Abhijit Banerjee is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on development economics, public health policy, and social protection programs, particularly addressing poverty and inequality in low- and middle-income countries. He has conducted large-scale experiments evaluating interventions such as conditional cash transfers, universal basic income, and healthcare policies. Key areas of interest include the design and implementation of anti-poverty programs, behavioral economics, and the long-term health impacts of infectious diseases like COVID-19. His work often integrates experimental methods to assess policy effectiveness, with contributions to global health studies and economic development strategies. Notably, his research on the RECOVERY trial evaluates treatments for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, while other studies explore financial spillover effects of electronic government transfers in Indonesia and savings behavior interventions in Chile. Banerjee has collaborated on projects analyzing post-COVID-19 health outcomes, labor market dynamics in India, and the role of trusted messengers in public health communication during crises. Despite the breadth of his contributions, specific details about his educational background, grants, or lab affiliations are not explicitly provided in the source text.
Anna Morcom is Professor and Mohindar Brar Sambhi Chair of Indian Music in the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music. She previously held a professorship at Royal Holloway, University of London, and earned her Ph.D. from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) in 2002, where she also completed her undergraduate studies in Ethnomusicology and Hindi (1993-1996). Her research spans music and dance in India and Tibet, employing ethnographic and oral historical methods to examine the intersections of musical culture with politics, nationalism, identity, gender, inequality, economic development, and media. Morcom's scholarship is notable for its interdisciplinary approach that bridges traditional and popular musics with contemporary theoretical frameworks. Her work demonstrates significant trends toward examining music within economic frameworks, particularly through her founding of SEM's Special Interest Group on Economic Ethnomusicology. Recent publications increasingly focus on cultural economies, performance labor, and the relationship between artistic practice and economic systems in South Asia. Society of Ethnomusicology's Allan Merriam prize (2014) Marcia Herndon prize of SEM's Gender and Sexualities section (2014) Morcom's research has been supported by multiple grants from the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy. She has been interviewed by prominent media outlets including BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed, The Hindu, Tehelka, and Scroll regarding her influential work on Indian dance cultures. As founder of SEM's Special Interest Group on Economic Ethnomusicology, she has shaped scholarly discourse on the economic dimensions of musical practice. Her current projects include the monograph on Hindustani music and co-editing two significant volumes: Creative Economies of Culture in South Asia: Craftspeople Performers (Routledge) and the Oxford Handbook of Economic Ethnomusicology (OUP).
Dr. Anna Dubiel is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at King's Business School, King's College London. Her research focuses on the intersection of innovation and R&D management with international markets, particularly in emerging economies. She teaches a broad range of Marketing topics in postgraduate and executive programmes covering International Marketing and Digital Marketing. Dr. Dubiel obtained her PhD from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar, Germany, where she previously served as Assistant Professor of International Innovation Management. Her academic journey includes visiting researcher positions at Boston College, Judge Business School, and London Business School, as well as a Visiting College Research Associate position at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge in 2017. Her research expertise centers on Innovation Management , New Product Development , R&D Management , International Marketing , and Emerging Economies . Dr. Dubiel's work particularly examines how businesses can develop better products and services for consumers and businesses at the subsistence market ends. Her current research project focuses on 'Risk Management in Emerging Economies: A Marketing Perspective. The Context of Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Insurance,' which studies how to reach buyers of complex new services in subsistence marketplaces and raise insurance literacy. Dr. Dubiel's publications reveal a consistent focus on innovation in emerging markets, with significant contributions to journals such as the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, and International Marketing Review. Her work often explores frugal innovation, new product development strategies, and international market adaptation, demonstrating how businesses can succeed in resource-constrained environments while creating social impact. Her notable scientific achievements include: Highly Commended Paper Winner of the Journal of Indian Business Research (2014) Finalist for the Thomas P. Hustad Best Paper Award for the Journal of Product Innovation Management (2016) Academy of Marketing Teaching Excellence Award (2020) British Academy of Management Early Career Education Practice Award (2021) Finalist for the Academy of International Business Teaching Innovation Award (2021) HEA Fellowship (2019) Multiple Case Writing Competition awards from AESE Business School (2010, 2011) Dr. Dubiel has received research funding from several intramural grants as well as the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust. Her teaching methodology emphasizes practical application through managerial guest lectures and consulting projects conducted by students for real organizations. While she is not currently accepting new PhD students, her research group focuses on marketing financial services to first-time buyers in emerging markets, with evidence from Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Micro-Insurance in Kenya.
Ronald McGarvey is a Full Professor at IÉSEG School of Management since 2022, with prior roles including Associate Professor with Tenure at the University of Missouri (2013-2022) and Senior Operations Researcher at RAND Corporation (2002-2022). He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Pennsylvania State University and an H.D.R. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Paul Sabatier, France. Education : H.D.R. (2024), Industrial Engineering, University of Paul Sabatier Ph.D. (2002), Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Pennsylvania State University His research focuses on Operations Research and Robust Optimization applied to diverse domains: Healthcare Logistics : Modeling access disparities in rural obstetric care for American Indian populations Environmental Sustainability : Analyzing biomass energy systems, forest carbon impacts, and waste management frameworks Network Design : Developing optimization models for supply chain resilience, military logistics, and urban transit safety Policy Analysis : Evaluating multi-state environmental collaborations and localized food systems His publications demonstrate strong interdisciplinary applications of mathematical programming and spatial optimization to real-world challenges in healthcare access, energy sustainability, and transportation systems. Key Collaborations : Working with researchers in public health (Thorsen, Noble), environmental science (Aguilar), and engineering (Mirzaee, Gutierrez-Lopez)
Engseng Ho is a Professor of Cultural Anthropology and former Professor of History at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences since 2008. His work focuses on Arab/Muslim diasporas across the Indian Ocean, global transregional dynamics, and historical interactions between empires and local societies. Education: PhD (2000), MA (1990) in Anthropology from University of Chicago; BA (1986) from Stanford University. Research interests include mobility studies, transregional legal frameworks, and the intersection of Islam with imperial and postcolonial contexts. Notable projects involve Inter-Asia collaborations and studies on China-Africa relations, oil economies, and Malay sovereignty. Recent grants include funding from the National Science Foundation for research on refugees, Azerbaijan's oil-driven geopolitics, and a global religion dissertation fellowship program. Teaching spans courses on imperialism, mobility, global culture, and anthropological theory. His expertise spans Africa, India, Indonesia, and Yemen.
Heather Congdon Fors is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Gothenburg (2006), an M.A. in Economics from the University of Waterloo (1999), and a B.A. (Honours) in Economics from the University of Manitoba (1997). Her research focuses on development economics, education, child labor, and political economy. She has led the research project 'Child labor and school attendance in India' (2014–2018) and serves as a reviewer for journals such as the European Journal of Political Economy and Economic Inquiry. Her teaching expertise includes macroeconomics, statistics, institutional economics, and international economics. She has completed pedagogical training programs including HPE201 to HPE103. Her work explores topics such as the impact of globalization on education, land certification on schooling in Ethiopia, and the persistence of harmful cultural norms like female genital cutting in Africa. She has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and authored reports on child labor policies, institutional change in post-colonial states, and gender biases in education. Fors has contributed to interdisciplinary projects, including analyses of bureaucrats' use of cost-benefit analysis in environmental policy and the long-term impacts of colonial missions on cultural practices. Her research bridges theoretical frameworks with empirical studies, addressing global challenges such as sustainable development goals and educational inequalities. She is based at Vasagatan 1, Gothenburg, and can be reached at heather.fors@economics.gu.se.
Rahul Mukherji is a Professor at the Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University. He has held visiting positions at institutions including the University of Goa, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Fudan University. His research spans Indian politics, political economy, international relations, and climate policy. Education: PhD in Political Science, Columbia University (1999) M.Phil and MA in South Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (1992, 1990) Bachelor in Economics (Honours), Delhi University (1988) Mukherji examines democratic backsliding , climate governance , and political economy of reforms in India. His recent work explores the intersection of COVID-19 and authoritarian trends , alongside state capacity in welfare delivery. Scientific Awards NUS Award for Research Excellence (2014, 2012) President’s Fellow, Columbia University (1997-1999) Ambedkar Overseas Fellow in International Relations (1993-1996) Mukherji serves on the editorial boards of journals like India Review , Pacific Affairs , and Governance . He is series editor for Oxford Institutions and Development in South Asia and editor of Indian Politics and Policy .
Katherine Lemons is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University's Faculty of Arts. Her research focuses on Islamic family law adjudication in India, examining its implications for understanding Muslim gender and kin relations, secularism, minority politics, and legal pluralism in postcolonial contexts. She has established herself as a leading scholar in the anthropology of law with her groundbreaking work on Muslim divorce practices and their relationship to Indian secularism. Dr. Lemons earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. Her academic journey has centered on the intersections of religion, law, and gender in South Asian contexts, with particular attention to how religious legal systems operate within secular states. Her research interests span multiple interconnected fields including the anthropology of law, Islamic legal studies, secularism theory, feminist anthropology, and South Asian studies. Lemons approaches these topics through careful ethnographic work in India, particularly examining how Muslim communities navigate family law disputes through non-state Islamic institutions. Her work challenges conventional understandings of the relationship between religious and secular law, arguing that Muslim divorce practices in India represent a critical site for understanding the complexities of secular governance in postcolonial contexts. She investigates how legal pluralism functions in practice, how religious legal authority is established adjacent to secular states, and how gender relations are shaped through these intersecting legal regimes. Dr. Lemons' scholarly output reveals a consistent focus on the tensions between religious legal traditions and modern secular governance, with particular attention to how marginalized communities navigate these complex legal landscapes. Her work demonstrates how legal practices often blur the boundaries between religious and secular domains, challenging simplistic understandings of secularism. She has made significant contributions to understanding how Islamic law functions in non-Muslim majority contexts, both in India and more recently in her research on sharia courts in Ontario. Michelle Z. Rosaldo Prize from the Association for Feminist Anthropology, American Anthropological Association (Honorable Mention) Critical Anthropology Book Prize from the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (Honourable Mention) South Asian Muslim Studies Association Book Award (Honourable Mention) As an academic mentor, Dr. Lemons advises graduate students working at the intersections of anthropology, law, and religious studies. Her research has been supported by various academic grants that have enabled extensive fieldwork in India and Canada. She is currently developing two major research projects: "Traveling for Justice," which examines transnational dimensions of Islamic legal knowledge, and "Adjacent to the State," an ethnographic study of sharia courts in Ontario. Dr. Lemons is affiliated with several research centers at McGill University that focus on South Asian studies, legal anthropology, and religious studies. Her work connects with broader scholarly communities through collaborations with researchers studying legal pluralism, secularism, and Islamic jurisprudence across multiple national contexts.
Monica Trieu is an Associate Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University, where she focuses on the intersection of race, ethnicity, and immigration with particular emphasis on children of immigrants. Her scholarly work bridges sociology and Asian American studies through critical examination of identity formation and systemic inequalities. Education: Ph.D. in Sociology, University of California, Irvine (Asian American Studies emphasis) Master's in Sociology, University of California, Irvine Research Focus: Professor Trieu's expertise spans International Migration, Post-1960s Immigrants and Refugees, 1.5 and Second-Generation Identity, Transnational Ties, and Historical/Contemporary Asian American Experiences. Her scholarship critically analyzes internalized racism, regional identity formation (particularly in the Midwest), and the psychological impacts of anti-Asian violence during the pandemic. She employs intersectional frameworks to explore how refugee experiences, cultural adaptation, and transnational connections shape ethnic identity among Southeast Asian Americans and other immigrant communities. Publication Trends: Her 2013-2024 publications reveal evolving engagement with contemporary crises—from pandemic-induced mental health challenges and anti-Asian violence to structural invisibility of Midwest Asian American communities. While maintaining core focus on identity negotiation among second-generation immigrants, her recent work expands into comparative analyses of Asian American/Latina/o transnational patterns and refugee resettlement experiences, demonstrating methodological versatility across ethnographic, survey, and media analysis approaches. Professional Impact: As author of Identity Construction among Chinese-Vietnamese Americans: Being, Becoming, and Belonging (2009) and publications in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Journal of Asian American Studies , Trieu has established herself as a key voice in Midwest Asian American scholarship. Her research directly informs institutional responses to rising anti-Asian sentiment and contributes foundational frameworks for understanding regional ethnic identity formation beyond coastal enclaves.
Kären Wigen is the Frances and Charles Field Professor in History at Stanford University, specializing in Japanese history and the history of cartography. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley (1990). Her research spans: Historical geography of East Asia Early modern Japanese regional economies Geographies of the imagination Transnational maritime histories Critical cartography and spatial analysis Her publications include eight major works from 1992-2025 analyzing spatial transformations in Japan and global metageography, with recent projects focusing on temporal dimensions in cartographic representation. She co-edited Seascapes (2007) and Cartographic Japan (2016), and serves as Director of Stanford’s Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities since 2022.
Donald R. Davis, Jr. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts. With a PhD from the same institution, he has established himself as a leading scholar in Hindu law and Dharmaśāstra studies. His work bridges religious studies, legal history, and South Asian studies, making significant contributions to our understanding of law and religion in medieval India. Davis earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, where he has built his academic career. His scholarly journey has been deeply rooted in the study of Sanskrit legal traditions and their intersection with religious practice. Professor Davis's primary research concerns the interaction of law and religion in medieval India. He examines both historical evidence for law and legal practice through inscriptions and regional language documents, as well as the Dharmaśāstra tradition as a system of religious law and jurisprudence. His work situates Sanskrit normative texts within historical contexts while exploring their conceptual frameworks. He maintains the Resource Library for Dharmaśāstra Studies and has published extensively on Hindu law, including books such as The Spirit of Hindu Law (2010) and The Dharma of Business (2017). Davis's recent publications demonstrate a continued focus on the intersection of law, religion, and ethics in Hindu tradition. His work explores caste, conservatism, marital ethics, and the historical development of legal thought in India. He frequently draws comparative connections between Hindu legal traditions and other religious legal systems, contributing to broader conversations in legal anthropology and comparative religious law. Professor Davis actively supervises graduate students interested in Dharmaśāstra traditions and their relevance to law, religion, history, politics, and economics in India. He encourages students with broader interests in comparative religious law (Jewish law, Islamic law, Roman law, etc.) and works with those studying various aspects of Hinduism and classical religions in India, particularly in normative and "mainstream" areas such as Vedānta, Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā, Epics, and Purāṇas.
Ana Marques is a Visiting Professor at Norwich Business School (University of East Anglia), specializing in accounting and quantitative methods. She previously served as head of research at the Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon and held visiting roles at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Her academic background includes a PhD in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master's in Management from Instituto Superior de Gestão (Portugal), and a 5-year Licenciatura in Management from the same institution. Her research focuses on non-GAAP earnings disclosures, corporate governance, ESG/CSR, and voluntary disclosures. Key funding includes a €80,000 Marie Curie grant and over €120,000 from Portugal's Foundation for Science and Technology. She has published in top journals like Review of Accounting Studies and European Accounting Review . Marques holds editorial roles at European Accounting Review and Accounting in Europe , and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the EAA's Accounting Research Center. She has organized major conferences like JIAR 2023 and the Lisbon Accounting Conference, and contributes to professional bodies such as the American Accounting Association (AAA) and European Accounting Association (EAA). Her work addresses disclosure strategies, sustainability assurance, and regulatory impacts, with recent focus on gender diversity policies and ESG-investment linkages. Research outputs emphasize global accounting practices and regulatory effectiveness across diverse sectors.
Sainyam Galhotra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on developing data science tools for trustworthy analytics, integrating causal inference, data management, and machine learning to enhance robustness, explainability, and fairness in algorithmic systems. PhD: University of Massachusetts Amherst (2020), advised by Barna Saha B.Tech: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2014), advised by Amitabha Bagchi Postdoctoral Research: University of Chicago (Computing Innovation Fellow) His work spans artificial intelligence, causal inference, and responsible data science, emphasizing ethical algorithm design and reliable data integration. Recent publications highlight advancements in fair clustering, causal feature selection, and entity resolution frameworks. His research trends from 2023–2024 include contributions to spatio-temporal data correlation, community detection in geometric graphs, and distribution-aware dataset search. Key themes are fairness in machine learning, causal modeling, and scalable data management solutions. Computing Innovation Fellowship (2021) DAAD AInet Fellow (2021) ACM SIGMOD Entity Resolution Programming Contest Finalist (2021) Krithi Ramamritham Computer Science Scholarship (2019) BEST Paper Award in SIGSOFT FSE 2017 He actively seeks PhD or Master’s students interested in data science and trustworthy AI. Contact via email: sg@cs.cornell.edu .
Pawan Adhikari is a Professor of Accounting at Essex Business School, University of Essex , where he serves as Director of Impact and Enterprise and Director of Essex Accounting Centre . He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management and a Executive Board Member of the Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research Network (CIGAR) . Previously, he led accounting reforms at Nepal’s Accounting and Auditing Standards Board and lectured at Nord University, Norway. PhD, Nord University Business School Fellow of the Higher Education Academy His research focuses on public sector accounting in developing countries, particularly accounting reforms , public value creation , and climate accountability . He explores how accrual accounting and participatory budgeting can enhance transparency in South Asian and African contexts. His work has influenced policy-making in Nepal and is recognized with the 2023 Best International Research Impact award by the University of Essex. Recent publications analyze wellbeing economies (2025), NGO accountability in disasters (2024), and climate budgeting (2023). He collaborates with institutions like the World Bank , European Commission , and British Academy , focusing on projects related to financial resilience , circular economy , and health sector accountability . Supervising 8 current PhD students, his advisees have produced work on topics like accrual accounting in Bangladesh and NGO accountability in Palestine . World Bank/PEFA Research Award African Accounting and Financial Association (AAFA) Award ESRC IIA Impact Fund GCRF and SeNSS Grants 2019 Best Postgraduate Supervisor (Essex)
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Freitag is Director of the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (Berlin) and holds a special professorship in Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. Her research focuses on social and cultural history of the Arab world, urban history, and transregional connections in the Indian Ocean. She has directed major projects like 'An Oasis Facing Globalisation: Hegra’s History since the 19th Century' and authored seminal works such as A History of Jeddah . Education: Habilitation (Islamic Studies, 2002, Bonn), PhD (1991, Freiburg), MA (1987, Freiburg). Key research stays include Damascus (1984-85, 1987-90), Yemen, and Southeast Asia. Research Interests: Urban development, migration networks, Ottoman heritage, Saudi state formation, and transregional Islamic dynamics. Current projects explore Jeddah’s urban history and transregional entanglements in the Arabian Peninsula. Engagement: Editorial roles for Journal of Arabian Studies , ZMO Studien , and advisory boards for institutions like the Leibniz Institute of European History. Awarded fellowships from Käthe-Hamburger Kolleg and LUCIS. Supervised over 20 doctoral theses on topics ranging from Ottoman governance to Gulf intellectual history. Publications: Over 150 articles, 8 monographs, and 6 edited volumes. Her work blends archival research with transregional perspectives, emphasizing marginalized voices and material culture. Recent focus on pandemic impacts and Saudi-Iranian geopolitical dynamics.
