Keynote Speakers

Professor Richa Nagar’s antidisciplinary and transgenre scholarship, creative writing, and cultural work in English, Hindustani, and Awadhi refuse the categories and borders of academia, arts, and activism. She strives to build enduring alliances with people's struggles while engaging questions of ethics, responsibility, and justice through knowledge making. Nagar enjoys the title of Professor of the College in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, and she holds affiliations with Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies; Geography, Environment, and Society; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; American Studies; Institute on the Environment; and Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change. She also holds honorary appointments in the Graduate Program in Political Science at York University in Toronto (Canada), Gender and Women's Studies Research Centre at Kadir Has University in Istanbul (Turkey), and the Department of Sociology at Savitribai Phule Pune University (India). Her eight books include the trilogy--Playing with Fire: Feminist Thought and Activism through Seven Lives in India (2006), Muddying the Waters: Coauthoring Feminisms Across Scholarship and Activism (2014), and Hungry Translations: Relearning the World Through Radical Vulnerability (2019). Other works include the books, A World of Difference: Encountering and Contesting Development (2009) and Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis (2010) and dozens of articles, essays, plays, and poems in leading academic journals and literary outlets. Richa has won many awards, accolades, and fellowships nationally and internationally--including the James Blaut award for Critical and Socialist Geography, the Global Development Studies Book Award, the McKnight Presidential Award, and her work appears on The Rumpus's list on "What to Read when you want to celebrate women's history." Her work has been translated into Bahasa Indonesia, German, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Marathi, Turkish, and Urdu. Professor Nagar has worked closely with the Sangtin movement of farmers and laborers in India, and she has co-built a multi-sited community theater project called Parakh. She is a founding co-editor of the online, open-access, open-genre journal, AGITATE! Unsettling Knowledges.

Deevia Bhana’s research reflects a long-standing focus on children and young people, challenging the marginalisation of gender and sexuality in the study of childhood, while opening up and confronting children and young peoples’ experiences of gender inequalities, heterosexual domination and violence and addressing the educational response to these problems. This research has catalysed fresh interdisciplinary approaches to theorising gender and childhood sexuality within material experience underwritten by historical forces, age, race, class while actively expanding the theoretical and epistemological horizons of research in childhood sexuality as it engages with the global field with epistemic diversity. The research is of particular significance given the low profile given to researching childhood sexuality in educational development and in the Global South. The research is deeply aligned to the broader political commitment that young people are deserving of safety, better educational and economic outcomes and gender equality. Deevia has published over 147 scientific papers and book chapters. She is the author/co-author of 7 books and has co-edited 4 books. Her sole authored books include Girls and the Negotiation of Porn in South Africa: Power, Play and Sexuality (2022, Routledge); Love, Sex and Teenage Sexual Cultures in South Africa (2018, Routledge); Gender and Childhood Sexuality in the Primary School (2016, Springer); Childhood Sexuality and AIDS Education: The Price of Innocence (2016, Routledge) and Under Pressure: The Regulation of Sexualities in South African Secondary Schools (2014, MaThoko’s Books). Her latest co-edited books are Gender, sexuality and violence in South African educational spaces (2021, Palgrave Macmillan) and Sex and Sexualities, Sexual Health and Justice: Perspectives from Southern Africa (2022, Routledge).

Her work appears in leading journals such as AIDS Education & Prevention; British Educational Research Journal; British Journal of Sociology of Education; Early Years: An International Research Journal; European Early Childhood Education Research; Gender & Education; Health Education; International Journal of Educational Development; International Journal of Inclusive Education; Journal of Southern African Studies; NORMA; Pedagogy, Culture & Society; Sex Education; Sexualities; Social Science and Medicine, Youth Studies.

She is one of the Editors-in-Chief of Children & Society (Wiley), Pedagogy, Culture and Society (Taylor & Francis) and is an Associate Editor of Health Education Journal (Sage). She is currently the co-Chair of RINGS (International Research Association of Institutions of Advanced Gender Studies) and a Board Member of Comparative International Education Society (CIES).

Manju Singh has 15+ years experience as Full Professor in Economics with more than three and half decade of accomplished well recognized teaching and research career in renowned Institutions of higher education. Presently Professor in Department of Humanities and Social Science at Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan (One of the national institute of Importance in India). Recipient of Sir Ratan Tata Fellow Award from London School of Economics, UK and ICSSR Doctoral Fellow, Prof Singh is the recipient of several recognitions. She is the holder of an Associate Fellowship from the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla and was a Micro Finance Research Alliance Program (MRAP) participant funded by the Ford Foundation. Awarded Full scholarship for the Global Network of Government Innovators at KSG, Harvard University, USA, Fellowship at University of Windsor, Canada and Visiting fellowship for Wawasan University, Penang , Malaysia. She is a certified Mentor under UNESCO chair from University of Victoria, Canada and was also established one of the Hubs as Coordinator for Community based participatory research in India.

Main research interests are development economics, higher education, technology diffusion, gender and diversity management. Have a extensive experience in social engineering research projects funded by Ford Foundation and other agencies like ICSSR, UGC, DSIR, Planning Commission and Govt of Meghalya etc . Supervised 17 doctoral research scholars. Regular reviewer and quality publications in peer reviewed, indexed journals to her credit. Skilled at orchestrating innovative UG and PG programmes and courses including MOOC. Contributed in developing engaged campus for social impact.

Prof Gyanmudra is currently working as Professor & Chairperson in the School of Gender Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad Campus, India. Earlier She worked as Professor & Head in the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad (2002-2020). She started her career as a Psychologist in Defence Research Development Organisation, India (1987-2002). She was awarded a PhD (Psychology) from Allahabad University, India and her interested areas of specialization is in Organizational Behaviour & Human Resources; Gender issues and Community Health; Rural Development; Training, Research methodology and Participatory Methods; Psychometric Techniques Involving Personality Assessment, Recruitment etc. She has around 75 Publications and Research projects including participation and presentation at international conferences in various countries. She organised around 350 national & international training programmes. She is an alumnus of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. She was part of the Human Capital Management Programme by the Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines. She is a member of the International Advisory Council of Asia-Pacific Consortium of Researchers and Educators, Inc. She is also a member of many national and international Organisations of repute.