Mittal Institute Symposium: Living With Rivers
Friday, April 17, 2026 | 9:00am – 3:00pm EST | Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street
Hybrid (In-person + Live-stream)
Please join us for the Mittal Institute Annual Symposium 2026, that also marks the launch of an ambitious new interdisciplinary effort, Living with Rivers, which brings together experts across ecology, climate science, law, anthropology, public health, business, architecture and urban planning, engineering, and religion and culture. The project explores the interdependence of people and river systems, asking a central question: How well is South Asia living with its rivers?
This event is free and open to the public. This event will be held in person at Harvard University and livestreamed for virtual attendees.
Please RSVP below!
Living With Rivers
Friday, April 17, 2026, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm ET
9:15 – 9:30am: Welcome Address
- Diana Eck, Faculty Director, The Mittal Institute and Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Emerita Frederic Wertham Research Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society
- Hitesh Hathi, Executive Director, The Mittal Institute
9:30 – 10:45am: From Thinking and Feeling to Doing in a Climate-Changed South Asia
- Chair: Shafiqul Islam, Professor of Civil and Environmental engineering, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Radcliffe Fellow, 2025-26
- Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep (Harsh), Global Lead for Disruptive Technology in the Sustainable Development Practice Group, World Bank
- Maira Hayat, Assistant Professor of Environment and Peace Studies,Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Department of Anthropology, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame (joining remotely)
- Naveeda Khan, Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University
11:00am – 12:15 pm: Building on Water
- Chair: Martha Selby, Sangam Professor of South Asian Studies and Comparative Literature, Harvard University
- Sudipta Sen, Professor of History and Middle East/South Asia Studies, University of California, Davis (joining remotely)
- Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization,Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
- Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, the Marlboro Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College
12:15 – 12:30 pm: Archival Insight: Ecological harm in the ‘Company Raj’ Records
- Jennifer Leaning, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
12:45 – 1:45 pm: Plenary
- Victor Mallet, Author, River of Life, River of Death: The Ganges and India’s Future and Senior Editor, The Financial Times
1:45 – 3:00 pm: Rights of Rivers
- Chair: Mashail Malik, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University
- Kristen Stilt, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program, Harvard University
- Rijul Kochhar, Assistant Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
- Diana Eck, Faculty Director, Mittal Institute and Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Emerita Frederic Wertham Research Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society
