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Category : Faculty


Video: The Science Behind COVID-19

Video: The Science Behind COVID-19

The Mittal Institute’s latest panel webinar, “The Science Behind COVID-19,” was moderated by Dr. Jennifer Leaning, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Together, the panelists provided a deeper understanding of the science behind the COVID-19 virus, exploring the place of science in the COVID-19 response, and new methods of tracking transmission of the virus throughout South Asia through the use of mobile network data.

Video: The Response to COVID-19 in South Asia

Video: The Response to COVID-19 in South Asia

Last week, the Mittal Institute held a panel webinar, “The Response to COVID-19 in South Asia,” moderated by Dr. Vikram Patel, Pershing Square Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School. Together, the panelists discussed the impact of the policy response to COVID-19 on the ground in South Asia, considering whether or not the policies are proportionate and appropriate — and what consequences they might have.

Spring Webinar Series: COVID-19 in South Asia

Video: The Response to COVID-19 in South Asia

The Mittal Institute team is excited to announce our upcoming Spring Webinar Series! Through webinars that can be accessed around the world via Zoom, we’ll be bringing Harvard faculty and in-region experts into your homes to speak about the latest developments and potential impacts of COVID-19 in South Asia.

Announcing the COVID-19 Mobility Data Network

Announcing the COVID-19 Mobility Data Network

Led by Caroline Buckee (Center for Communicable Disease, Harvard T.H. Chan), Satchit Balsari (HMS and HSPH), and Andrew Schroeder (Direct Relief), the COVID-19 Mobility Data Network aims to “provide daily updates to decision-makers at the state and local levels on how well social distancing interventions are working.” The team is made up of a network of infectious disease epidemiologists located at universities around the world.

The Crossroads Virtual Program Curates Courses for a Global Classroom

The Crossroads Virtual Program Curates Courses for a Global Classroom

The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program began in 2017, a joint effort between the Harvard Business School Club of the GCC, HBS Professors Tarun Khanna and Karim Lakhani, and the Mittal Institute. This year, the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program received 6,093 total applications from 97 countries spanning the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, and US students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

How Will President Trump’s Visit Impact India-US Ties?

How Will President Trump’s Visit Impact India-US Ties?

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump traveled to India for two days. In an exclusive broadcast from Harvard Business School, the India Today News Director Rahul Kanwal discussed the potential impact of Trump’s visit to India in terms of trade, economy, and electoral politics. He was joined by Professor Tarun Khanna (Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School and Director of the Mittal Institute), Punita Kumar Sinha (Founder, Pacific Paradigm Advisors), Ashutosh Varshney (Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences at Brown University), and Vipin Narang (Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT).

Announcing the “India In-Focus” Podcast in Collaboration with The Times of India

Announcing the “India In-Focus” Podcast in Collaboration with The Times of India

This January, the Mittal Institute launched a new podcast titled “India In-Focus” in collaboration with The Times of India. The podcast promises to bring one-on-one discussions between faculty and experts from Harvard around the transformative research and pivotal breakthroughs that have the potential to transform how India conducts business, creates new ideas, and tackles pressing social, technological, and environmental challenges. 

A Paean to Learning to “See” and the 1947 Partition

A Paean to Learning to “See” and the 1947 Partition

Recently, Professor Tarun Khanna — Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School and Director of the Mittal Institute — traveled to Bengaluru to give the D.D. Kosambi Lecture, “A Paean to Learning to ‘See’” at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences. The talk was structured around the use of basic analytics to better “see” some overlooked regularities in human behavior — drawing on examples from recent Indian history, including the Partition of British India in 1947 and the annual Maha Kumbh Mela religious gathering, and from contemporary social phenomena.

The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program Reaches New Heights — What’s Next?

The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program Reaches New Heights — What’s Next?

The Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program began in 2017, a joint effort between the Harvard Business School Club of the GCC, HBS Professors Tarun Khanna and Karim Lakhani, and the Mittal Institute. This year, the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program received 6,093 total applications from 97 countries spanning the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, and US students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Of the candidates, 4,263 were selected to move onto the next round, which consisted of a fully funded selection of interdisciplinary courses offered online on HarvardX through Crossroads’ partnership with edX.

The Nepal Mandala’s Place in South Asia

The Nepal Mandala’s Place in South Asia

Symposia dedicated to the art and culture of early modern Nepal come around only once in a generation. And the atmosphere at the Nepal Mandala in an Early Modern South Asia symposium last week, run by Jinah Kim (Harvard University) and Todd Lewis (College of the Holy Cross), reflected the rarity of this meeting. The symposium brought together international experts on the history, culture, and societies of the “Nepal Mandala” — or the Kathmandu Valley — to present papers on the region’s place in early modern South Asia.

Unveiling the Voices of Women and Marginal Characters in the Mahabharata

Unveiling the Voices of Women and Marginal Characters in the Mahabharata

Earlier this week, we were joined by Karthika Naïr, author and poet, for an in-depth discussion on her latest book, Until the Lions. In the book, Naïr retells the story of the Mahabharata through the embodied voices of women and marginal characters. In conversation with Professor Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy at Harvard University, and with the audience, Naïr brought these voices to life.