Scholars

Medha currently examines the intersections of politics, public policy, governance and finance in the delivery of essential services, such as safe drinking water to every household in rural India. Focusing on inequalities and intersectionality, she is interested in how inclusive and sustainable outcomes can be reached through national, state and individual choices. Gathering extensive and in-depth empirical evidence is a critical component of her work. She grounds her academic research in the lived experiences and narratives of communities, institutional decision-makers, political leaders and anyone in between. 

Growing up in India, Medha has been sensitized to the juxtaposition of excess and inadequacy, in both rural and urban settings. Travelling across India’s diverse landscape, particularly the Himalaya, has shaped her perception of the delicate balance that exists between humans and the natural world. Her study of the Ethics and the Classics, as an English Literature undergraduate, has been pivotal in informing her research interests. Her five-year background as a writer in the film industry, especially for documentaries, contributes to her diverse methods which include photo-documentation, semi-structured interviews, surveys, multi-sited ethnography and archival research. She remains a strong advocate of transcending disciplinary boundaries, and is happy to engage in any discussion, academic and beyond, to further inclusivity.

Qualifications

• Master of Science in Water Science, Policy and Management (with Distinction), University of Oxford, UK
• Bachelor of Arts (with First Class Honours) in English Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

Scholarships

• Oxford Indira Gandhi Graduate Scholarship for DPhil in Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, 2022-present
• Felix Scholarship for MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management, University of Oxford, 2020-2021

Grants and Awards

• Travel and Special Project Grant awarded by Somerville College, University of Oxford, 2024
• Scholar Development Award from the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, 2023
• Frederick Soddy Postgraduate Award from the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers, 2023
• Catherine Hughes Grant awarded by Somerville College, University of Oxford, 2022

Select Publications

Peer-Reviewed Research Article

• Mukherjee, M. (2023) Power, paralysis and action: understanding flood risk management in Kerala, India. Environmental Hazards. pp. 1-32.

Working Paper

Hope, R., McNicholl, D., Mukherjee, M. and Dickinson, N. (2023) Keeping piped water flowing in rural India. Uptime Global and Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford.”

Cyril Shroff Scholar reading for Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) (Matric Year: 2023)

Reema is a social entrepreneur dedicated to bridging income inequalities and advocating for the rights of vulnerable communities in India. Over nine years, she has been consistently engaged in grassroots work, building community-led income generation models with rural women, smallholding farmers, and indigenous populations.

Reema’s work centers around transforming agriculture and livestock supply chains, empowering rural communities to embrace entrepreneurship through micro-enterprises. In the State of Maharashtra, she pioneered the first-ever rural women-owned food brand. This initiative not only doubled their incomes but also inspired a set of women leaders challenging the status quo regarding women’s social and economic standing in their respective villages.

Along with her efforts on the ground, Reema serves as an advisor to various non-profits and community-led organizations in India. Her role in establishing Rajasthan’s first micro camel milk dairy benefited over 3,000 camel herders, providing a sustainable source of income amidst livelihood threats due to State policies and declining camel populations. Additionally, her expertise has catalyzed the formation of Manipur’s first women-only farmer producer company (FPC), empowering over 16,000 tribal women to embrace small-scale pig farming and create value-added products from forest resources. Her responsibility in this role revolved around policy recommendations and programs aimed at enhancing technology, finance, and livelihood opportunities for women in India and Bangladesh.

She has co-authored a regional chapter on South Asia for FAO’s (The food and agriculture organization of the United Nations) report on Gender and Climate-Smart Agriculture in collaboration with the University of East Anglia (UEA, Norwich). Reema is a Presidential Award Winner in the year 2017 (awarded by the Honorable President of India and the Ministry of Woman & Child Development), recognized for bringing positive economic change for rural women in Maharashtra.

She has been featured as one of the Most powerful women in the Indian impact business in Business Today and the Forbes Magazine. Her organization, Happy Roots, has been featured as one of the successful case studies bridging gender gap in agriculture by the United Nations & The World Bank Group. Reema is also a fellow at the British Asian Trust and UnLtd India. Her passion for building more inclusive, equitable, and transformative institutions and societies, leads her to Oxford, where she seeks to deepen her inquiry through theory and practice. Reema wishes to challenge her critical thinking, both inside and outside the classroom, to solve development problems at scale. Her interest lies at the intersection of economic development, multi-dimensional equality (including gender justice and community rights) and technology. When not working, Reema indulges in the joys of traveling, exercising, and savouring a good glass of wine.

At Oxford, I will be continuing my research on perovskites. As part of the Semiconductors Group at the Condensed Matter Physics department, my work will be aimed at understanding the fundamental properties of various perovskites which can then be used to improve their performance and make high efficiency devices. I am immensely excited to be affiliated with the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) and to tap into the resources that come through this collaboration. I believe that perovskites will be an important technological leap in the global transition to clean energy and through OICSD I want to use my research to create the greatest impact in the field of clean energy especially for countries such as India.

Elizabeth Moir Scholar reading for Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) (Matric Year: 2023)

Aanchal is the first Elizabeth Moir Scholar, reading for an MPP at the Blavatnik School of Government . Before joining Oxford, she worked for the Food Innovation Hub at the World Economic Forum. 

Her research interests include policies at the intersection of innovation, technology, and partnerships for enabling food systems transformation. Her work with the World Economic Forum, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature focused on blended finance and partnerships. She holds a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Delhi University and Master’s in Sustainable Development Practices from TERI School of Advanced Studies.

Her experience with some of the leading organisations in the world and eminent experts trained her in in policymaking, implementing, partnering, and financing for large, complex projects. These projects include monitoring the environmental, social, and economic effects of responsible tourism on tribal communities, surveying villages and designing comprehensive agri-solutions, and leading India’s first research team in assessing PPP models for marine conservation. 

During her time at Oxford, she aims to work towards refining her skills and learning from her peers to lead effective collaboration.

Indira Gandhi Scholar reading for a DPhil in Law (Matric year: 2022)

Former Cornelia Sorabji Scholar (2022)

Ishani is a candidate for the D.Phil. in Law at Somerville College. Her doctoral research aims to evaluate the present paradigm on disability-selective abortions in India and develop an ‘indigenous’ normative and legal framework for governing such abortion in India. In contrast to sex-selective abortions, which are prohibited in India, disability-selective abortions are positively sanctioned under the Indian legislative and judicial framework. She seeks to underline how the present paradigm reduces women to ‘gatekeepers of perfection’ and disregards the State’s duty of non-discrimination and reasonable accommodation towards disabled people. Given the unique context of evolution of reproductive rights and disability rights in India, she will attempt to highlight the limitations of Western intellectual tradition and develop an ‘Indian’ framework to address this debate in India. In doing so, she will endeavour to fill a theoretical gap in Indian feminist and disability-rights scholarship and make appropriate recommendations for legal reforms.

Ishani is keenly interested in analysing rights-based frameworks through feminist and critical legal scholarship and undertaking comparative and inter-disciplinary study of human rights and corresponding State obligations. Prior to the DPhil, Ishani read on the Bachelor of Civil Law programme at the University of Oxford as a Cornelia Sorabji Scholar. She opted for public law courses, like Medical Law and Ethics and Comparative Equality Law. She also graduated with the B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) degree from Jindal Global Law School, India.

As the Welfare Officer, she hopes to make the MCR a more comfortable, welcoming and inclusive space for all members of the MCR, through different events, initiatives, and schemes. Further, as the Women’s Representative, she aims to represent the concerns of the women students to the College through the Equality and Diversity Group, and coordinate with them where necessary. If there is anything that the MCR can support you with, please feel free to reach out to her.

Matric Year: 2021 – Subject: BCL – Scholarship: HSA Advocates Scholar

I completed the B.A.LL.B. (Hons) Course at NALSAR University of Law in 2021, and have remained at the top of my class for five years. During the BCL, I hope to study private international law with an emphasis on dispute resolution. I am particularly excited to be able to explore the intersection of this field with public policy.  

I have been interested in dispute resolution mechanisms ever since I was introduced to them in my first year of law school. While pursuing this interest through various avenues, I witnessed the influence of gender and race on seemingly neutral standards. This has motivated me to analyse private law structures through an interdisciplinary and critical lens.

I have attempted to evaluate the relationship between dispute resolution and policy through various publications. Recently, I co-authored a book chapter analysing the impact of investment arbitration costs on the pursuit of justice. Due to my manifest inclination towards this subject, I was nominated by the Telangana government to attend a conference in the Hague where I worked with policy students on developing fair responses to cyber-conflicts. Currently, I am serving as the executive-secretary for an international task-force that seeks to expand arbitration norms to meet the representative and decentralised conception of justice held by the global technology sector. These experiences have solidified my interest in building a career in dispute resolution, and contributing to both academic literature and ongoing efforts seeking to make the field more equitable.

The BCL will empower me to pursue this interest to the fullest extent by allowing me to create a unique curriculum out of various specialised course options. I feel privileged to be able to spend this year at Somerville College, and hope to learn from its inspiring history of advocating for equality. I would like to express my gratitude to HSA Advocates and the OICSD for selecting me to be this year’s HSA Advocates Scholar and thereby enabling me to strive towards my objectives.

Matric Year: 2020 – Subject: DPhil Zoology – Scholarship: Indira Gandhi Scholar

Apoorva’s doctoral research explores the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge alongside scientific ecological knowledge for conserving endemic and threatened avian fauna in the tropical forests of central Western Ghats and its associated coastal landscape.

Her research focuses on two indigenous tribal communities- the Siddis and Halakki Vokkaligas to understand their ethno-ornithological knowledge and its application in conservation planning, policy and management. Her study contributes to the ongoing paradigm shift in conservation, which is, mainstreaming indigenous communities and sustainable livelihoods for biodiversity conservation in such tropical and threatened landscapes.

Her past work has included community-based species conservation, animal movement ecology, bioacoustics studies and human-wildlife interactions including illegal wildlife trade, both in terrestrial as well as marine realms.

Apoorva holds a Masters in Ecology (2013) from Pondicherry University and is the second Indian woman to have received the Global Fellowship in Marine Conservation by Duke University. For her Master’s research, she was funded by the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) to study the conflict situation between Smooth-coated otters and fishermen, and associated socio-economics in the Cauvery River, India. After her Masters and stint at Duke, she received a follow-up grant by Oak Foundation to collaborate with Conservation International, Brazil and founded the Marine Conservation without Borders initiative with her colleagues at Bahia, Brazil.

On returning to India, Apoorva worked as a Research Associate at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) on the India Biodiversity Portal project. She then went on to work as a Research Assistant at the University of Lethbridge, Canada for a year to study the acoustic communication of the endemic Adelaide’s warbler in Puerto Rico. On her return, she found the need to facilitate field research in India, engage local communities and children in field ecology studies, and thus began the Curious Naturalists Initiative in the Western Ghats. She also collaborates as a research affiliate with the Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society in India.

Alongside research, Apoorva is also an active participant at policy based global forums such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity- Conference of the Parties (UN CBD-COP) and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP representing youth and indigenous communities for wildlife conservation. She is also a trained Natural History Illustrator and sketches the wonders of nature, which inspire her to keep going in the midst of all the socio-ecological crisis.

Matric Year: 2020 – Subject: DPhil Biochemistry – Scholarship: Indira Gandhi

During my DPhil at Oxford Biochemistry, I will work on understanding the evolution of bacteria under antibiotic stress. I strive to answer the questions related to single-cell heterogeneity in stress adaptations which enables bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance by exploring the importance of stochastic noise and fluctuations in these processes.

I completed my undergraduate degree, majoring in Chemical Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi (2016-2020). During my undergraduate years, I stepped into the field of synthetic biology through institute iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine) team and subsequently, worked on an array of different projects. With the Kusuma School of biology-IIT Delhi, I worked on building computational algorithms for genomic analysis of G-Quaruplexes and Vitamin D receptor elements under Dr V. Perumal.

Outside my institute, I was fortunate to be selected as an undergraduate researcher at Harvard SEAS (Khorana Scholar 2018, summer 2018), Harvard Medical School (summer 2019) and Australian National University (Future Research Talent Travel Award 2019, winter 2019). In these projects, I explored the single-cell and genome studies using image analysis and building computational algorithms. I was fascinated by the link between biology and engineering/mathematics, which made me curious to view the cell regulation behaviour with a quantitative lens which, otherwise, has mostly been analyzed qualitatively.

Antibiotics are continuously being challenged by microorganisms all around the world, potentially overpowering the drugs by developing resistance against them. The advent of super-resolution microscopy and single-cell analysis has brought us a step closer in analyzing the root cause of increasing antibiotic resistance in micro-organisms. It is especially important in India, where the extensive, as well as ill use of antibiotics and lack of Point-Of-Care diagnostics, has led to people losing lives due to septicemia at a larger scale. Developing engineering approaches to study “How cells sense the environment and regulate this antibiotic stress at the single-cell level” would help me address this issue.

I am grateful to be a part of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) community. It will provide me with a platform to understand the interdisciplinary links between scientific research advancements and better healthcare, thus touching people’s lives.

Matric Year: 2019 – Subject: DPhil Zoology – Scholarship: Mary De Zouche Graduate Scholar

My doctoral research is about assessing the extent to which climate and land-use land-cover changes have combined effects on the forest birds of Arunachal Pradesh which is the largest state of Northeast India.

The region is part of the eastern Indian Himalaya, a global biodiversity hotspot, and is also home to several hundreds of indigenous tribes. During my stay in the tribal villages, I will be also looking into the hunting patterns and methods used for trapping and selling of wild bird meat.

I completed my masters in Environment Science and Technology with the highest grades from Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research, Pune (India) in 2017 where I studied the effects of urban noise on acoustic communication of Myna species for my dissertation. After my masters, I investigated the effects of land-use change on bird communities in extremely remote tribal villages and tropical forests in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, a state in Northeast India which lies in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. I then worked as a junior researcher for a year under the National Mission for Himalayan Studies scheme with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, where I intensively documented the utilization and consumption of insects by tribes of three Northeast Indian states- Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Large-scale deforestation, conversion of apex forests to agricultural lands, hunting, climate change, unsustainable harvesting of forest resources etc. might trigger newer coping mechanisms in many species. My research interest broadly revolves around understanding which forest birds adapt well to such events and which do not. The idea is to prioritize vulnerable species and formulate a conservation action plan with the villagers according to local issues. Through an international platform and generous support provided by OICSD, I intend to contribute more to both scientific and social research in Northeast India, a region which remains largely unexplored even today.

Matric Year: 2017 – Subject: Jurisprudence – Scholarship: Gopal Subramanium Scholar

I am reading for the Doctor of Philosophy in law (DPhil) at Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. My research focuses on rape adjudication in India; I seek to highlight through my research how culturally dominant notions, underlying preconceptions and prejudices about rape (continue to) percolate through the talk of sexual assault cases in a variety of settings and ultimately shape their outcome.

I completed my MPhil in Law degree in October 2019, and my Bachelor of Civil Law degree in June 2018, with a focus on Comparative Human Rights, Comparative Equality Law, Medical Law and Ethics, and Children, Families and State. Prior to Oxford, I obtained an undergraduate degree in law from National Law University (Delhi) India.

I am interested in bringing legal reforms in the field of criminal law and in analysing the intersections of gender, class and caste as they relate to crime and violence. I am interested in exploring the nature of policing in India and learning about the lives of those who have been caught up in the criminal justice system. My interest in the study of human rights law stems from my research experiences as a researcher on the Death Penalty Research Project (India), which I believe was my first exposure to the harsh realities of the people at the receiving end of the criminal justice system. This interest has been sparked by a conversation I once had with a death row prisoner as part of a research project on Death Penalty. It was his words, “As a law student, your shoulders carry the burden of rendering justice and the hopes of millions who trust you to lead them in the right way”, that influenced me to study criminal law and human rights law in my BCL programme at Oxford.

The OICSD has given me the incredible opportunity to read for the BCL, MPhil and (now) DPhil while at Somerville College. I hope this experience will help me to hone my skills and broaden my perspective and help me contribute to criminal law reform in a meaningful way. It is inspirational to be part of Somerville which has a rich legacy of strong women such as Cornelia Sorabji, Dorothy Hodgins and so many others.

Awards and Previous Qualifications:

BA, LLB (Hons), National Law University Delhi (July 2017)

Bachelor of Civil Law, University of Oxford (July 2018)

Master of Philosophy in Law, University of Oxford (October 2019)

Awarded Archibald Jackson Prize for securing a Distinction on the BCL

Awarded Suresh Shroff Gold Medal for First Rank Holder of Batch of 2012-17, National Law University, Delhi.

Recipient of Cornelia Sorabji Scholarship by Somerville College, University of Oxford and Goa Education Trust (British Council) Scholarship to pursue Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) at University of Oxford for the year 2017-18.

Recipient of Somerville College Alumni Scholarship and scholarship by Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD) to pursue MPhil (Law) at University of Oxford for the year 2018-19.

Recipient of Gopal Subramanium Scholarship by OICSD to pursue DPhil (Law) at University of Oxford starting October 2019.

Matric Year: 2019 – Subject: DPhil Public Policy – Scholarship: The Rakesh & Ritu Kapoor Scholar in Hygiene & Health

I am interested in the application of insights from behavioural economics to policy-making. My doctoral research at the Blavatnik School of Government seeks to focus on biases in information processing and belief updating in the context of the spread of health-related misinformation in India. Ultimately, my goal is to help governments develop effective policy solutions, which are grounded in theory and supported by evidence.

Prior to starting at Blavatnik, I worked as a Research Assistant to Professor Sir Julian Le Grand at the Marshall Institute, London School of Economics. In this role, I drew upon economic and psychological theory to study and model altruistic behaviour and conducted empirical research to understand the factors underlying ethical consumption choices. My experience of working in the social development sector, at Becoming I Foundation cultivated my interest in policy research. In collaboration with Teach for India, I worked to bring reforms in education for low-income groups in New Delhi and engaged directly with the beneficiaries, which helped me see how policies affect people on the ground.

I received my undergraduate training in economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and a Master of Sciences in management and strategy from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. My master’s thesis focussed on discouraging consumption of single-use plastic bags while grocery shopping online and studied the effects of behavioural interventions on fostering a commitment to reuse carry bags. The paper is now published in the journal Behavioural Public Policy (2020).

Matric Year: 2023 Subject: MSc Modern South Asian Studies – Scholarship: Indira Gandhi-Radhakrishnan

Fahad Zuberi has a B. Arch (2010-15) from Aligarh Muslim University and an M. Arch – History, Theory and Criticism (2017-19) from CEPT University, Ahmedabad where he has also taught. Fahad works with architects and urban designers as a consultant on the socio-politics of built-environment, and as an independent researcher, writer, and editor.

Fahad’s work is located at the intersection of politics, design, and urban development and he has contributed to several publications on these topics. Fahad also practices as a composer and producer. His first feature length film as a Music Director – Kayo Kayo Colour (Which Colour?) – premiered at IFF, Rotterdam 2023, and he has produced Mutant: The Democracy Podcast.

Matric Year: 2023 – Subject: BCL – Scholarship: Cornelia Sorabji Scholarship 

As a Cornelia Sorabji Scholar in the Faculty of Law, Isha aims to study and interrogate the regime governing climate change, development and human rights, with a focus on the global south. 

Isha graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) degree from Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), India where she received several awards and scholarships for her academic achievements. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on issues associated with aspects of ecology, economy, and politics of sustainable development. In future, Isha aspires to pursue a career in public policy and academia, focusing on the field of environment and constitutional law, development studies, and human rights.

She has been selected as a Don Lavoie Fellow for the 2023-24 academic year by the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University, where she will study key ideas in political economy. In Fall 2022, she assisted Professor (Dr.) Tony George as a Teaching Assistant for the Sustainable Ocean’s Law and Policy course. She has also worked as a judicial intern at the Hawaii State Supreme Court and at the Supreme Court of India in the office of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. Isha volunteered at the Legal Aid Clinic and at IDIA, an organization that works towards making legal education accessible to marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Matric Year: 2018 – Subject: DPhil Economics – Scholarship: Indira Gandhi Scholar

My research interests are in financial inclusion and sustainable agricultural development. I seek to understand the constraints that hinder the adoption and effective usage of savings and loans amongst smallholder farmers in developing economies.

My academic training is shaped by a Masters in Economics, Delhi School of Economics and a Masters in Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Keen to work on the intersectionality of sustainable development and finance, I focus on applied econometrics and development economics.

My tenure at Goldman Sachs cultivated my interest in financial markets, and also motivated me to apply my skills to the developing country context where issues of credit constraints, barriers to savings and missing insurance markets are very pertinent.

My experiences led me to appreciate that development policies do not operate in a vacuum but are fundamentally dependent on the social and institutional contexts in which they are devised. I received the Global Development Fellowship from USAID to undertake research on the “Enterprise Development Program” run by SaveAct in South Africa. I have experience as a researcher in the Economics department at U.C. Berkeley, working on randomized control trials in Kenyan maize markets. As a Project Manager at the Center for Effective Global Action, I worked with USAID in Uganda to design sustainable policies for solar waste management.

Academic Publications

Enterprise Development: A Deeper Understanding – Spring edition, 2018 of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal

Winner of the PBPPJ Prize for Outstanding Editorial Collaboration

Matric Year: 2023 – Subject: BCL – Scholarship: Cornelia Sorabji Scholarship 

As a Cornelia Sorabji Scholar in the Faculty of Law, Isha aims to study and interrogate the regime governing climate change, development and human rights, with a focus on the global south. 

Isha graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) degree from Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), India where she received several awards and scholarships for her academic achievements. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on issues associated with aspects of ecology, economy, and politics of sustainable development. In future, Isha aspires to pursue a career in public policy and academia, focusing on the field of environment and constitutional law, development studies, and human rights.

She has been selected as a Don Lavoie Fellow for the 2023-24 academic year by the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University, where she will study key ideas in political economy. In Fall 2022, she assisted Professor (Dr.) Tony George as a Teaching Assistant for the Sustainable Ocean’s Law and Policy course. She has also worked as a judicial intern at the Hawaii State Supreme Court and at the Supreme Court of India in the office of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. Isha volunteered at the Legal Aid Clinic and at IDIA, an organization that works towards making legal education accessible to marginalized and underrepresented communities.