CV

2020 - 2024 MPhil/PhD Social Research Methods, London School of Economics and Political Science, (UK)

Thesis title: Examining ‘psychosocial disability’ in India: construction, concerns, collaborations, and contestations

2021 -  Senior research fellow, Center for Mental Health, Human Rights, and Social Justice, University of Essex (UK)

2021 - Co-coordinator of Mad Thinking, University of Essex (UK) and the Center for Inclusive Policy (Switzerland)

Mad Thinking (co-led by Alberto Vasquez, Center for Inclusive Policy) is a knowledge generation platform which enables research led by users,       survivors, persons with psychosocial disabilities, amplifies voices and knowledges from the global South, and connects researchers and activists with each other.

2021 - Co-founder of Mad Sad Fat Crip

Mad Sad Fat Crip (co-led by Akanksha Mehta, Goldsmiths University of London) is a project of intentional study, collective learning and fostering community rooted in disability justice.

2021- Visiting Research Associate, Service User Research Enterprise, King’s College London (UK)

2016-2017      MSc Global Mental Health, King’s College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (London, UK)

Thesis: Friend or Foe? Attitudes of Mental Health Professionals Towards User Involvement: A Systematic Review (With distinction)

2009-2012    MSc Clinical Psychology, Christ University (Bangalore, India)

Thesis: Body Image Concerns and Internalised Homo-negativity in Gay Men

2006-2009    BA Psychology, Fergusson College (Pune, India)

Additional Training:

2017             Archival Training Course, Institute of Historical Research (London, UK)

2018             NVIVO Training (University of Surrey, UK)

2017             An Introduction to Oral History (British Library and the Oral History Society, UK)

2017-2021    Research Assistant, Service User Research Enterprise, King’s College London (London, UK)

Survivor researcher and lead on Global South on EURIKHA—a Wellcome Trust funded user-led project exploring knowledges created by mental health service users, survivors, and persons with psychosocial disabilities through activism, advocacy, and research.

The position involved interviewing key figures in the field using methods influenced by Oral History, critical discourse analysis, and dissemination on academic and non-academic platforms. It also involved working closely with our global collaborators (Jayasree Kalathil, Survivor Research; Michael Njenga, Users and Survivors of Psychiatry Kenya; Alberto Vasquez, Office of the Special Rapporteur, United Nations)

2012-2016    Workshop Designer (Part-time) at Firefly (Mumbai, India)

A start-up organisation that aims to re-configure Indian education by addressing topics such as mental health, sexuality, health, and life skills using interactive workshops

2012-2012    Case Manager at ENFOLD Proactive Trust (Bangalore, India)

A civil society organisation working to reduce child sexual abuse by conducting sensitivity training with various stakeholders and working closely with the Government of Karnataka, India.

2011-2012    Clinical psychology internships

MANASA Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Bangalore, India

King Edward’s Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India

2009             National AIDS Control Organisation with Yellow Brick Road (Pune, India)

Involved in research and writing for a manual for peer-led interventions addressing suicidality in people living with HIV

2009             Research Assistantship at Yellow Brick Road (Pune, India) in collaboration with Search Institute (Minnesota, USA)

Research topic: Role of Spirituality in youth across the world

Ongoing collaborations

2020 - 2022  Lancet Commissioner and Co-Lead of Lived Experience Work Package,

Lancet Commission on Psychoses in a Global Context

• ‘Psychosocial disability and diversity: south-south collaborations, disability rights, and disability justice’ (Guest lecture, 2022)

Module: Global Health, Masters in Public Health

City University London, UK

• ‘Unsettling Global Mental Health: Unpacking Power, Epistemic Justice, and Coloniality’ (co-convener, 2021)

Series title: Psychologies of Liberation: Human Arts in a Global Context

Institute for the Development of Human Arts, USA 

• ‘Survivor knowledge production’ (Guest lecture, 2021, 2022)

Module: Society & Mental Health, MSc Global Mental Health

King’s College London, UK

• ‘Thinking differently about madness’ (Guest lecture, 2020)

Module: Mediating race, empire, and violence

Goldsmiths University of London, UK

• 2020 - 2024: LSE Studentship Award (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

• 2022: Research Grant Development Award, Foundation for the Sociology of Health &   Illness (£4200) to develop a participatory and co-produced grant application for the interdisciplinary project—Mapping Global Mental Health. The other co-applicants for the grant are China Mills (City University of London), Julie Hannah (University of Essex), and Alberto Vasquez (Center for Inclusive Policy)

• 2017: Global Mental Health Prize (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK)

Invited talks and panels

• ‘How to become an anti-racist mental health researcher’, McPin Foundation, UK (2020)

•  ‘Politics of participation in mental health’ School of Health and Social Care, University of Essex, UK (2020)

Conference presentations

• ‘Situating Psychosocial Disability: History and current configurations of mad identity politics in Asia’ 11th International Conference of Asia Scholars, University of Leiden, Netherlands (2019)

• ‘Quantifying Mental Health: Making knowledges count’ Advanced Studies Seminar, University of Oxford, UK (2019)

•  Workshop titled ‘Resolving the Tensions between Research and Advocacy’ HERON (Health Inequalities Research Network) Conference, King’s College London, UK (2018)

•  ‘Whose Knowledge Counts: Tensions, Questions, and Directions’ Global Mental Health and Therapeutic Assemblages, University of Sheffield, UK (2018)

• ‘Service User perspectives: Conflicts faced in Clinical Settings’ National Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Christ University, India (2010)

Public engagement events and consultations

• Co-facilitator, Knotted Insides: An Outpouring of Anger, Grief, Collectivity and Care by Mad Sad Fat Crip at The Mosaic Rooms Art Gallery, UK (2022)

• Observer, United Nations Human Rights Council Intersessional Consultation – Mental Health and Human Rights: HRC/RES/43/13. Hosted by United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) (2021)

• Participant-observer, Technical Workshop on amplifying the voices of persons with psychosocial disability: Towards Just and Inclusive societies, organised by World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) and International Disability Alliance (IDA). Hosted by National Organisation of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry Rwanda (NOUSPR) and the National Union of Disability Organisations of Rwanda (NUDOR), Kigali, Rwanda (2019)

• Presenter, ‘Introducing EURIKHA: Whose Knowledge Counts’, Dragon Café, London, UK (2017)

Service to profession

• Peer review - International Journal of Mental Health Systems

• Series editor – Special Series on Activist & Community Perspectives on Mental Health/Psychosocial Disability from the Global South, Community Mental Health Journal

Service to community

• Organising member of South Asia Solidarity Group, London, UK

• Volunteer at Queer Azaadi, Mumbai and Queer Habba, Bangalore