2025-2026 Award Winners
Each year, the Mittal Institute supports faculty-led research projects that bring together scholars from diverse disciplines and regions, all focused on themes relevant to South Asia. Priority is given to interdisciplinary work and initiatives that foster collaboration between Harvard scholars and academic partners in South Asia. We are delighted to announce this year’s grant recipients and highlight their research initiatives below.
Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants (PM2.5) Measured by Low-Cost Monitors in Selected Villages of Rural South India
Principal Investigator: Gary Adamkiewicz, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
A Multicenter Prospective Study of Hip Fracture Management and Outcomes in Bangalore, India
Principal Investigator: Kiran J. Agarwal-Harding, Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School
Project Ummeed: Harvard-India Initiative for Inclusive Medical Mentorship in India
Principal Investigator: Shabbir Ahmed Ansari, Instructor in Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School
Dual Sites of Citizen Coordination in Urban India
Principal Investigator: Feyaad Allie, Assistant Professor of Government, Department of Government
Evaluating Crop Insurance as Climate Policy
Principal Investigator: Emily Breza, Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics, Department of Economics
Enterprises in India: Formal, Informal & Women’s Enterprises
Principal Investigator: Martha Chen, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Telling Forest Stories in Color: The Indic Art of the Book and the Mumbai Āraṇyakaparvan
Principal Investigator: Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art and Professor of South Asian Studies, Department of History of Art + Architecture
Understanding and Planning for Climate Displacement in Pakistan
Principal Investigator: Mashail Malik, Assistant Professor of Government, Department of Government
Trajectories of Development: Interconnected Spatial Typologies in India
Principal Investigator: Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Wells of Memory: Traditional Water Management Practices and Contemporary Urbanization in Rajasthan
Principal Investigator: Pablo Pérez-Ramos, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Enhancing Public Sector Performance in Bhutan Through Research and Training
Principal Investigator: Anthony Saich, Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Scalability of Pre-Texts in India
Principal Investigator: Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams, Jr., Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish) and in African and African American Studies, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures
Granular estimates of the health impacts of environmental risks in India
Principal Investigators: S.V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Arpit Shah, Mittal Institute Raghunathan Fellow 2024-25 and Assistant Professor in the Public Policy Area at IIM Bangalore
Digitizing Afghanistan’s Buddhist Heritage
Principal Investigator: Eugene Y. Wang, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Department of History of Art + Architecture
Time Poverty Interventions to Reduce Newborn Mortality in India: A Project with Ansh
Principal Investigators: Ashley Whillans, Volpert Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School