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. We are delighted to announce this year’s grant recipients.
This February, design and real estate students embarked on an academic journey to Mumbai as part of a joint Development Project and Option Travel Studio at the GSD. Led by Professors Rahul Mehrotra, David Hamilton, and Jerold S. Kayden, the field trip allowed students to translate many of the questions that naturally emerged from their research to the site, particularly those regarding the Elphinstone Estate, an old industrial site serving as the studio’s focal point.
The Mittal Institute recently welcomed multidisciplinary artist Seema Kohli for a special event exploring the relationship between art, poetry, and the feminine divine in her practice. In conversation with Diana L. Eck, Kohli offered reflections on the deeply interconnected nature of her creative work, where visual art and poetry emerge in tandem.
A panel discussion at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival discussed a Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System report on reimagining health care in India, bringing together experts in global health, civil society, business, and medicine including Vikram Patel, Mittal Institute Steering Committee Member, Lancet Commission Co-Chair, and The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health, Harvard Medical School; Tarun Khanna, former Mittal Institute Faculty Director and the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School; Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet; and Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India; with introductions by Hitesh Hathi, Executive Director of the Mittal Institute.
Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature in the Department of English at Harvard University, explores the global impact of the Jaipur Literature Festival, often described as the “greatest literary show on Earth,” and its evolving role as a platform for cultural exchange and diplomacy.
Fowzia Karimi, a writer and illustrator from Afghanistan, joined Harvard University this academic year as a Radcliffe Fellow. Fowzia’s work weaves fable, dream, memory, biology, and war while exploiting the interplay between text and image on the page. At Radcliffe she is working on The Age of Flowers, a collection of Afghan fairy tales illuminated with her watercolor paintings. We spoke to Fowzia to learn more about her work at Harvard.
Last month the Mittal Institute hosted the event, Between Comfort and Heat Stress: The Hidden Burden of Everyday Heat, bringing scholars together from building science, urban design, and environmental health to discuss one of climate change’s most pressing yet often overlooked challenges: extreme heat. Moderated by architect and urbanist Rahul Mehrotra, Professor of Urban Design and Planning and the John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, the event featured a presentation by building science expert Rajan Rawal, Professor at CEPT University and Senior Advisor at the Center for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy (CARBSE), on how cities, buildings, and policies must evolve to address rising temperatures. Prof. Rawal was joined in conversation by Gary Adamkiewicz, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The Mittal Institute’s newly-launched South Asian Arts Fellowship (SAAF) supports artists, curators, and scholars in North America whose work engages critically with the visual and material cultures of South Asia. This four-week residency in Cambridge offers fellows dedicated time to advance their research and creative practice while drawing on Harvard’s exceptional academic, curatorial, and archival resources, including the Harvard Art Museums and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. Selected by Harvard faculty and curators, fellows also present their work publicly and engage with the University’s vibrant intellectual community. Our 2026 South Asian Arts Fellow is Swapnaa Tamhane, an artist, curator, and writer. Read on to learn more about Swapnaa, including her practice and her hope for her time at Harvard University.
Aditya K. Anand is a postdoctoral scholar whose work examines how climate change is reshaping multi-hazard risks and livelihood vulnerability in the Bhilangana River Basin
The South Asian Studies Colloquium at Harvard brings together scholars, students, and enthusiasts to share research and ideas across disciplines. With presentations by graduate students, faculty, and visiting fellows, plus a guest lecture series, each session encourages lively dialogue and feedback. Open to the entire Harvard community, the colloquium fosters connections, sparks cross-disciplinary conversations, and explores the rich histories and cultures of South Asia. We spoke with Colloquium organizers Seton Uhlhorn, a Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate and Ph.D candidate specializing in classical Urdu literature, and Afeef Ahmed, a Ph.D candidate who studies Early Modern South India and the Indian Ocean, to learn more about what inspired the series.
The Mittal Institute India office hosted the Rethinking Nutrition and Food Systems for Planetary Health in South Asia webinar, moderated by S.V. Subramanian, Professor of Population Health and Geography, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The speakers included Walter Willett (Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition), Shilpa Bhupathiraju (Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology), and Purnima Menon (Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy; Acting Senior Director, Transformation Strategy).
Prof. Eliana La Ferrara, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School and Aditi Bhowmick, Center for International Development Ph.D Affiliate, Concentrations in Development Economics & Labor Economics are inaugural recipients of the Mittal Institute’s Faculty Climate Grant program. Their project examines how climate change, debt, and gender norms combine to harm female sugarcane cutters in drought-prone Maharashtra, India.