The landscape of life sciences — biology, biomedicine, biotech, and all the rest — is rapidly changing. Today, the amount of data produced is massive, and it increases exponentially with time. New techniques are invented every week as existing techniques get cheaper, though there are new ethical and moral concerns about playing with life processes. Physical and mathematical sciences are increasingly integrated into the life sciences, and exciting new career options are developing as academic positions get more competitive.
Life science research is at the heart of nearly every economic sector. But how do budding life scientists navigate all of these issues, and what can they do to prepare for the future? In this panel discussion, a group of distinguished life scientists and policymakers will discuss some of these issues and offer their guidance.
Please RSVP: mittalinstitutedelhi@fas.harvard.edu
START
Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 03:00pm
END
Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 05:00pm
Speaker: PROF. MICHAEL SZONYI
Frank Wen-hsiung Wu Memorial Professor of Chinese History and Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University
Moderator: PROF. TARUN KHANNA
Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School and Director, The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University
How should societies identify and promote merit? Enabling all people to fulfill their full potential and ensuring that competent and capable leaders are selected to govern are central challenges for any society. Failure to meet these challenges can have enormous costs, for individuals and for societies as a whole. The richness of China’s historical experience and its distinctive current practices offer useful tools for reflection and comparative analysis. Does the case of China offer any lessons – positive or negative – for India to consider?
START
Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 06:00pm
END
Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 08:30pm
AJAY SINHA, Professor of Art History, Mount Holyoke College
Chair: JINAH KIM, Gardner Cowles Associate Professor of History of Art & Architecture and Faculty Director, Arts @ Mittal Institute
In the Spring of 1938, an Indian dancer, Ram Gopal, posed in a variety of fantastical costumes for the American photographer, Carl Van Vechten, in New York City. Studying over 100 large-size photographs resulting from the photoshoot, the lecture builds an illustrated story of their mutual fascination and exchange, triggered by the camera. The remarkable images, now part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, Yale University, show traces of the myriad, transcultural relations being performed during the photoshoot. They reveal an interplay of differing investments in the image when we ask: What does the Indian dancer show the camera; what does the American photographer see through his lens? Their visual exploration helps us elaborate on an underrepresented history of exchanges between the cultural worlds of India and the U.S. in early-20th century.
START
Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 04:30pm
END
Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 06:00pm
Join Vijayendra Rao in a seminar discussing his paper “Deliberative Inequality: A Text-As-Data Analysis of Indian Village Assemblies” (Co-authored with R. Parthasarathy and N. Palaniswamy).
Vijayendra (Biju) Rao, a Lead Economist in the Research Department of the World Bank, integrates his training in economics with theories and methods from anthropology, sociology and political science to study the social, cultural, and political context of extreme poverty in developing countries.
He leads the Social Observatory, an inter-disciplinary effort to improve the conversation between citizens and governments. It does this – first – by improving the quality of civic action by strengthening forums for deliberation and developing tools to facilitate collective action, and – second – by building the “adaptive capacity” of large-scale anti-poverty projects; i.e. the ability of projects to make everyday decisions, and modify project design, on the basis of high-quality descriptive, evaluative and process-oriented information.
His research has spanned a wide variety of subjects including participatory development, deliberative democracy, the rise in dowries in India, the determinants and consequences of domestic violence, the economics of sex work, public celebrations, and culture and development policy.
The paper he will be discussing during this seminar can be accessed here.
START
Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 02:00pm
END
Fri, Nov 2, 2018 at 04:00pm
A panel discussion on capturing identity, everyday life and activism in South Asia through the digital lens.
PANELISTS
AMAN KALEEM and SAMSUL ALAM HELAM
Mittal Institute 2018-19 Visiting Artist Fellows
Chair: Jinah Kim, Gardner Cowles Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture
START
Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 05:30pm
END
Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 07:00pm
