Anitha Kurup is Professor and Head of the Education Programme and the Head of the NIAS Education for the Gifted and Talented (NIAS-EGT) at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Bengaluru, India. She was the Academic Head and Chair of the PhD Program, NIAS (2018-2020). She was the Dean, School of Social Sciences, ( 2014-2018).
She is currently leading the National Gifted and Talented Education Program in India anchored at NIAS. The programme was initiated by the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India in 2011. She and her team have developed Indian-based identification protocols and mentoring mechanisms for gifted children in India in the age group 0-18 years for different populations. They have developed a multi-stage multi-level model of mentoring for gifted children in India that are age and context-specific.
Prof Kurup was part of the National Core Committee that prepared the four-year integrated pre-service teacher training course submitted to the National Council of Teacher education. Her research and policy and advocacy work resulted in the inclusion of Education for the gifted and talented in the National Education Policy 2020.
Her research interests span the broad disciplines of education and gender. Her key publications “Trained Scientific Women Power: How much are we Losing and Why?” and “Trends Report: Creation and Analysis of Database of PhDs in India (1998-2007)” have been widely appreciated. These reports have been used to advocate for a paradigm shift in relation to policies on women in STEM as well as the creation of AISHE database in India. Prof Kurup’s research expertise is sociology of education, gender and science, institutional and policy studies, and pedagogic practices. In the area of gender her expertise covers a wide spectrum, from examining conceptual and methodological strands of gender relations to women in leadership roles, and women and work. Her research career spanning over three decades is marked by her passion and motivation to undertake research in critical areas, hitherto unexplored within the Indian subcontinent. The hallmark of her research career has been the innovation methodologies adopted for large-scale inter-institutional research studies questioning existing theoretical frameworks to find solutions to real world problems. Thus, she has made critical contributions to the field of education in India. She has several publications to her credit.
Prof Kurup has provided consultancies to large international organisations like the World Bank, NOVIB, and has been an educational consultant to the government of India and the Government of Karnataka over the last two decades. She is among the few often noted expert in the field of education and gender at the national level. She is a Subject Expert in Education for the Karnataka Evaluation Authority, Government of Karnataka(2019- till date). She served as an Expert and Member RFD in school and continuing education; and higher education, Government of Karnataka for the period 2011- 2016.
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