Each semester, the Mittal Institute offers grants to Harvard students to further their research, language study, or internship opportunities. For winter 2025-26, 20 students received funding to pursue projects. Their work spans a wide range of topics, from examining nutrition in school meals in India, to exploring Tamil Buddhism in Sri Lanka, to a clerkship at the Supreme Court of India.
Below is an overview of the recipients — stay tuned for updates as they carry out their work.
Winter 2025-26 Grant Winners
Research Grants
Sarthak Agarwal
PhD candidate in Population Health Sciences, Harvard GSAS, 2028
Nourishing a Nation: A Critical Evaluation of India’s Mid-Day Meal Program
Muhammad Adil Ahsan
PhD candidate in Public Policy, Harvard GSAS, 2027
Understanding Choice and Increasing Information in the Market for Religious Content
Raghunath Akarsh
PhD candidate in History of At & Architecture, Harvard GSAS, 2026
In Search of Tamil Buddhism in Sri Lanka (From early period to 13th century CE)
Motoko Akiyama
PhD candidate in Economics, Harvard GSAS, 2028
Partnering for Resilience: Explaining the India-Japan Cooperation on Economic Security
Kazal Barua
PhD candidate, Harvard Divinity School, 2027
A Buddhist Monk as a Banker: Socially Engaged Buddhism of Shasana Rakkhit Bhikkhu
Mahia Bashir
PhD candidate in History, Harvard GSAS, 2028
Incarceration and Empire: An Indian Ocean Perspective
Anwesha Bhattacharya
PhD candidate in Public Policy, Harvard GSAS, 2027
Care on Campus: Understanding and Responding to Student Wellbeing in India
Ananya Ganesh
History concentrator, Harvard College, 2026
Researching the history of public transit infrastructure in post-independence Bengaluru
Nigel Gray
PhD candidate in Education, Harvard GSAS, 2029
Longitudinal Insights of Parental Expectations & Adolescent Mental Health in a Globalized Sri Lanka
Deexa Kachhia
The Study of Religion concentrator, Harvard College, 2027
Everyday Eating as Ethics: Food Choices in Hindu Narratives
Manan Kapoor
PhD candidate in English, Harvard GSAS, 2028
The Sound of Separation: The Ghazal as a Performance Tradition in Delhi
Kavi Kapoor
Music concentrator, Harvard College, 2027
Tone, Time and Tradition: A Comparative Analysis of Tonal Expression and Mathematical Structure in C
Sana Naeem
PhD candidate in Anthropology, Harvard GSAS, 2026
Continuing Fieldwork on Gendered Citizenship in Peshawar’s family courts
Jennifer Nilsen
PhD candidate in Education, Harvard GSAS, 2029
Youth, Climate, and Hope in South Asia: Exploring Adolescent Environmental Narratives in Lahore
Arundhati Prasad
PhD candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2026
Zero-Waste Carnic
Shweta Ranpura
PhD candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2027
Framing the Profession: The Making of Divergent Architectural Practices in India
Ramin Raza
PhD candidate, Harvard Divinity School, 2026
“River Roads” – A short documentary on the riverine and faith-based communities of the Indus
Language Study
Rohan Chopra
PhD candidate in History, Harvard GSAS, 2031
Minorities against the Nation: Global Radicalism in the Indo-Palestinian Print Sphere (1885-1918)
Internship Grants
Neil Arora
JD candidate at Harvard Law School, 2027
Internship at Supreme Court of India Winter Term Clerkship (India)
Dua Zahra
PhD candidate, Harvard Divinity School, 2027
Reimagining the spatial politics of inter-faith Harmony in Lahore: An Internship with Lahore Ka Ravi