Dr Dipanjali Deka, Visiting Assistant Professor, Centre for Writing and Pedagogy presented a lecture-demonstration in Jindal Global University on 8 April 2025 titled ‘The Art of Dying – Songs and Dohas of Kabir and other Nirguni Poets’. In the presentation, Dr Deka examined the questions of orality, memory, fluidity and relevance in the living tradition of Kabir, through the themes of social and religious criticism, death and impermanence, non-duality and love in Kabir’s philosophy.
An article co-authored by Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies and Dr Soumyajit Bhar, BML Munjal University, titled Why sustainable development ought to look more like Costa Rica, less like Norway has been recently published in 360info. The article deep dives into the question, “which countries have achieved decent living standards in a way that could be scaled worldwide without severely breaking planetary limits?”
Dr Sambaiah Gundimeda, Associate Professor, Politics, SIAS was invited to speak on the panel “Caste and Equality” at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, during its annual conference on “The Courts and the Constitution”, held from 29-30 March 2025. Dr Gundimeda discussed a recent Supreme Court verdict on the sub-classification of Scheduled Caste reservations in Davinder Singh v State of Punjab, 2024.
Dr Gundimeda, in his discussion, critiqued Justice Bela Trivedi’s dissenting opinion, which asserts that Scheduled Castes (SCs) should be treated as a homogeneous group without internal divisions in reservations. He countered this by emphasising the diversity within SCs, the dominance of certain Dalit sub-castes in availing reservation benefits, and the structural inequalities that necessitate sub-classification.
He argued that true justice is not merely about treating all SCs as equals but about ensuring that the most marginalised within the category receive the support they need. Additionally, he addressed broader themes of structural injustice, representation, and systemic barriers that hinder equitable access to opportunities for the most disadvantaged SC sub-groups.
Dr Suchika Chopra, Assistant Professor, Economics, SIAS presented her research paper, titled ‘Home and Community-Based Services: A Strategy to Decrease Nursing Home Use?’ at the 17th Annual Conference of the German Association of Health Economics at the University of Paderborn on 25 March 2025. The paper explores the impact of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) on nursing home utilisation by looking at county-level changes in HCBS establishments and their employees.
Abhayraj Naik, Visiting Associate Professor of Practice, Environmental Studies, SIAS, recently co-authored an analysis essay with Parul Kumar, PhD candidate, KU Leuven and Deputy Executive Director, EPICO KlimaInnovation titled Endangered Birds, Renewable Energy, and India’s New Constitutional Climate Right, published in the Journal of Environmental Law (Oxford University Press). This essay examines India’s first major climate litigation ruling — the Supreme Court’s 2024 judgment in M.K. Ranjitsinh and Others v. Union of India and Others.
Dr Sairam Moturi, Assistant Professor, Finance, Accounting, and Quantitative Finance, IFMR GSB, conducted a workshop on Financing Startups using LEGO blocks as part of a Faculty Development Program. Sponsored by the Ministry of Education Innovation Cell and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the program was held at IISER-Tirupati on 27 March 2025. Faculty members from universities and colleges across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu attended the workshop.
Under the guidance of Nagarani M, Associate Professor, OB & HR and Head of Placements, IFMR GSB, Professor Srinivasan Kalyanasundaram, Professor of Practice, Finance, IFMR GSB and Suresh Kurukkath, Senior Manager, Placements, IFMR GSB represented Krea University at the UK-India Skills Mission Meeting. The event, coordinated by the IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council of NASSCOM, was hosted at the British High Commission on 21 March 2025 in Chennai.
The gathering brought together leading Chartered Institutes and Certificate Awarding Institutions from the UK, fostering discussions on collaboration opportunities to enhance industry-relevant skills among students. These engagements pave the way for international partnerships, internships, and certifications, further enriching students’ career trajectories.
Sathyanarayanan R, Sundram Fasteners Associate Professor, Marketing, IFMR GSB has authored an article titled The digital-physical nexus: How brands are blending real and virtual worlds in the second edition of the State of the Brands 2025 global report. His invited article explores how brands create hybrid experiences that merge the physical and digital, from virtual shopping to immersive brand storytelling.
Download the report here
Dr Lakshmi Narayanan, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS, has co-authored a paper titled Cross-equatorial travelling ionospheric disturbances and changes in background ionospheric densities over Indian longitudes during the geomagnetic storm of 20–21 December 2015, which has been published in Advances in Space Research. This study examines the ionospheric response over the Indian region during a space weather event in December 2015. Additionally, it tracks a propagating disturbance in the ionosphere that originated in the Australian sector and dissipated over North India. Such wave disturbances play a crucial role in the energy distribution of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. This research is the result of a collaborative effort among scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; UCAR, USA; the Indian Center for Space Physics, Kolkata; the Airports Authority of India; and Krea University.
Read the paper here
An article co-authored by Nickhil Sharma, Visiting Faculty, SIAS, titled, Intersectional analysis of visual generative AI: the case of stable diffusion has been published in AI & Society.
The article critically examines Stable Diffusion, a widely used open-source visual Generative AI tool, through an intersectional lens. It explores how AI-generated imagery can perpetuate existing social hierarchies—including sexism, racism, heteronormativity, and ableism—by defaulting to representations that are often white, able-bodied, and masculine-presenting. It also highlights the dominance of Euro- and North America-centric aesthetic norms within these outputs.
Importantly, the article moves beyond questions of bias in outputs to interrogate the institutional and ideological frameworks that inform the design and deployment of these tools. As digital technologies increasingly shape our political and social lives, the work underscores the importance of analysing the structures and ideas that produce them.
The authors advocate for a reparative and social justice-oriented approach to visual generative AI—one that actively addresses the injustices these systems can reinforce and imagines more inclusive and equitable technological futures.
The team invites readers to explore the full article and engage in the broader conversation on equity and accountability in AI development.
Read the full article here