Executive Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Chair - Intitutional Review Board

ashwini_chhatre@isb.edu

Ashwini Chhatre is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the ISB.  As the Academic Director of the Bharti Institute, Prof. Chhatre is responsible for identifying research priorities and setting the overall direction of the institute. His research interests broadly centre on the interactions between democratisation, economic development, and environmental governance.

Associate Director - Bharti Institute of Public Policy

aarushi_jain@isb.edu

Aarushi Jain has wide experience and expertise in the Public Policy domain as a faculty, administrator as well as a project specialist. She is currently working as the Associate Director of Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business. She is Ph.D (Pub Admn), Double Post Graduate (Pub Admn and HR), UGC-NET/JRF/SRF and an Accredited Management Teacher (AMT) in Public Policy. She has been a visiting scholar at Duke University, USA.

She has previously worked as Chairman, Rural Development and CSR, International Chamber of Service Industry and at various institutions including the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Indus International University and Himachal Consultancy Organization etc. She is a visiting faculty to various premier institutions including NCGG, LBSNAA, HIPA, IGNFA, IIAS, NACIN etc. She has had a long association with National Centre for Good Governance, LBSNAA, Mussourie, for research studies as state coordinator for Punjab and Himachal.

Dr. Jain has published a book on “Public Private Partnership and Corporate Social Responsibility” and has more than 40 publications in leading international and national journals. Her research interests include Public Policy and Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Rural Development, Education and Women and Girl Child issues. She has been a national level table tennis player and an international level quiz wizard. Dr Aarushi Jain takes keen interest in social work. Being the President of Redcross HWS in various districts of Himachal Pradesh,

she has worked extensively on social issues as women empowerment, save the girl child campaign, health and education etc. She has been honoured and acclaimed for her efforts on various occasions, both at the state and national level. 

Visiting Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow - Bharti Institute of Public Policy

avik_sarkar@isb.edu

Dr. Avik Sarkar is Faculty at Indian School of Business working in the areas of Data, Emerging Technology and Public Policy. Dr. Avik Sarkar was the former Head of Data Analytics Cell and Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) premier policy think-tank of Government of India.  At NITI Aayog, Dr. Sarkar helped in  developing roadmap for use of data, analytics and artificial intelligence for Governance, Policy making across various sectors for India's inclusive growth and led efforts towards setting up the first High Performance Computing based Data Analytics Lab and Energy Modeling Unit at NITI Aayog.

Data Scientist

agnidhra_ghosh@isb.edu

With a degree in Computer Science and Technology Engineering from IIEST, Shibpur, Agnidhra Ghosh has worked previously as a data scientist for companies such as Mu Sigma and TCG Digital and made a foray into banking by becoming a Probationary Officer at SBI. By the time he became a Deputy Manager, he knew that he wanted to get back to his true love: solving problems with data driven analytics. With exposure to various verticals, from building an early warning fraud detection system for an insurance giant to building a platform to help pharma companies identify patient matches for clinical trials, Agnidhra has worked mainly using Machine Learning in Python, as well as SQL and Excel for exploratory data analysis. Apart from work, he enjoys reading fantasy/sci-fi, playing video games, and watching stand-up comedy.

Project Coordinator

amrita_chakraborty@isb.edu

Before joining the Bharti Institute, Amrita was working as a Sr. Academic Associate (Teaching Assistant) in ISB for the Management and Executive Programmes. Her previous association with IIM Bangalore as an Intern introduced and equipped her to the research areas of Finance and Accounting and have been strengthened with her experience at ISB. Amrita's interests are in the areas of Corporate Governance, Initial Public Offerings, Financial Modelling & Investment research, Financial Analysis and Valuation. She holds an MBA in Finance from School of Management, KIIT University. She likes to play tunes on her Sitar when not working.

Outreach Coordinator

anshi_rajkhowa@isb.edu

Anshi Rajkhowa has a master’s degree in Agricultural communication from GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar and a diploma in Video Editing & TV Production from AAFT, Noida. At Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP), ISB Mohali, she works as an Outreach Coordinator. Prior to joining BIPP, she worked with some of the top TV News channels in India like Zee News, Aaj Tak, CNN-IBN and India Today in various positions in TV Programming and Assignment desk. Her core areas of expertise can be summed up as forward planning, political events, socio-economic causes and amplification of productivity.

Research Associate

apurva_d@isb.edu

Apurva holds a Masters degree in Natural Resources and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and has been associated with ISB as a Research Associate (RA) since the last one year. She has been actively working on Forest related datasets and currently is a part of the Forest Governance team. She has played an instrumental role in- Setting up of Socio-Ecological Monitoring System, Project Monitoring System and CFR.

Her work at IDP is to make the content available in a regional language (Telugu) and help in making visualizations for social media channels. 

Sr Content Developer

avantika_sharma@isb.edu

With a Bachelor’s degree in English from Panjab University, and a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Guru Jambeshwar University, Avantika has worked with Rediffusion as a filmmaker; Creative Director in a Media Education institute; Content Developer for a Canadian company, and as Language Learning Specialist creating blended learning softwares for government and private stakeholders. Having studied film and television direction from New York Film Academy, London, and Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, she learnt the nuances of Screenwriting from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, and of Cinematography from the Asian Academy of Film and T.V., Noida. She had also been associated with several Punjabi and Hindi feature films as an Assistant Director. Avantika enjoys travelling and singing, apart from psychology, which she has pursued for five years with enthusiasm.

Communication Lead

deepti_soni@isb.edu

Deepti Soni is Head Communications at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) at the Indian School of Business, Mohali. She has a post graduate in Advertising and Public Relations from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. With over 20 years of professional experience, her earlier assignments include Spokesperson and Head of Communications at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation covering India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives; Head of Digital Diplomacy and Media and Communications Adviser at the British High Commission in New Delhi. Deepti loves movies, food, travelling and outdoor activities.

Sr. Data Scientist

gursharan_singh@isb.edu

Gursharan is an experienced Programmer and a Data Professional holding a Master's degree in Information Technology. He is currently working as a Senior Data Scientist at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali. Prior to ISB, he worked as a Team Lead & Manager in the AI Department of Netsmartz, Chandigarh. He has worked in a variety of roles in the software industry, healthcare, and taxation domain. A large portion of his work revolved around developing data-oriented solutions with involvement in the application's full-stack (front-end & back-end). He has experience in data modelling, architecting python backends, data Management (ETL), data wrangling, planning & execution of AI solutions. The specific fields of AI which he has worked in are predictive analytics, forecasting, computer vision, and natural language processing.

Research Associate

hemanth_guthala@isb.edu

Hemanth Guthala holds a master’s degree in Quantitative Economics from Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi and Bachelors in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He is currently working with the  Forest Governance team on the Project management tool and research on sustainability issues. Prior to this, he had worked as a consultant for Deloitte USI.

Content Developer

preeti_1@isb.edu

She has joined ISB as a Content Developer at Mohali. She has worked as a Graphics Designer for 11 years. Her experience incorporated blending a myriad of typography, animation, audio, video and graphic designing techniques. She has also conducted sessions on multimedia software for international batches. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts (painting stream) and Post Graduate Diploma in Animation & Multimedia from C-DAC Mohali. Also, She is Post Graduate in English from Panjab University.

Her hobbies are lying in the area of design, photography and music. She is very much fond of music, dance and sports activities and have participated in a number of cultural programs during academic & job career.  

Sr Data Specialist

rahuldubey_k@isb.edu

Rahul Dubey holds a degree in International Banking, Finance and Risk Management from GCU London, a Master’s in Computer Application from Christ University, Banglore and a Bachelors in Commerce (Computer Application) from Dr GR Damodaran CAS, Coimbatore. At Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP), ISB Mohali, he works as a Senior Data Specialist. Before joining BIPP, he worked in various industries in India and the UK in multiple AI and cloud computing domains. He has a keen interest in IoT and has worked on various consulting and IT project management. His core areas of expertise can be summed up as image processing (OpenCV), conversation UI.

Manager

sangeetha_hariharan@isb.edu

Sangeetha graduated with a Master’s degree in Information Management from University of Maryland, College Park. While pursuing her Masters she also worked as a Graduate Assistant in the Behavioral Lab, at the Robert H. Smith School of Business where she was responsible for end to end management of research studies starting from subject pool allocation to generating reports and capturing things such as participation rates, subject pool utilization, etc. . She started her Career in Clifford Chance LLP, a leading global law firm, where she worked for 4 years at various levels across India, Middle East and Europe in their finance division. Currently she is handling Prof. Ashwini Chhatre’s grants which broadly fall under the umbrella of Forest Governance.

Sr. Content Developer

shahid_mohammed@isb.edu

For the last 15 years, he has been heading post production & creative communications of various films, television and digital media content, documentaries & promos. He has an enriched experience of content creation from ideation to execution in both broadcasting and non- broadcasting platforms. In academics Master Degree in Economics from C.C.S. University, Meerut (UP), & Bachelor Degree of Commerce from C.C.S. University, Meerut.

Sr. Research Analyst

sridhar_kundu@isb.edu

Sridhar Kundu is a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has over 15 years of work experiences in research and teaching. He is double post-graduate in Economics and Environmental Economics and has qualified UGC NET in Economics.

At Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP), ISB Mohali, he works as a Senior Research Analyst. Before joining BIPP, he worked as a Senior Research Officer at Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability for about six years and as an Assistant Professor at Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune for about 3 years. Along with this, he worked as a researcher in various research institutes such as, Observer Research Foundation, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and taught undergraduate economics in various colleges under Delhi University as a non-permanent faculty.

His core areas of research are fiscal policies, poverty and inequality, and energy economics. He is good at large scale data management, management of unit level survey data in STATA. He likes to teach development economics, econometrics and public finance. He has publications in reputed journals, and edited book volumes.

Sr Research Fellow

surya_kandukuri@isb.edu

Surya Kandukuri is an engineer coupled with 7+ years of experience as a Data Consultant and Project Lead in the realm of Databases, Data Mining, Data Acquisition – scraping, APIs and Web Services, Data Visualization, Data Journalism, Statistical Modelling, Open Data, Government Partnerships and Relations. His key areas of work include implementation of Open Data Policy of IT E&C Department, Government of Telangana since its inception, various partnerships with government/quasi-government organizations, and private organizations. He is also an alumnus of ISB’s Advanced Management Program in Business Analytics (AMPBA). His research interests lie in Agriculture, Employment, History. He enjoys philosophy, photography, art, and music.