Faculty

I am a social scientist, with my training throughout in economics but my interests and writing spanning well outside of the discipline, into economic-sociology, technological change, and the political economy of development. Prior to NIAS, I was with the School of Development at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, for six years. My doctoral work was at the United Nations University / MERIT (The Netherlands), before which I have studied at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS, Trivandrum), Madras School of Economics (Chennai) and St. Joseph's College (Bangalore). As principal violinist of the Bangalore School of Music Chamber Orchestra, I am also involved in the western classical music scene in Bangalore. 

My interests lie in technological studies. My focus has been around the economic-sociology of technological outcomes, with conceptual foundations in social constructivist and feminist-historical perspectives on technology. Hence, concerns on social capital and spatiality, inequality, urban transition, social mobility, gender, and caste, have undergrid all my research thus far. Methodologically, I have experimented on and employed various methods such as network analysis, archival work, oral histories, the social construction of technology, focus group discussions, interviews, surveys, and quantitative methods. As a result, the broader political-economy dynamics have always framed the analytical and conceptual setting in every one of my research studies.  

I have published in various international journals on technology and society. My latest book (co-authored with Dr Neethi P.) on neoliberal urban transition and digital experiences among street-based sex workers in Bangalore is 'Urban Undesirables: City Transition and Street-Based Sex Work in Bangalore,' and has been released under Cambridge University Press. My other books include   ‘The Social Context of Technological Experiences '  (Routledge, 2020) and 'Routledge titled Industrial Innovation, Networks, and Economic Development' (Routledge, 2015)

Dr. N. Ramani worked at the ISRO Satellite Centre in the areas of software development for spacecraft mission operations and in the establishment and management of the central computing facility. Led the activities relating to the design, development, testing and implementation of software for real time health monitoring and control of satellites. Pioneered the transition from main frame world of Fortran and assembler codes to distributed computing based on off-the-shelf systems with the best of breed Engineering Application Software packages. Worked on computer related issues that have over all impact on the organization; such as information security, software reliability, man power attrition, open source, Y2K and HPC. With Prof R Narasimha, carried out the Indian Airlines AVRO HS748 fleet performance simulation for airworthiness assessment for the National Committee headed by Prof S Dhawan. Worked on several Government committees that enabled the computerization plans of ADA, CBDT, EPFO, IMD/MES and SBI.

Awards: Distinguished Aero-Alumnus of the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Indian Institute of Science (1992) and Astronautical Society of India AWARD (1999). He has recently completed and validated a 3-D missile trajectory programme, which can provide the path of the missile from any launch location to any target.