Gour Dasvarma

Associate Professor Gour Dasvarma is an accomplished academic in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, specializing in population studies with over 50 years of professional experience since 1973. He served as Director of the Applied Population Studies program from 1992-2013 and coordinated the Master of Environmental Management program during 2003-2005. His international expertise includes negotiating a major contract between Flinders University and the Indonesian National Population and Family Planning Board (2006-2010) with funding from the Asian Development Bank.

Dr. Dasvarma holds a PhD in Demography from Australian National University (1980), Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate in Population Studies from International Institute for Population Sciences in Bombay, India (1971, 1970), Master of Science in Statistics and BSc from Patna University, India (1964, 1961). His research spans women's health, child mortality, fertility and family planning, HIV/AIDS research, population ageing, migration, and population-environment interactions. His work contributes to multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to health, gender equality, and sustainable communities.

His publication record demonstrates consistent scholarly output with 60 research outputs over his career, showing particularly strong productivity in recent years with 9 publications in 2018 alone. His research focuses primarily on Southeast Asia (particularly Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Bangladesh) and South Australia, examining demographic patterns through both quantitative and qualitative lenses. Recent work addresses contemporary challenges including fertility transitions, pandemic impacts on wellbeing, and the relationship between education policy and demographic trends.

• Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (2011)
• Office of Learning and Teaching Citation for Excellence in Teaching (2012)
• Member, Flinders College of Distinguished Educators (2012)
• Commendation for Research Excellence (2022)
• Acknowledgement for Outstanding Support of HDR Students (2023)

With an impressive record of supervision, Dr. Dasvarma has completed 21 PhD theses (10 as Principal Supervisor), 68 Masters, and seven Diploma theses as of August 2024, while currently supervising three PhD and one Master by Research thesis. His external funding includes consultancies with the Government of South Australia, United Nations Population Fund across multiple countries, and Australian international development agencies. He maintains active professional engagement as a member of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Asian Population Association, and Indian Association for the Study of Population.