In an op-ed in The Indian Express, members of the Mittal Institute’s climate team + partners working on climate change adaptation in South Asia write on heatwaves and the need for a detailed understanding of how different communities are impacted by and react to the heat.
2024 is a significant election year globally with more voters than ever before heading to the polls. India will hold the largest election of them all and is one of several South Asian countries to have national votes this year. This four-part series – led by Harvard Professors Arunabh Ghosh, Maya Jasanoff and Vatsal Naresh – will feature cutting-edge scholars across the social sciences and media who will come together over the next two months to provoke discussions about democracy, the press, and diasporic politics that resonate with parallel trends in the U.S., Asia, and globally. We spoke with the three event conveners for more on the ideation of the series, and what we can expect from the discussion.
The “Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE” exhibit tells the story of early Buddhist art through 125 objects dating from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Conceptualized by John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia in The Met’s Department of Asian Art, the exhibit was a complex logistical exercise, with major loans—of which many are loaned for the first time—from India, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. We spoke with John Guy about the exhibit, and what it took to bring it to the public.
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.”
Jonathan Ripley, Preceptor, has been teaching the Tamil language at Harvard University since 2012. Tamil, one of the longest-surviving classical languages of India, is offered as a class to Harvard students, faculty and staff. We spoke to Jonathan about his language learners, and his own journey with Tamil.
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.
