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Studying How People Form Beliefs: Explore the Research of Akshay Dixit, Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate

Studying How People Form Beliefs: Explore the Research of Akshay Dixit, Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate

Akshay Dixit, a Mittal Institute Graduate Student Associate, is a Ph.D. student of Political Economy & Government at Harvard University. He is a James M. and Cathleen D. Stone PhD Scholar in Inequality and Wealth Concentration, and a recipient of the Amartya Sen Fellowship for Students from India. He is interested in studying how people form beliefs about fairness and inequality, and how that shapes their support for redistributive policies. In ongoing research with Rachel Brulé, he is examining the effect of climate change-induced weather shocks on women’s collective political engagement in Bangladesh. In the past, Akshay has done research on youth civic engagement and accountability in public services, as a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and prior to that at Save the Children. He spent two years in Bangladesh as a Research Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action. The Mittal Institute sat down with Akshay to learn more about his research and future aspirations.

Introducing the Inaugural India Fellowship: New Opportunity for Postdoctoral Researchers to be Based at the Mittal Institute’s New Delhi Office

Introducing the Inaugural India Fellowship: New Opportunity for Postdoctoral Researchers to be Based at the Mittal Institute’s New Delhi Office

Last week, the Mittal Institute announced the launch of an inaugural India Fellowship. The Fellowship will commence on March 15, 2022, and aims to support research projects that focus on the advancement of public benefit in India. This unique Fellowship offers two (2) postdoctoral researchers in New Delhi the opportunity to work with Harvard Faculty remotely and have remote access to all Harvard libraries. It prioritizes scholars who have never received any opportunities or access to Harvard resources and those whom have primarily been educated at institutions in India. The Mittal Institute sat down with Sanjay Kumar, India Country Director at the Mittal Institute, to learn more about this exciting new opportunity.

Harvard, through Their Eyes: New Visiting Artist Fellows Showcase First Week on Campus

Harvard, through Their Eyes: New Visiting Artist Fellows Showcase First Week on Campus

The Mittal Institute welcomed two new VAF Artists, Bunu Dhungana and Pragat Jain, to campus this week, for the start of their eight-week research fellowship at Harvard. The program connects artists from South Asia with Harvard’s intellectual resources, and allows a platform for mid-career artists to conduct independent research that explores critical issues in South Asia through the lens of art and design.

Kushagra Nayan Bajaj’s New Gift to LMSAI Remarkably Expands Opportunities for South Asian Scholars

Kushagra Nayan Bajaj’s New Gift to LMSAI Remarkably Expands Opportunities for South Asian Scholars

Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, an Indian businessman and Chairman of the Bajaj Group, Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Hindusthan Limited, and Chairman of Bajaj Corp Limited is the benefactor of the Mittal Institute’s newest research fellowship, the Jamnalal Kaniram Bajaj Trust Visiting Research Fellowship Fund. His support creates a fellowship at the Mittal Institute to deepen the teaching and research on significant cultural issues related to South Asia.

Urban Modernity, Religion, and the Urban Informalities: A Study on Makeshift Cattle Markets in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Urban Modernity, Religion, and the Urban Informalities: A Study on Makeshift Cattle Markets in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Nusrat Jahan Mim, a Harvard D.Des candidate, was a recipient of a Mittal Institute Summer 2021 Research Grant, and she shared her findings in the account below. As a part of her Doctor of Design thesis, she investigated and collected spatial data from the largest annual makeshift cattle marketplaces in Dhaka, Bangladesh during Eid ul Adha (July 19-23, 2021).

Lancet Citizens’ Commission Podcast: The Role of the ‘Finance’ Workstream in Reimagining India’s Healthcare

Lancet Citizens’ Commission Podcast: The Role of the ‘Finance’ Workstream in Reimagining India’s Healthcare

In this episode of the ‘India in Focus’ podcast, Bindu Ananth, Chair at Dvara Trust, speaks with Dr. Nachiket Mor, Visiting Scientist, The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health. Dr. Mor leads the financing workstream at the Lancet Citizens’ Commission, which seeks to address challenges related to the sources and utilization of health expenditures, in order to maximize financial risk protection and to ensure an effective, equitable, reliable, and responsive health system for all.

Harvard Worldwide Week Preview: Dinyar Patel on “India at 75: The Global Roots of Independence”

Harvard Worldwide Week Preview: Dinyar Patel on “India at 75: The Global Roots of Independence”

Join us on Wednesday, October 6 at 8:00am EST for “India at 75: The Global Roots of Independence,” moderated by Dinyar Patel, Mittal Institute Research Affiliate and Assistant Professor of History at the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai. He will join a conversation on “India at 75: The Global Roots of Independence” with panelists Nico Slate, Professor and Department Head, Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University and Carolien Stolte, Senior Lecturer in History at Leiden University, The Netherlands. The Mittal Institute sat down with Dinyar to discuss the event and his new paper, which he will share at the talk.

Girls’ Educational Rights in India: The Importance of Institutional Activism

Girls’ Educational Rights in India: The Importance of Institutional Activism

Akshay Mangla, Mittal Institute Research Associate and Associate Professor in International Business at the University of Oxford, recently authored the new publication, “Social conflict on the front lines of reform: Institutional activism and girls’ education in rural India,” in Public Administration and Development. The study analyzes how institutional activists (frontline workers) within the Indian state negotiate social conflicts as they seek to integrate disadvantaged girls into the school system by mobilizing village women’s groups and encouraging deliberation with target households. The Mittal Institute sat down with Akshay to explore his recent work, and expertise in the comparative political economy of developing countries.