Category : In Region

Fueling Innovation: Seed for Change Grant Recipient e-Rehri’s Journey of Growth and Impact

Dec 3, 2024 | India, News, Students

Looking back at the journey of the Seed for Change competition 2022 winner, e-Rehri, exemplifies how bold ideas can create lasting impact. Born from a vision to support informal vendors in Chandigarh, this initiative has grown into a transformative solution for mobility, sustainability, and livelihoods. From its first prototype addressing lockdown challenges to the deployment of an electrified fleet, e-Rehri has become a testament to innovation driven by community needs.

Applications Now Open: Visiting Artist Fellowship

Nov 27, 2024 | Announcements, In Region, News

The Mittal Institute’s Visiting Artist Fellowship is a unique opportunity for mid-career visual artists from around South Asia to spend eight weeks on the Harvard campus. The program differs from a typical artist residency program in that it is research-centered, providing artists with the vast resources of Harvard’s intellectual community to enhance their artistic practice. Applications are open until January 9, 2025.

Exploring Perspectives: Reflections on Rinan Shah and Robert Rahman Raman’s Fellowships at the Mittal Institute’s India office

Nov 20, 2024 | Fellows, India, News

Rinan Shah and Robert Rahman Raman joined as Mittal Institute India Fellows in November 2023. As their fellowships draws to a close, read about their time spent at the institute, including their experiences, contributions, and explorations below.

Applications Now Open: Seed for Change Student Grant Competition

Nov 19, 2024 | Announcements, India, News, Students

The Seed for Change (SFC) student grant competition provides up to $30,000 to bold, creative student projects that have the potential for widespread impact in India. Applications are open until February 7, 2025.

The Impact of Climate Change on Child Development: A Spotlight on the Work of Mittal Institute Associate Fatima Zahra

Nov 18, 2024 | Associates, Bangladesh, Climate, News

Dr. Fatima Zahra, a Mittal Institute Associate, spearheads research at the intersection of human development, labor markets, and artificial intelligence with a focus on the future of learning and work. Several of her projects look at Bangladesh, where she is originally from, including her studies on how climate change impacts child development and what employment barriers Rohingya fathers face in refugee camps. The Mittal Institute spoke with her about her motivation and approach to study climate change in Bangladesh and how socioeconomic and political factors are essential to understanding its impacts.

Introducing Waheed Ahmad, First Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program Fellow from Afghanistan

Nov 12, 2024 | Afghanistan, Fellows, News

This year’s Benazir Bhutto Leadership Program Fellow is Waheed Ahmad, the first fellow from Afghanistan. He brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of national security, governance, and development. Waheed most notably served as a senior National Security staff of the Afghanistan Democratic Government (2001-2021). He fled Afghanistan as the U.S. withdrew from the country and the Taliban took power in Kabul. Once in the U.S., he served as Resident Practitioner at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University, focusing on human rights issues in Afghanistan. He is now a Mason Fellow pursuing his MC/MPA at the Harvard Kennedy School. We spoke to Waheed about his past, his time at Harvard, and his future plans.

Three Harvard Law School Students Receive Internships with a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan

Nov 12, 2024 | Announcements, News, Pakistan, Students

This winter, three Harvard Law School students will be the inaugural cohort of interns with a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, based in Islamabad, Pakistan, through a new program facilitated by the Mittal Institute called the HLS J-Term Clinical Internship. Through this internship, students will get an opportunity to attend the court proceedings at the Supreme Court, prepare bench memorandums, conduct legal research, draft opinions, assist the Honorable Justice on complex cross-cutting legal issues, and contribute to the overall functioning of the Chambers.

The 1970 Bhola Cyclone and the Birth of Bangladesh

Nov 5, 2024 | Announcements, Bangladesh, Climate, Faculty, News, Pakistan

In 1970, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was hit by a cyclone that killed 300,000 to 500,000 people. Prof. Mushfiq Mobarak, Yale University, and Prof. Sultan Mehmood, New Economic School of Moscow, provide empirical evidence that the cyclone’s devastation and the Pakistani government’s “callous response” to it were instrumental in galvanizing support for an independence movement. The two authors share their work in this Q+A ahead of a November 15 Joint Seminar on South Asian Politics.

Waste Pickers and Methane Emissions

Oct 26, 2024 | Climate, Faculty, In Region, India, News

In an essay for the 1800 Histories project based at the Harvard Center for History and Economics, which explores the local conditions at key sites that play a disproportionate role in methane emissions, WIEGO founder and Mittal Institute Steering Committee member Martha Chen writes about the impact waste pickers have on methane emissions in Delhi, India.

Prof. Vishal Khandelwal on the Values of Architecture and Design

Oct 21, 2024 | Faculty, In Region, India, News

Growing up in Kolkata, Vishal Khandelwal – now an Assistant Professor of History of Art and Architecture in Harvard’s Department of History of Art + Architecture – was first introduced to the art history field right before he left India to attend DePauw University in...

The History of Punishment in India

Oct 12, 2024 | Announcements, Faculty, India, News

The project “The History of Punishment in India,” led by Adaner Usmani, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, explores the paradox of low violence rates in India despite limited policing and high poverty.

VAF Spotlight: Saurav Ghimire on Preserving Collective Memory Through Cinema

Oct 7, 2024 | Announcements, Arts Program, Community, Nepal, News

This fall, the Mittal Institute welcomes a new Visiting Artist Fellow from Nepal: Saurav Ghimire, a fiction and docu-fiction filmmaker who explores how to subtly disguise personal elements to achieve a universal story. Learn about his artistic motivations and save the date for the October 22 Art Exhibition and Film Screening.