Faculty

Prof D. Suba Chandran is the Dean of the School of Conflict and Security Studies at NIAS. Within the School, he heads two Programmes -  Conflict Resolution & Peace Research; and Science, Technology and International Relations.

Pakistan Reader: Pakistan is his primary area of research interest; currently, he is working on a manuscript looking at 75 years of Pakistan. He teaches a course on contemporary Pakistan. He has been a regular visitor to Pakistan, and has been part of numerous track-II dialogues with Pakistan; he has also worked and published with scholars from Pakistan. 

Peace and Conflict Research: Besides Pakistan, he works on issues relating to peace and conflict; he is currently researching on two primary areas – “Conflict Peripheries” trying to find why most of the conflict regions are situated in geographic corners, and on “Peace Gap” trying to find why peace does not prevail, despite the end of violence and conflict. He leads the International Peace Research Initiative (IPRI) at NIAS. He is also the regional representative of the Global Partnership to Prevent Armed Conflict (GPPAC). He teaches an online course on peace research.

Global Politics and Area Studies: He coordinates the NIAS Global Politics initiative, which looks at the contemporary world order, and four area studies – Pakistan, Europe, Africa and Maritime. In the long run, the area studies are expected to branch out into independent disciplines. He also teaches an online course on “Contemporary World Affairs.” 

He works with a young, colourful and an extremely dedicated team who leads the research on area studies relating to Pakistan, Africa, Europe, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and issues relating to Peace & Conflict, Arctic, Space, and the Himalayas. His team coordiantes “Global Politics Young Voices (GPYV)” an exclusive network of young scholars, and take the lead in publishing the following at NIAS: Pakistan Reader Evening Brief (Daily), Pakistan Weekly, Europe Daily Brief, Europe Monitor (Monthly), Africa Weekly,  Conflict Weekly, and The World This Week. Together, they coordinate the “Young-IPRI” network, aimed at bringing young scholars working on issues relating to peace and conflict on a common platform.

IR Networks: He coordinates three academic networks – the International Studies Network Bangalore (ISBN), International Peace Research Initiative (IPRI), and Maritime Studies. Academic institutions from Goa, Bangalore, Chennai and Pondicherry are a part of the above networks.

Science Diplomacy: He also leads the “Science Diplomacy” initiative within the institute, aimed at bringing S&T and International Relations together. He coordinates the BRICS-Young Scientists’ Forum.

He is an Associate at the Pakistan Study Research Unit (PSRU), University of Durham, UK.  Earlier, he was a Visiting Fellow at the following places: the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK; ACDIS, University of Urbana-Champaign; and the University of Jammu, J&K. 

Joined NIAS on 2nd July 2004. Most significant research contribution: Pioneered the study on the societal implications of nanotechnology, and development of an atlas of Indian science. After an outstanding academic record in Loyola College, Chennai and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Prof. Ranganathan obtained his PhD from Cambridge University, UK in 1965. His academic career as an educator and researcher in metallurgy for the past four decades has been outstanding. His seminal research contributions have advanced our understanding of the structure of metals through 300 publications including books on Wootz steel and new geometries. He is currently Honorary and INAE Distinguished Professor at the Indian Institute of Science and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. His contributions have been recognised by fellowships to five academies and numerous awards. His interests at NIAS include materials heritage, an atlas of India in Science and Societal Impact of Nanotechnology

Prof. Dinesh Kumar Srivastava (born 1952) is presently Indian National Science Academy Senior Scientist and Honorary Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. He is now working on energy, environment, climate change, international collaborations, and science outreach along with a continuation of his research on quark-gluon plasma.

He obtained his graduation from Allahabad University in 1970 and joined the Training School of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai. He started working at the Variable Energy Project of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1971 and retired as Director and Distinguished Scientist at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Center, Kolkata in 2016. Later, he continued there as Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) Raja Ramanna Fellow until 2019. He worked at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru as a Homi Bhabha Chair Professor, during 2019-2023.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, and the Indian National Science Academy. He holds an Honorary Professorship at Amity University since 2019 and was an Emeritus Professor of Homi Bhabha National Institute.

He was awarded the Indian Nuclear Society’s award for “Outstanding Contribution to Teaching of Nuclear Sciences''. Prof. Srivastava received the Outstanding Referee Award by the American Physical Society (APS) in 2009 and was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award by Chitkara University in 2012. He was also awarded the Homi Bhabha Lecturer Award by the Indian Physics Association and Institute of Physics UK in 2016, and the G. N. Ramchandran Award in Physical Sciences, from SASTRA University in 2024. He has delivered the Sir C. V. Raman Memorial Award Lecture at Calcutta University and the Prof Abdus Salam Memorial Award Lecture at Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi.   

He is serving as an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports, and Physics (MDPI) Journals. He served as a Member of the Editorial Board of Physical Review C, from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2012, and Pramana for about 10 years. He is President of the Indian Physical Society since 2014.

Dr Srivastava has worked at several prestigious labs and universities abroad, including KfK (now KIT) Karlsruhe, GSI Darmstadt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton New York, University of Minnesota, Duke University, McGill University, University of Cape Town, Bielefeld University, and the University of Frankfurt, etc.

His research interests include Electromagnetic probes of quark-gluon plasma (QGP), relativistic hydrodynamics, production, and propagation of charm quarks in QGP, transverse flow, etc. Earlier, he made important contributions in the theoretical understanding of elastic, inelastic, and break-up reactions of light nuclei. Prof. Srivastava has published more than one hundred and seventy papers and delivered more than 400 talks, seminars, and colloquia. He is the author of two collections of short stories and more recently three books of children’s literature in science. 

His book on “Climate Change and Energy Options for a Sustainable Future” written with V. S. Ramamurthy was published by World Scientific Publishing Company (WSPC) in early 2021. Another one on “Art and Science of Managing Public Risks”, by V. S. Ramamurthy, Dinesh Kumar Srivastava, and Shailesh Nayak was also published by WSPC in early 2022. A new book exploring the importance of international collaborations, “Science Beyond Borders: International Collaborations in Basic Sciences”, written with V. S. Ramamurthy. Shailesh Nayak, and D. Suba Chandran is under publication by WSPC.

Prof Roy is Visiting Professor at NIAS and has been awarded the prestigious Senior Homi Bhabha Fellow by Homi Bhabha Fellowships Council, Mumbai, for a period of two year from June 1, 2018.

Since Nov 2014 he worked as Raman Pai Chair Visiting Professor at NIAS till May 2018. Prof. Roy served as Professor , Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata during 1993-2014.He joined as faculty in the same institute in 1980. He did his Postdoctoral
research with Prof.Jean Pierre Vigier, Institute Henri Poincare , Paris during 1986-87 on foundations of quantum theory.

His main field of interests include Foundations of quantum theory, theoretical astrophysics and cosmology, Brain function modelling
and higher order cognitive activities.

Chetan Choithani is an Associate Professor in the Inequality and Human Development Programme of the School of Social Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). Prior to NIAS, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Urban Studies Institute of Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

Chetan obtained his PhD in Development Geography from the University of Sydney in 2016 as a recipient of the Australian Government’s competitive Prime Minister Postgraduate Award. Before his PhD, he completed a Master of Population Studies from the International Institute of Population Sciences, and a Master of Arts in Globalisation and Labour from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

The broad disciplinary domain of Chetan’s work is development studies. Within this area, his research and teaching interests include migration and urbanisation, food and nutrition, livelihoods, gender, and social policy and how they relate to development, particularly in the Indian context. He has published his work on these issues. He is the author of the book Migration, Food Security and Development: Insights from Rural India, published by Cambridge University Press. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in leading journals including World Development, Global Food Security, Gender, Place and Culture, Economic Geography, Urban Studies, Geographical Research, Journal of Peasant Studies, and Economic and Political Weekly. Chetan has done extensive fieldwork in remote parts of India, and his research uses primary, field-based insights to engage with and inform larger issues of development.

Chetan has received competitive funding for his research. He is currently working on three funded research projects. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) on a research project, funded by Foundation for Ecological Security, that examines how India’s rural-urban transition that involves transformations of former rural geographies into urban centers affects common natural resources in the country. Second, he is the Co-PI on a research study that looks at the relationship between agrarian livelihoods, climate change and labour migration in India, supported by Columbia University President’s Global Innovation Fund. Third, he is also working with a colleague at the University of Amsterdam on understanding whether and how climate change and rising humid heat affects farm labour in India. He has also received competitive Australia Alumni Grant Scheme award by Australian Consulate in Chennai for a research study that examined the interlinkages between migration, urbanization and food security in India. Previously, he was involved in two major research projects. The first of these included Australian Research Council funded project on food security in India with colleagues from Australian and Indian academic institutions. The second project, funded by Dutch National Science Foundation, looked at urbanisation and development linkages at the lower echelons of India’s urban hierarchy, at rural-urban transition zones, and lives and livelihoods at these transition places with colleagues from University of Amsterdam and Georgia State University.

Dr. Sebastian is a social anthropologist by training, and she holds a keen interest in carrying out interdisciplinary research. Her broader areas of research interest include kinship and gender, sexuality studies, urban sociology, decolonial theories, and city, health, and social policy. 

Dr. Sebastian's ethnographic interests are in South and Southeast Asia. Her study of matrilineal kinship practices in Malabar (Southwest India) and West Sumatra (Indonesia) offers a seminal contribution to the field of kinship, gender, and religion. This ethnography on matriliny is also informed by an analysis of the transformation of kinship practices and gender relations through socio-religious and legal reforms in colonial and post-colonial contexts. An analysis of various archival resources such as colonial commercial diaries, legislations, and litigations related to property disputes is undertaken to enrich her ethnography. 

Dr. Sebastian is also engaged in social policy-oriented research, drawing from a range of research methods such as quantitative and mixed-methods research. She is the recipient of the ICMR- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Young Investigator Award 2021 for a research project titled, 'Influence of minority and COVID-19 stressors on HIV risk and access to services among MSM and Transgender Women: A longitudinal observational cohort (S3-Plus) study in Chennai’.

Dr. Sebastian secured her doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Hyderabad in 2019 and it was funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi (Junior Research Fellowship). She was a Postdoctoral Fellow in a DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Senior Research Fellowship research project with The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai. Dr. Sebastian's collaborations with community-based organizations in India have enabled varied policy-oriented research and community-based interactions with national and international agencies (such as the EdelGive Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, American World Services, American Jewish World Service, and Centre for World Solidarity) in the field of gender, health, and economic empowerment through skill training for women in urban slums. 

Courses teaching: 
Gender and society- Contemporary perspectives (August-December 2021)
Urban sociology (January-April 2022)

Awards: 
Young Investigator Award for research project by ICMR-International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in August 2021
UGC Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in June 2011

Educational background:
Postdoctoral Research- The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai, India
Ph.D.- University of Hyderabad, India
MPhil- University of Hyderabad, India
MA- University of Hyderabad, India

I am an associate professor in the Inequality and Human Development Programme of the School of Social Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies. I obtained my PhD in Economics from the University of Göttingen, Germany. Before this, I studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, the University of Tsukuba, Japan and the University of Calcutta, West Bengal. 

I am an experimental economist by training with a growing interest in the issues of inequality. Built on the analytical rigour of experiments and Econometrics, my research at NIAS has been on the experiences and instrumentality of inequality. My recent research focuses on the aspects of poverty and deprivation, inequalities generated from the electoral system in India and the inequalities overlooked in data generation and representation. 

Teaching:
Quantitative Research Methodologies
Inequality and Human Development