books, three book chapters, and a national policy brief on gender inequality in agriculture and food systems with MANAGE, Hyderabad. He holds three approved design patents in smart agricultural technology. He has been conferred with the Best Master’s Thesis Award, Student of the Year Award (East Zone), and Best Oral Presentation Award at international conferences. He is a member of AIAEE, AEA, and the Global Teach Ag Network.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Mohanty is comparatively examining Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) in the US and in India, analyzing institutional frameworks, policy architectures, and delivery mechanisms to strengthen farmer-centered extension systems. Through this fellowship, he aims to generate policy insights that inform agricultural extension reform in India and contribute to global discourse on sustainable rural development.