India Fellows Years: Indian Fellows 2023-2024

Shivani Bhatt

Ms. Shivani Bhatt is Assistant Professor of Communication at the Department of Management, Institute of Information Technology & Management (IITM), IP University, New Delhi. At IITM, she is actively involved in conducting soft skills training, growth mapping, personality development sessions, and pre-placement training.

Currently pursuing her doctoral research at the English Department, School of Letters, Ambedkar University, Delhi, Ms. Bhatt recently completed her fieldwork in the Garhwal Himalayas region. Her research focuses on exploring the intricate connections between Garhwali women’s folk songs and their reflections of local environment. She has participated in several national and international conferences, including the American Folklore Society’s International Conference, 2019 held in Baltimore, as well as the Women in Asia Conference, 2021 organized by La Trobe University and the Asian Studies Associations, Australia.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Ms. Bhatt draws upon her enthusiasm for folkloristics and communications to teach Hindi at Boston University. Her aim is to maximize her Fulbright experience by fostering a multicultural perspective among her students and by facilitating the exchange of thought-provoking ideas within a global context.

Yatin Batra

Mr. Yatin Batra is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi. His doctoral research is interdisciplinary in nature and focuses on the identity aspects of the Siraiki (Bahawalpuri/Multani) and Sindhi communities through the written and oral narratives of Partition (1947) migrants and eyewitnesses. His fieldwork includes recording Siraiki folk traditions and the narratives of Siraiki partition survivors dispersed across India.

Mr. Batra graduated with an honors degree in English literature from Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi. He has a master’s (with a gold medal) and an M.Phil. in Comparative Indian Literature from the University of Delhi. His areas of interest include comparative literature, partition studies, gender studies, folklore, and culture studies. He has presented papers at numerous national and international seminars on diverse topics.

Mr. Batra is a recipient of the Tata Trust – Partition Archive Research Grant (2021) at the 1947 Partition Archive based in Berkeley, CA, where he is also a certified Citizen Historian. He received the Likho Citizen Journalism Fellowship (2020) from the Humsafar Trust (NGO for LGBTQ rights). He has worked with NGOs such as Katha and Kitaab Club to impart education to underprivileged students.

As a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, Mr. Batra aims at building cross-cultural connections between Indianness and Americanness through his creative strategies of teaching language. As a cultural ambassador, he is imbibing culture in a pluralistic way through the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

Anuja Sudheer

Ms. Anuja Sudheer works as a speech language pathologist and head of the early years program at the Centre for Autism and other Disabilities Rehabilitation Research and Education (CADRRE), Trivandrum, Kerala. CADRRE is a not-for-profit organization that runs a full-day intervention and education program in a school setting for children with autism aged two-18 years by an interdisciplinary team of speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and special educators. Ms. Sudheer holds a master’s degree in audiology and speech-language pathology from the National Institute of Speech and Hearing, University of Kerala, and has over 13 years of experience in supporting children with special needs.

Ms. Sudheer has obtained certifications in applied behavioral analysis therapy, picture exchange communication system, oral placement therapy, PROMPT therapy, Avaz (an AAC app), comprehensive literacy skills in individuals with complex communication needs from Jane Farrall Consulting, and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. She conducts trainings of special educators through Continuing Rehabilitation Education programs by the Rehabilitation Council of India. She participates in outreach programs to raise awareness about autism among grassroots-level healthcare workers and parents in rural India. Additionally, she has given talks at numerous national and international conferences. Through the Fulbright DAI program, Ms. Sudheer hopes to receive training in strategies and methods for teaching young children with complex communication needs, particularly those with autism. She anticipates being able to put her training to use by directly supporting her students and colleagues at CADRRE and through outreach programs in rural India.

Madhura Rajvanshi

Ms. Madhura Rajvanshi has been teaching English to middle school children of Pragat Shikshan Sanstha’s Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan, Phaltan for the past 15 years. It is a Marathi medium innovative school situated in a semi-urban region of western Maharashtra. She also works as the education coordinator of the school and her work involves administration, planning creative activities in school, and teacher mentoring. She has a master’s degree in elementary education from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Ms. Rajvanshi uses art, storytelling, and music to make English learning interesting and relevant for her students. She has made a substantial contribution to children’s creative and independent English writing through the production of storybooks. She has delivered talks and written several articles on the same.

Through the Fulbright DAI program, Ms. Rajvanshi hopes to understand how English teaching is approached and learning spaces are organized in American schools. She aims to explore the constructive attitudes towards language teaching in the U.S. and see how they can be adapted to Indian context.

Ms. Rajvanshi will use her Fulbright experience and learning to create a structured program for teachers in her community for teaching English to non-native speakers. After her return to India, she will share it with the teachers through workshops and training programs.

Priya Laxmi

Dr. Priya Laxmi teaches vocal music to grades six to 12 at an girls’ government school run by the Delhi Directorate of Education. She actively engages in all music related endeavors in her department. A graded artist of Aakasvani, Dr. Laxmi received a doctoral degree in vocal music from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in 2019. She received the JRF-SRF award during her Ph.D. She also qualified for the National Level of All India Civil Services music competition.

Through her Fulbright DAI Project, Dr. Laxmi is finding ways and means to transform perceptions about the scope of music as a subject, providing students with the opportunity to explore and enhance their learning and creativity. She aspires to make music education accessible to every child and emphasize on the aesthetic importance of music education for all.

After her return to India, she will share her Fulbright experience and learning with fellow music teachers by preparing a guideline for music education and through workshops, training programs, and publications.

Ashima Gupta

Ms. Ashima Gupta is a mentor teacher with the Delhi Directorate of Education. In her present role, she facilitates pre/in-service teacher trainings, develops content for secondary grade classes and observes classes in her mentee schools. She has been teaching English to the students of primary and secondary grades for fifteen years. She has a master’s degree in English from IGNOU and a certificate in TESOL core.

Ms. Gupta is actively involved in the planning of student development programs like student advisory board, sports meet at state level and spoken English project (Project Voices). During weekends, she provides career and spoken English counselling to students from disadvantaged families. She was honored with the Om Foundation’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017 for her efforts to provide students from underprivileged backgrounds with access to education.

During Ms. Gupta’s participation in the Fulbright DAI program, she plans to study the strategies to improve soft skills of students through co-scholastic activities. She believes, students’ interest in co-scholastic activities like sports, arts and crafts, and theatre, can be used for developing their overall personality, soft skills, and English communication skills. The findings and learnings from her project will help her transform the teaching learning scenario of government schools of Delhi. She intends to cascade her learnings to the fellow educators through workshops and training programs, hence benefitting her community.

Sumana Dutta

Ms. Sumana Dutta is an educationist with 21 years of experience. In the last 15 years, she has focused on supporting individuals dealing with autism and intellectual disabilities. She has a master’s degree in special education needs and inclusion from the University of Northampton, UK. She is also a certified autism consultant recognized by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).

As the Founder Executive Director of Akshadhaa Foundation, Ms. Dutta spearheads ‘Equip the Special Million’ community outreach project. Her initiatives include sensitization workshops for university students, capacity-building training for parents, mainstream teachers, and community health workers. She orchestrates inclusive education through early screening camps, policy advocacy and arts-based therapy, utilizing multi-sensorial modalities of learning.

Ms. Dutta received the topper award for diploma in special education (autism spectrum disorder) in 2010. Her decade-long service was honoured with the Dr. Amarnath Annual Award, and in 2022, she was recognized with the All India Women Achiever Award for excellence in social service. She has co-authored an article “Journey of Akshadhaa: Supporting Neuro-Developmental Disabilities in Bangalore, India” in Psychosocial Rehabilitation Mental Health Journal by Springer in 2023.

Through the Fulbright DAI project, Ms. Dutta is aiming to enhance her expertise in Universal Design of Learning and structured teaching approaches for special needs children. Upon her return to India, she would like to establish an online learning platform under the Akshadhaa Foundation, providing inclusive education methodologies for teachers and parent-caregivers. Her vision extends to sharing Fulbright experiences, preparing guidelines, and incorporating inclusive education pedagogy in state-run schools in Karnataka, contributing significantly to the education landscape in India.

Shanthie Mariet D Souza

Dr. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza is Founder & President of Mantraya, an independent research forum. She is also a visiting faculty at the Naval War College, Goa; a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, Washington D.C.; a Research Fellow at WeltTrends-Institut für internationale Politik, Potsdam; an International Advisor at the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network, Helsinki; and an Adviser for Independent Conflict Research and Analysis, London. In a career spanning over two decades, she has conducted extensive field research in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Africa, and Australia.

Dr. D’Souza, with a Ph.D. in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, is an established inter-disciplinary researcher on conflict resolution, foreign policy, decision making, and human security. She has been widely published in national and international journals, newspapers, policy forums, and edited books, receiving attention from academic and practitioners, informing public debate and discourse.

She has been awarded various fellowships and been associated with a number of thinktanks, universities in India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. Most recently, Dr. D’Souza has been a Founding Professor at the Kautilya School of Public Policy,Hyderabad. She has been a recipient of the Fulbright Junior Research Fellowship (2005-06) and the President’s Award for Excellence in Research (2009) from the Manohar Parrikar-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

As the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she will be teaching and conducting research on Global Climate Change and Geopolitics of Energy and prospects for cooperation between India and U.S. in addressing issues of climate change, mitigation, and crisis management.

Melari Shisha Nongrum

Dr. Melari Shisha Nongrum is Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong, Meghalaya. She is an indigenous woman from the Khasi indigenous community of Meghalaya, located in the northeastern region of India. Dr. Nongrum has a master’s in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She conducted her research on sociocultural factors of vitamin A deficiency among children in Meghalaya, which was part of her doctoral thesis at Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong. Since her Ph.D., Dr. Nongrum has worked in the field of public health, especially in traditional knowledge systems of food and healing of the indigenous communities in her region. She acquired expertise on this subject through research and community projects, grounded in active community engagement. She co-authored the chapter “Treasures from shifting cultivation in the Himalayan’s evergreen forest” in a publication led by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change. This publication was awarded the 2021 Best in the World Sustainability Report Award by the Hallbars Sustainability Research Organization.

As Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair at Emory University, Dr. Nongrum’s is working on “The Multifactorial Facets of Tribal Health: Development of a Training Module on Tribal Health for Public Health and Allied Health Professionals”. She is also teaching a course titled “Multifaceted Nature of Tribes in India and the Traditional knowledge Systems of Food and Healing: Experiences from Tribal Communities in Northeastern India”.

Sayed Zeeshan Ali

Mr. Sayed Zeeshan Ali holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from West Bengal University of Technology, a PG diploma in Management from All India Management Association, Delhi and a Master of Leadership in Sustainable Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany. He is a certified expert in climate and renewable energy finance; ESG and impact investing; risk, governance and compliance from FS-UNEP Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance.

Mr. Ali has worked in the areas of clean energy, climate change, sustainable finance, and international relations for more than 16 years in the South Asia region. In his professional career, he has worked as Energy Analyst with the Asian Development Bank, as Assistant Director with SAARC Development Fund, and as Chief of Sustainable Finance and International Affairs with International Financial Services Centres Authority, Gujarat.

Mr. Ali administered a cumulative clean energy portfolio of more than USD two billion. He implemented sustainable energy projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. He has experience of advising the Government of SAARC member countries in macroeconomic policies, public finance, climate change, and sustainable development.

During the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellowship, Mr. Ali is studying public administration at Harvard Kennedy School. He believes this prestigious program will prepare him to take up leadership roles in the public sector with a focus on energy transition, climate change, climate risk and resilience, greening of the financial systems, and strategies to mobilize capital for climate actions in India.