Category : In Region
May 17, 2023 | Community, India, News, South Asia in the News, Students
Scienspur, a program that offers free STEM courses to economically disadvantaged students across India, is built on the philosophy of igniting scientific curiosity. All courses are free, and all instructors volunteer their time – something that its students explain is particularly unique. “Very few programs have an interest in helping others with their career, without any profit…it has inspired my classmates and I to give back to others’ education, when our own time comes,” says Ebinesh S, a photonics major from the University of Madras, India. “It was an honor to be a part of an organization that works to elevate scientists from every corner of the globe.”
May 17, 2023 | Faculty, In Region, News, Pakistan, South Asia in the News
Exposure to toxic levels of stress and violence in pregnancy or early life can have lasting health impacts. In Pakistan, where the under-five mortality rate is 67 deaths per 1,000 live births, researchers Alexandra Harrison, MD, and Elizabeth Levey, MD—both Assistant Professors of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School—are exploring ways to reverse stress levels and their impacts. As 2022 LMSAI faculty grant winners, their project designs a comprehensive training system for lady health workers (LHW), a common practice across low-resource areas of South Asia that provides pre- and postnatal care. Dr. Harrison and Dr. Leavey’s training system, Building Baby Brains (BBB), equips the LHW with the tools they need to support the infant-caregiver relationship, with the goal of ultimately increasing the neurodevelopment—and decreasing the mortality—of children in rural Pakistan.
May 11, 2023 | Community, India, News, South Asia in the News
The Mittal Institute’s Graduate Student Associates showcased their research, what they have been working on this semester, and highlights of past field work experiences at the annual Graduate Student Associate Showcase. GSAs Sarah Shaukat, Akhil Thomas and Ronak...
May 10, 2023 | Afghanistan, Arts Program, Community, Faculty, Fellows, In Region, India, News, Pakistan, South Asia in the News
Scholars, practitioners and a packed audience gathered for the Mittal Institute’s flagship spring event, the Annual Cambridge Symposium, to present work and discuss ideas central to South Asia. This year’s conference focused on the theme of “resiliency.” The day...
May 4, 2023 | Community, India, News, South Asia in the News
Last evening, Madhur Jaffrey delighted a full-house crowd for the Mittal Institute’s prestigious Harish C. Mahindra lecture. Jaffrey regaled the audience with stories from her upbringing in British India, her foray into acting, and how she became an icon of South...
Apr 25, 2023 | India, News, South Asia in the News
WATCH THE WHOLE EVENT PLAYLIST HERE The Mittal Institute’s 2023 Annual Cambridge Symposium will take place on Friday, May 5, and will convene faculty, staff, and the public for a lively discussion on climate, health and culture’s role in building a more...
Apr 25, 2023 | Community, India, News, South Asia in the News
This year’s Mahindra Lecture will feature Madhur Jaffrey, in conversation with Prof. Abhijit Banerjee of MIT, taking place on May 4th. After the public talk, we will be hosting a public cocktail hour reception at the Harvard Faculty Club. Madhur Jaffrey is an...
Apr 19, 2023 | India, News, South Asia in the News
Utkarsh Saxena, HLS ’14 and HKS ’20, and his partner Ananya Kotia in front of India’s Supreme Court building. This week India’s Supreme Court began hearing arguments for a historic same-sex marriage petition. Current Indian law does not recognize...
Apr 19, 2023 | India, News, South Asia in the News
By Paul Massari, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Janhavi Nilekani wanted the childbirth of her dreams. That meant returning in 2016 to her home country of India where the then-fifth-year PhD student in public policy at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts...
Apr 19, 2023 | India, News, South Asia in the News
The Mittal Institute at Harvard University recently held its inaugural Climate Change Workshop in New Delhi to kick off a new Climate Platform for South Asia. Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), delivered a keynote...
Apr 12, 2023 | Arts Program, Community, Faculty, India, News
Deep in a bank vault of Mumbai’s Asiatic Society lies a revered treasure that is much studied in textbooks but rarely seen. The early 16th-century painted manuscript (dated 1516 CE), one of the oldest of its kind in the world, requires a committee’s approval to see the light of day – a committee that had remained elusive to Prof. Jinah Kim, an expert in South Asian art, for years. But last September, her proposal to study the painted manuscript finally got the go-ahead, and capturing the color from the rare piece of work may just change the study of South Asian art – and maybe all of Asian art – forever.
Apr 11, 2023 | Arts Program, Community, India, News
The Mittal Institute’s inaugural Distinguished Artist Fellow, Nilima Sheikh, will soon join us in residence on the Harvard campus from her home of Baroda, India. A renowned painter, Nilima has been a career artist for more than 50 years. We spoke with her about what led her to apply for a DAF, and her hopes for her experience.
