Category : India

Top Reasons to Visit the Mittal Institute’s India Office During Your Travels

May 21, 2026 | Blog, Community, In Region, India, News

As the summer approaches, the Mittal Institute extends a warm invitation to Harvard’s community to visit the New Delhi Office. Whether using the office space to conduct research, participating in scholarly discussions, or immersing oneself in the vibrant academic milieu of the region, the office offers a unique opportunity to engage with South Asia’s rich cultural heritage and scholarly legacy. The office has planned several events that will connect Harvard with India’s intellectual scene. Come and be a part of it!

From Harvard to Goa: Graduating Harvard Seniors Reflect on Teaching, Leadership, and Learning Through PSIL

May 15, 2026 | Announcements, India, News, Students

As Harvard seniors prepare to graduate this May, three students are reflecting on an experience that took them far beyond the classroom. Liz Zheng, an applied mathematics concentrator; Kat Ravichandran, who is pursuing a double concentration in computer science and philosophy; and Brooke Decho, who is studying engineering sciences, participated in this year’s Program for Scientifically-Inspired Leadership (PSIL) in Goa, India — an immersive educational initiative supported in part by the Mittal Institute.

Alumni Spotlight: Dr. Lakshmi Priya on Adaptive Leadership, Public Service, and Building Resilient Systems

May 14, 2026 | Announcements, Fellows, India, News

In this edition of our Alumni Spotlight we spoke with Dr. Lakshmi Priya, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). She hails from the state of Kerala, India, and is a medical doctor by training.

More Than a Meal: Sarthak Agarwal ’27 on School Meals, Equity, and Access in India

May 5, 2026 | Announcements, India, News, Students

Sarthak Agarwal ’28, a doctoral candidate in Population Health Sciences at Harvard University, received a Mittal Institute grant to study India’s school feeding program, the largest of its kind in the world. While its benefits are widely recognized, understanding the operational, financial, and governance systems that sustain it is critical to its continued success. His research, which he details in the below Q&A, examines these enablers and challenges to identify practical lessons for policymakers.

When Heat Doesn’t End: Robert Meade on New Insights from the Front Lines

Apr 8, 2026 | Climate, India, News, South Asia in the News

Robert Meade, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, is studying how prolonged heat exposure affects human health by bridging controlled lab experiments with real-world conditions. His work moves beyond short-term heat stress to examine cumulative impacts on the body. Through the Mittal Institute’s Community HATS project in India, Meade collaborates with local partners to track how extreme heat affects informal women workers’ health, sleep, and livelihoods. The research reflects a broader shift toward community-led, real-world approaches to understanding and addressing the growing health risks of climate-driven heat.

PSIL in Goa: From Program to Practice

Apr 5, 2026 | India, News, Students

Every January, Dominic Mao, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Andrea Wright, Assistant Dean of Harvard College, train and accompany a group of Harvard undergraduates to India in what’s known as the Program for Scientifically-Inspired Leadership (PSIL). There, they collaborate with local college students to deliver a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences curriculum to high school students. This immersive camp provides intense, hands-on learning experiences, exposing high school participants to diverse academic disciplines, extracurricular activities, and meaningful cultural exchanges. By fostering interactions across these three groups, the program creates a vibrant environment for intellectual growth and cross-cultural understanding.

Reimagining Healthcare in India: Insights from the Jaipur Literature Festival

Mar 18, 2026 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, News

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: How a Literature Festival Became a Force in Cultural Diplomacy

Mar 18, 2026 | Announcements, Faculty, In Region, India, News

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.

Mapping Risk, Building Resilience: Aditya Kumar Anand on Climate Vulnerability in the Himalayas

Mar 10, 2026 | Announcements, Fellows, India, News

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

Climate, Debt, and Reproductive Health in India’s Sugarcane Belt

Mar 4, 2026 | Announcements, Climate, Faculty, In Region, India, News

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.

At the Edge of Empire: India Fellow Robert Lunkhopao Haokip on Stories that Shape History

Feb 16, 2026 | Announcements, Fellows, India, News

Robert Lunkhopao Haokip is a postdoctoral scholar whose work explores how global events such as the Second World War was experienced at the empire’s margin.

While the Taps Still Run: Rethinking Water Crisis Through Narrative and Practice

Feb 9, 2026 | Fellows, India, News

The Mittal Institute hosted a seminar titled “Rethinking Water Crisis, Narrative Designs, and Strategies of Resilience,” marking the end-of-fellowship seminar of Dr. Nobonita Rakshit, India Fellow at the Mittal Institute. The session was chaired by her mentor, Professor Doris Sommer, Ira and Jewel Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.