People Page

Jeebanlata Salam did her Ph.D from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.   Prior to joining NIAS, Dr. Salam taught Sociology at the University of Delhi.   

Her main research interest includes Sociology of Education, Social Exclusion, Education Policies, Vocational & Skill Education, Studies in Ethnicity, Conflict, Violence and Human Rights Issues etc

Shivali Tukdeo is an Associate Professor in the education programme. Her scholarly engagements are rooted in diverse disciplinary interactions including education policy, critical social theory and sociology of education among others. Her research interests include sociology of education, global studies in education and gender studies. 

Over the last few years, she has focused her research on the new policy regimes in education in India and their connections with international, supra-national policy orientations. Her current work includes education among the disadvantaged communities, ethnography of education and sociology of education policy.

Sayan is a PhD scholar interested in the aspects of human-wildlife relations; interdisciplinary dimensions of wildlife conservation in India; gender, environment and development; political ecologies of rural livelihood and environmental conservation, and environment and development in northeast India. For PhD, Sayan is examining behavioural and political ecologies of human-wild elephant interactions in the state of Assam, India with a critical focus on gendered interactions, impacts, adaptations and knowledge formations.

Other than PhD work, Sayan had looked into nature of community participation in wildlife conservation projects in the states of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, India (2017-18); traditional hunting practices, bushmeat consumption patterns and cross-border wildlife trade in Nagaland, India (2016); impacts on local community due to degradation of a critical urban wetland in Kolkata, India (2019-20).

In 2021, Sayan has published two co-authored peer reviewed journal articles and one book chapter in an edited volume. The journal articles are titled : (1) On the inadequacy of environment impact assessments for projects in Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park of Goa: A peer review (Journal of Threatened Taxa), (2). ‘Everyday- Conservation’: A study of actors and processes in an elephant conservation project in Assam, India (Human Dimensions of Wildlife). The book chapter is titled as: Understanding borderlands through elephant corridors in the Yunan-Bengal-Burma Landscape (Routledge India)

Sayan has been awarded Junior Research Fellowship by University Grants Commission. For PhD fieldwork, Sayan has received grants from The Rufford Foundation, Inlaks Foundation and Idea Wild Foundation.

Prior to joining PhD, Sayan Completed B.E in Metallurgical and Material Engineering from Jadavpur University (Kolkata) and worked as Manager at Tata Steel Limited. With a shift in career, Sayan completed M.A in Ecology, Environment and Sustainable Development from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati.

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. 

A.V. Krishnan is a mechanical engineer from Bangalore University and joined BHEL, Tiruchi as an Engineer Trainee in January 1976. He worked in Product Development (Boilers), Field Engineering Services and R&D for six years after which he moved to Quality Assurance and Business Excellence group after undergoing ‘One year training in Statistical Quality Control & Operations Research’ at Indian Statistical Institute, Chennai. He then worked for 21 years in various disciplines of Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Laboratories. Subsequently, he headed the “Welding Research Institute” at BHEL, Tiruchi. After serving as a General Manager in the BHEL Corporate Office and as the CEO of the BHEL Boiler Auxiliaries Plant at Ranipet, he was promoted as Executive Director in 2008. In June 2009, he was appointed as Executive Director of BHEL’s flagship manufacturing complex at Tiruchi where he served till his superannuation from BHEL in July 2015. In the EEC Program, Prof Krishna works on clean coal technologies, the role and economic viability of nuclear power in India, power flow analysis, and optimal electricity supply options for India.

Research Interests: Clean coal technologies, economic viability of nuclear power in India, optimal power supply options for India, power flow analysis.