Research openings

We are always looking for bright and motivated students to join our research initiatives. Passionate and curious about research? Undergraduates, YIF or MLS, or even fellows are welcome. I usually look at three things while evaluating one's application, other than your academic achievements.

• Research aptitude - If you have prior experience, great, even if you do not, and this would be your first exposure to research, I encourage you to apply still . You do need to have idea about basic statistical concepts, null hypothesis significance testing and research methods. For psychology majors I ask for SRMII as a prerequisite. Students from other programs can show me other coursework that they have taken at Ashoka or elsewhere (YIF/MLS).
• Ethics and integrity- Research ethics and integrity are very important for me and everyone in my group. If you come to my research group, please know that I have a zero tolerance policy towards plagirarism and any tampering with raw data. This lies at the core of research. Good data is not necessarily sensational data. There will never be any compromise with methodological rigour.
• Interpersonal skills- Community engagement and knowledge of Hindi are essential if you're interested in the psychology based projects. We can teach you good interviewing skills, but if you have a flair for talking to people from all socioeconomic and political backgrounds, it will help you manifold. Also, the environment in our group is very collegiate, people collaborate rather than competing within the group. These qualities are very important for me to consider too.

So if our any aspect of our research excites you, and you would be interested to work with us, please write to me (simi@ashoka.edu.in) with a CV and a one page statement of interest. (what project(s) already described or what new project that aligns with the broader interest of my group would you liked to be involved in and why?)

If you are a prospective PhD applicant in Biology wanting to work with me, please send me an email much ahead of time, before you actually apply, because you will need to have a co-mentor from the Biology department. I need to check apriori with my colleagues in biology if a mutually agrreable situation can be reached.

We look forward to reading your applications!