PROFILE OF CURRENT FELLOWS
2023 – 24
Aditya Satke
Aditya Satke is from Amravati, Maharashtra with a disciplinary background in social sciences. He loves to explore his interest in street play, writing poetry and stories. Aditya is excited to be part of a diverse cohort in the Urban Fellows Programme and looks forward to gaining knowledge about the urban. He anticipates that the UFP structured curriculum will add value to his trajectory.
Aiswarya A P V
Aiswarya APV is an architect from Kannur, Kerala. She is interested in the analysis and study of human interaction with the cityscape which looks beyond her disciplinary training in designing buildings. She believes that the UFP is a platform that would give her a realistic understanding of the urban and finds UFP a space to seek knowledge beyond architecture and planning that would inform her interest in pursuing higher studies.
Aman Tyagi
Aman Tyagi is from Joura, Madhya Pradesh with academic training in history and social work. His interest inclines towards reading books, travelling and observing changes in human life scenarios. In the UFP, he hopes to gain research skills and deepen his knowledge about the urban which would inform his research on mental stress in the urban youth in an interdisciplinary manner that would lead to a Ph.D. pathway.
Amit Raj
Amit Raj hails from Gaya, Bihar with academic training in computer science engineering and development studies. His experiences include working with Care India, Gaya Sadar Hospital on high-risk pregnancy and the Airport Authority of India in his CSR projects. He believes that UFP is a platform that will provide technical skills to better equip him for the work in development projects.
Anagha Rajesh
Anangha Rajesh is from Ernakulam, Kerala with a disciplinary background in social work with specialisation in rural development. Her academic interests include environmental politics, sustainable development, history and human rights. In the UFP, she plans to delve deeper into understanding urban issues, sustainable development and a mixed community atmosphere that enables her to add more perspectives to her thoughts and build skills and methods to pursue a career in research.
Anand Raj
Anand Raj hails from Motihari, Bihar with academic training in history and political science. Previously, he worked as a research associate at V.V. Giri National Labour Institute as his interests lie in migrant labourers, cities and the environment. In the UFP, he hopes to gain a better understanding of his interest that would help develop his proposal for a PhD pathway and expand his skills in research methods and publishing papers.
Ananya Ajatasatru
Ananya Ajatasatru is from Bhubaneswar, Odisha with academic training in economics and agribusiness economics. His research interest pertains to community-driven development, environmentally sustainable economy, role of currency and exchanges in influencing social structure. Ananya enjoys reading about science, technology, history and society. He hopes the UFP will be a conducive interdisciplinary environment to strengthen his research in the urban and potentially build to apply for a PhD pathway post-UFP.
Aniket Salve
Aniket Salve is from Pune, Maharashtra with a disciplinary background in management studies and a certification in Pali language. His work experience in Vicharvedh organisation focuses on the education of migrant workers and he hopes the UFP will provide him with an understanding of the urban to create impactful work to help migrant workers. Also, he is interested in building an academic trajectory towards sustainable urban planning.
Anuja Bhandari
Anuja Bhandari is an architect who hails from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. She is interested in the socio-economic status of marginalised sectors of society by promoting citizen rights and quality habitat design. She works with grassroots levels in a collective of artisans, craftsmen and communities. In the UFP, she intends to understand complexities in urban planning, strengthen her knowledge and skills, and learn innovative strategies to address challenges in future practices. She aspires to build a career in sustainable and ecological architecture in upcoming infrastructure projects for the socio-economic growth of the country that will contribute to creating tomorrow’s India.
Arundhati Hakhu
Arundhati Hakhu is an urban designer from New Delhi, Delhi. Her interests align with urban mobility, equitable and liveable cities, people-oriented development, research, critical design thinking and data visualisation. In the UFP, she aims to explore various layers of the urban to help her identify an area of interest to build her career pathway.
Astha Sharma
Astha Sharma is from Namchi, Sikkim with a disciplinary background in humanities. She developed her interest in music and language to address socio-political issues. She aims to empower her writing and equip herself with essential skills in the UFP to engage with folks who work in the urban as she sees cities riddled with flaws and looks forward to being part of collective projects with her peers.
Athil Banna
Athil Banna is from Wayanad, Kerala with a disciplinary background in social sciences with work experience in research and writing. He is interested in exploring the concept of lived and urban religion, and the philosophy of living in modernity. He has developed skills to identify and observe urban spaces from his zeal to travel as he believes modernity and urbanism are indispensable phenomena. In the UFP, he aims to build an interdisciplinary comprehension of urban and build a PhD pathway.
Dishant Parakh
Dishant Parakh hails from Chennai, Tamil Nadu with a disciplinary background in economics, political science and public policy. His academic interests include geospatial, data analysis, and research in the groundwater market. Dishant is also interested in gender and sexuality, philosophy, and badminton. In the UFP, he aims to develop his skills from the different skill labs and specialise through interdisciplinary learning that will build his career trajectory.
Fauwaz Khan
Fauwaz Khan is an architect from Mumbai, Maharashtra. His pursuits have centred firmly in activism, education and community engagement and he believes that architecture can serve as a medium through which meaningful impact can be made. In the UFP, he looks forward to experiencing and understanding cities through multiple lenses, exploring urban education from an interdisciplinary perspective and equipping him with skills and knowledge to build a career pathway as an urban practitioner.
Firsat Mulla
Firsat Mulla is an electrical engineer from Hubli, Karnataka with an interest in urban transport, built environment, sustainability and urban studies. He believes the UFP will provide him with the required perspectives about the urban and learn different tools and methods to explore urban solutions. He aims to gain exposure to understanding the urban and build a career at the intersection of public policy and sustainability.
Geetanjali Sharma
Geetanjali Sharma is from New Delhi, Delhi with a disciplinary background in social sciences. She developed an interest in documentation and understanding forms of exclusion within the urban through her experience working with organisations like People’s Archive of India, Housing and Land Rights Network, and Social and Political Research Foundation. Furthermore, she was a Teaching Fellow at Ashoka University with the Departments of Sociology, Anthropology and International Relations. In the UFP, she aims to better understand the urban and the city she has lived in, and learn to address some of the pressing urban challenges through peer and faculty engagement. Also, she anticipates equipping herself with field-based skills, research methods and media skills to build a career in urban practice.
Kiran Gajanan Bodade
Kiran Gajanan Bodade is a lawyer from Shegaon, Maharashtra with a passion for constitutional law. He actively seeks engagement in the socio-legal sector to explore intricate intersections between law and society, and their transformative potential. He sees UFP to be a catalyst to apply his legal acumen to address socio-legal challenges, fostering a deeper understanding of the intricacies between law and urban society to make a meaningful impact. He aims to expand his skills and gain hands-on experience with urban issues that would empower him to build his career as a legal professional in shaping equitable urban environments.
Kiran M
Kiran M is an environmental engineer from Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. He is interested in exploring the intersection of urban spaces and society. In the UFP, he aims to expand his understanding of the urban, and learn new skills that will equip him with better opportunities for his career trajectory.
Kiran Shaila Ramesh
Kiran Shaila Ramesh is an architect from Bhusawal, Maharashtra. Her academic work reflects mitigating environmental degradation through architectural design approaches and research. She believes UFP will allow her to learn and integrate the knowledge of India’s complex urban challenges and prepare her for fieldwork and opportunities to push her career in the urban.
Kirti
Kirti is a geographer from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh with an interest in learning and applying technical aspects of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to communicate geographical data. She is also interested in understanding the spatial and temporal urban dynamics, informal workforce and urban policy governance. Through the UFP, she aspires to understand multifaceted issues relating to urban, learn new technical skills and research methods to apply them in various projects with mentorship opportunities from various professionals in the urban domain.
Kripa Krishna
Kripa Krishna is from Kolar, Karnataka with a disciplinary background in economics, political science and public policy. Her interest area is in exploring environmental politics, environmental justice and urban anthropology. In the UFP, she aims to get familiar with an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of the urban environment with a diverse set of perspectives and build her career trajectory in urban governance.
Laaraib Ghazi
Laaraib Ghazi hails from New Delhi, Delhi with academic training in biochemistry and law, politics and society. She is interested in exploring the intersection of spatiality and law with people. She believes that the UFP will provide her with the opportunity to study cities, their planning and governance to help her identify the gaps and problems in planning and governance structure leading to a career in research.
Malavika S Nair
Malavika S Nair is an architect from Kochi, Kerala. Her interest focuses on sustainable design, writing on urban development, and designing spaces to support physiological and psychological environments for people and the planet. She sees UFP as a unique curriculum that combines theory with practical on-ground exposure to urbanism that will elucidate her questions about urban, its systems and issues. Also, she aims to gain an intensive understanding of the multidisciplinary facets that go into urban development from interactions with mentors and multi-disciplinary cohorts.
Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai is an urban planner from Chandigarh with a passion for applying an inclusive and ecological lens to city design. In her work experience, she has made a conscious effort to include projects on sustainable development, inclusivity, advocating for indigenous communities, policy analysis, and geospatial mapping. In the UFP, she aims to strengthen her interest in urban psychology and develop interdisciplinary skills to effectively tackle urban challenges that translate to impactful roles in research, planning, policymaking, and governance.
Manasi N J Shinde
Manasi N J Shinde is from Mumbai, Maharashtra with a disciplinary background in humanities. Her interests include looking at caste, gender and sexuality through literature. In the UFP, she intends to understand multiple aspects of cities and gain multiple perspectives across disciplines that will help build her career trajectory.
Maneesha A
Maneesha A is from Malappuram, Kerala with academic training in polymer chemistry, public administration and policy studies. She is interested in public policy and urban governance. Through the UFP, she intends to better understand urban infrastructure and gain experience that will help build her professional career in public policy with a focus on urban governance.
Mohammed Yasin PP
Mohammed Yasin PP is an anthropologist from Abdul Rahiman Nagar, Kerala. As an anthropologist, he uses ethnographic insights to understand livelihoods, policy, and politics. In the UFP, he intends to advance his research methodology and writing skills. He also hopes to build a network that will help build his career in research and enterprise in politics and policy.
Mayuri More
Mayuri More is a civil engineer from Nanded, Maharashtra with academic specialisation in water management. Her academic interest lies in studying water management and sustainable resource conservation while her leisure interests include reading books and writing poetry. In the UFP, she intends to work on live projects that will give her a realistic perspective on urban issues through a diverse lens.
N Arvind Karthick
N Arvind Karthick is from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu with a disciplinary background in urban planning and urban studies. His academic interests involve urban and social justice, urban environment and political ecology, urbanisation and development, urban land development, caste and livelihoods. Arvind is also interested in cultural Tamil cinema, music and literature. In the UFP, he aims to learn more about the urban through its interdisciplinary structure and fellows from across different sectors while also learning technical software skills that would help his career trajectory.
Namitha J Nayak
Namitha J Nayak is from Bengaluru, Karnataka with academic training in electronics and communication engineering and environmental science. She is interested in exploring the impact of urban flooding and water scarcity especially in Bengaluru city. In the UFP, she intends to gain a different perspective on the urban and learn new methods and skills that will help build a pathway to research and PhD track.
Nandinie Gupta
Nandinie Gupta is a sociologist from New Delhi, Delhi. Her academic training has drawn her towards urban transformations, political economy, capital, infrastructure, development, digital technology, labour and inequality affecting humans and non-humans. Nandinie’s other interests include films and audio-visual communication integrated into research to understand the complexities of urban issues and their mitigation. Through the UFP, she aims to build an understanding of big data, spatial information, and develop practical skills necessary for field research to incorporate communication for journalistic and academic dissemination.
Nikeita Saraf
Nikeita Saraf is an architect from Thane, Maharashtra with an interest in humanities, design and field-based research. Her interests also include documenting everyday things through lists, notes, illustrations, writing and storytelling. She aims to engage with various fields in the urban through the UFP and declutter ideas pertaining to the relationship between society and urban, learn various methods in data collection and research to better inform her practice.
Niyoshi Parekh
Niyoshi Parekh is from Mumbai, Maharashtra with academic training in architecture and computer science. She is interested in solving urban planning and policy challenges using a combination of research, design, data, participatory planning, mixed methods research and advocacy. In the UFP, she aims to broaden her perspective on urban specific to the economy, governance, legal and political systems that shape socio-ecological urban conditions in India and gain exposure to contemporary intervention to direct her efforts towards building urban equity in India.
Pema C Bhutia
Pema C Bhutia is an architect from Kabi, Sikkim with active participation in various civic engagements, urbanism and planning which has drawn her to explore effective methods in conducting them and connecting them with the system. She believes the UFP will expand her limited understanding of the urban systems by helping her identify the appropriate methods and develop skills to enable her contribution back home to the various collectives she is engaged with in the long term who carry a vision to make Sikkim a better place to live.
Prabhanjan Singh
Prabhanjan Singh is from Lakhisarai, Bihar with academic training in accounting and finance. He enjoys participating in and conducting quizzes as well as reading books. Through the UFP, he intends to make a shift in his career trajectory to understand the process of transportation planning in cities through the perspectives of various stakeholders including the government, urban planners and citizen participation. He looks forward to engaging in field-based projects to engage with the urban and pick up insights from his cohort through their disciplinary perspectives.
Priyadharshini Sridhar
Priyadharshini Sridhar hails from Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu with academic training in economics. Her experience in teaching and interacting with students gave her an experience to understand different thought processes and experiences in society. Through the UFP, she intends to know why cities are not always inclusive to marginalised urban communities and help her understand this query through multiple dimensions that will lead to research and implementation of the same.
Priyanka Salunkhe
Priyanka Salunkhe is an architect from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her research affiliation at the MIT Senseable City Lab brought to light different layers and complexities of the urban while working on architectural projects. In the UFP, she intends to address the gaps and challenges she encountered while exploring the urban through the spatial lens of the built environment and looks forward to engaging with critical complexities through different layers of the urban. She believes the UFP serves as a pivotal platform to transition insights into the realm of city planning through the framework of law and policy to shape environments that bring a sense of belonging amongst citizens.
Rohit M
Rohit M is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu with academic training in history, sociology and environmental studies. His research interests incline towards the idea of socio-technical imaginaries on inherent value systems of different technologies that influence the vision for the future and the relationship between city development and social justice. Through the UFP, he intends to explore the socio-cultural dimensions of urban planning to understand how technical experts look at the city and incorporate insights into his work.
Rubaiya Qazi
Rubaiya Qazi hails from Bahabpur, West Bengal with academic training in English and mass communication. She considers English majors to act as a gateway to languages, cultures, history, societies, practices and beliefs. Through the UFP, she aims to be involved in green projects by building the tools required to make a career in this field.
Sabarinath D
Sabarinath D is a geographer from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala with a research interest in urban climate change, GIS, Remote sensing and hydrology. His work experience includes public talks and educational content creation. He intends to equip himself with the skills required to draw meaningful research and find solutions in the Urban.
Sai Ganesh Akarapu
Sai Ganesh Akarapu hails from Mahbubabad, Telangana with academic training in biotechnology and sociology. He was a November 2022 cohort Fellow at Ideosync UNESCO Information Fellowship (IUIF). Sai Ganesh hopes to pursue a PhD from abroad in the future and contribute to the anti-caste discourse focusing on OBC issues. In the UFP, he intends to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Urban and analyse it from an anti-caste perspective and looks forward to enhancing his research writing skills that would help his career further.
Sameer Bajaj
Sameer Bajaj hails from New Delhi, Delhi with academic training in political science. His interests lie at the intersection of Indian politics, global South theory, urban design and planning. He aims to research and develop framework solutions centred around issues in Indian urban planning. Through the UFP, he intends to deep dive into the subject by combining classroom learning and fieldwork to refine theoretical understanding by engaging with different perspectives offered by peers and faculty.
Sanju Jayakumar
Sanju Jayakumar is a civil engineer from Kozhikode, Kerala with work experience in KEC International Ltd as a planning engineer in Chennai and Goa. He also interned with district administration of Kozhikode to work on various issues concerning the district. He sees UFP as a platform to learn about urban problems and expand on perspectives to create sustainable solutions to them. He looks forward to gaining clarity to the complexities of the urban through the expertise the UFP faculty brings.
Shivaji Nivrutti Thorat
Shivaji Nivrutti Thorat hails from Ambad, Maharashtra with academic training in social sciences. He intends to explore diverse opportunities for urban issues through an interdisciplinary approach with peers from various disciplinary backgrounds. Through the UFP, he aims to gain clarity on the pathway to focus his career trajectory in the urban.
Shreshtha Singh
Shreshtha Singh is from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh with a disciplinary background in social sciences. She is interested in exploring themes of gender, sexuality, social justice and the intersections of psychology and sociology. Through the UFP, she intends to explore how urban planning and policy can help improve gender equality and enable authentic representation of varying identities in the urban setting. Shreshtha is keen to learn through intersectional methods to understand conflict and complexities related to various identities in the urban space which will help her choose a focused career trajectory to make real-life impact.
Simranjeet Kaur
Simranjeet Kaur hails from New Delhi, Delhi with academic training in political science. Her interest aligns with understanding the effects of urbanisation within Kusumpur Pahadi slum region in Delhi, with a focus on the hardships of illegal residence, housing buildings and land conflict becoming the context and substance of a new urban citizenship. She intends to concrete her ideas through the UFP by exploring global south theories with changing trends across the world and learning new perspectives from individuals from diverse professional backgrounds to allow her to think outside the box to shape her career in research.
Sneha Deka
Sneha Deka is a geographer from Guwahati, Assam. She is interested in uncovering temporal changes in physical and human worlds and the integrated relationship between the locals and urbanisation creeping into their lands. Through the UFP, she aims to learn and explore the vast possibilities of the urban from various lenses and develop a more focused pathway to implement her learnings from development geography into solving real-time problems.
Sonia Karandika
Sonia Karandika hails from Mumbai, Maharashtra with academic training in social sciences. Her work experience in the private and social sector has equipped her with implementation skills by deconstructing narratives, questioning ideas and identifying blind spots in iterations of social change drawn by her interest in decoding the intersection of gender, labour and questions of citizenship in the urban. In the UFP, she aims to find new vocabulary to articulate perspectives and learn new skills that will help build a diverse form of contemporary urban practice and design interdisciplinary interventions that will open up opportunities ranging from research to implementation roles.
Sridevi M V
Sridevi M V is an architect from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She is interested in art and architecture with a zeal to expand her perspective through other disciplines that will enrich her perspectives in design interventions. In the UFP, she aims to network with peers and faculty from various disciplines to develop new ways of seeing and comprehending many layers of the urban that will better inform her practice as an architect.
Subhash Surekha Suresh
Subhash Surekha Suresh hails from Muktainagar, Maharashtra with a bachelor’s degree in management studies and a master’s in social work. His interests include gender equality, women empowerment, migrant workers, and tribal welfare. In the UFP, he aims to develop his skills from teaching and peer learning to build his career in research and policy planning.
Sukriti Pandey
Sukriti Pandey hails from Ranchi, Jharkhand with a disciplinary background in Sociology. Her interest lies in studying the intersections of environment and urban sociology specific to how cities in the global South can become climate resilient through design and policy implementation to equip smaller cities and urban areas inhabited by the most destitute and vulnerable populace against the vagaries of climate change. In the UFP, she hopes to interact and work with experts on sustainable urbanisation to gain critical insight into myriad ways of imaging and planning for India’s urbanisation through innovative problem-solving and build her career trajectory in policy research.
Sunny Kumar Gupta
Sunny Kumar Gupta is an architect from New Delhi, Delhi with experience in community development projects across Tamil Nadu and Kerala through his work in Studio Recyclebin. In the UFP, he aims to expand his knowledge and skill to help address urban challenges faced by our society and help him build a practice that pushes the boundaries of habitat production allowing him to create pathways for communities to create sustainable living conditions for themselves.
Tejas Wakde
Tejas Wakde hails from Mumbai, Maharashtra with a bachelor’s degree in paramedical technology – forensic medicine and criminal psychiatry with an interest in urban public health. In the UFP, he aims to learn new skills that are required to make a positive impact on urban challenges affecting human health. Furthermore, he is interested in understanding interdisciplinar
Thalari Jeevan Kumar
Thalari Jeevan Kumar hails from Mahabubabad, Telangana with academic training in biology and anthropology. His disciplinary background in anthropology gave him answers to draw parallels between archaic human societies to contemporary ones. He sees UFP as an opportunity that will help him untie the closely knitted complexities of Indian and other global cities through a multidisciplinary approach, research and hands-on experience. He also aims to redefine his idea of Urban in practice and academics to explore innovative approaches to urban issues that will build him a pathway for a doctoral programme.
Thejangunuo Keretsu
Thejangunuo Keretsu is a geographer from Kohima, Nagaland with a keen interest in understanding human relations with the environment, particularly in social and cultural aspects. In the UFP, she hopes to equip herself with various research methods and broaden her understanding through the exploration of studies related to urbanisation. She believes that it will help her understand issues in the urban specific to inequalities and their impact, planning of small urban towns and unfavourable geographic places, and public response to urban growth.
Upasana Patgiri
Upasana Patgiri is an urban planner from Guwahati, Assam with work experience in private and government entities focusing on master plan preparation and urban governance. Her interest lies in making meaningful contributions to community participation, empowerment and sustainable development in urban environments. In the UFP, she aims to understand and address urban complexities through the programme curriculum, hands-on learning and exposure to diverse layers in the urban to better inform her practice as an urban planner.
Vaishali Upadhya
Vaishali Upadhya hails from New Delhi, Delhi with academic training in sustainable urbanism and development studies. She is interested in the housing sector pertaining to homelessness, slum dwellings segregated and excluded by the society and state based on their caste, class and creed. In the UFP, she aims to enhance her understanding of the Urban and the various perspectives associated with it, as it will prepare her for field-based projects, and produce research papers for advocacy.