Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas of work
Public health, public policy and governance, disaster risk and climate adaptation, labour welfare, human resource management and social development.
Primary areas of expertise and research interest
- Transdisciplinary research in public health, pandemics, disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation and growing inequality (green governance)
- New Public Management and global health governance
- Public-private partnerships in healthcare service delivery
- Public health law and health system management, including digital health infrastructure
- Corporate social responsibility, labour welfare and corporate governance
- Human resource management and human happiness at the workplace
- Regulatory, network and multilevel governance
- State, civil society and non-profit management
Doctoral courses at JNU (co-teaching)
- Research Methodology
- Governance-I: Theories and Concepts
- State, Society and Public Administration
- Research and Publication Ethics
- Social Science Perspectives in Disaster Risk Reduction
- Happiness and Public Policy for Sustainable Development
Earlier teaching
At the Central University of Tamil Nadu and Jamia Millia Islamia he taught courses including Health System Management, Research Methodology for Public Health, Determinants of Health, Social Policy, Civil Society and Governance, Fund Raising and Donor Management, Strategic Human Resource Management and the Science of Happiness. He designed the post-master's Advanced Diploma in Public Health at Jamia Millia Islamia and developed the M.Sc. in Epidemiology and Public Health at CUTN.
Approximately 20,700 participants trained
Professional training programmes, relief work and community service recorded in the CV include:
- Higher education teachers (FDPs, CDPs, research methodology, refresher and orientation courses): about 3,500
- Awareness and capacity building on drug abuse prevention for students: about 3,500
- COVID-19 health and development webinars, FDPs and virtual symposiums: about 3,000
- Postgraduate and undergraduate students: about 2,000
- Human happiness programmes: about 2,000
- Cyclone relief work in four villages: about 1,500
- PhD scholars and postdocs (research methodology workshops): about 1,250
- Child-centric disaster risk reduction: about 1,200
- Disaster risk reduction and management: about 1,100
- School teachers and head teachers: about 900
- Development professionals, NSS volunteers and MSW students: about 600
- Police training programme (Happy Station Officers): 52
Service to journals and research councils
Editorial roles
- Associate Editor, SN Social Sciences (Springer Nature)
- Guest Editor, MDPI Sustainability special issue on coastal hazards, disaster management and climate change
- Topic Editor, Frontiers in Water research topic on sanitation workers in South Asia
- Co-editor, International Journal of Business Anthropology (2015–2019)
Peer review
BMJ Open, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (Elsevier), BMC Public Health, PLOS One, Sage open access journals, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI), Indian Journal of Public Health and Springer book proposals.
Research proposal review
Subject expert for the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), University Grants Commission (UGC) and the CSIR-ASPIRE scheme.
Connect for academic engagement.
For academic engagement, collaboration and networking; public policy review and analysis; and happiness and well-being programmes.