
Prof Mahalingam has served as a full-time regulator, having been a Member of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board for five years from its inception in 2007. She was also energy member of National Security Advisory Board that advises the Prime Minister through the National Security Advisor on issues related to India's national security. She has also been Visiting Fellow at international universities, Senior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi and guest faculty at LBSNAA, Foreign Services Institute, National Defence College etc. Prof Sudha Mahalingam has been awarded Doctorate by the University of Technology, Sydney in March 2020 on the thesis topic A Review of Independent Regulation in India’s Downstream Hydrocarbon Sector.