TEAM

Meghna-Bal.jpg

Meghna Bal

Director

Meghna is a lawyer with deep experience in media and emerging technology. Previously, she worked on legal and policy strategy at the Walt Disney Company. Before Disney, she set up and led the India office for Consensys, the world’s largest blockchain technology company.

 

Mohit Chawdhry

Fellow

Mohit is a law graduate from National Law University Delhi, his interests include intellectual property, technology development and regulation as well as Constitutional and Sports Law. Outside of law, he enjoys working on issues relating to economics and the social sector, particularly the Health sector.

 
Vikash Gautam

Dr. Vikash Gautam

Adjunct Fellow

Vikash is an economist who has steered economic research on behalf of numerous public and private sector entities. He has over 13 years of research and teaching experience at leading institutions, such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. He has published over a dozen articles on economic and policy issues in leading peer-reviewed journals.

 
Megha+Patnaik.jpg

Dr. Megha Patnaik

Adjunct Fellow

Megha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at LUISS Guido Carli in Rome, Italy.  In 2017, she received her PhD in Economics from Stanford University in California, USA.  Her current research covers topics in labour, corporate finance, macroeconomics, entrepreneurship and the economics of innovation.  She has previously worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi, a data scientist for a leading financial software firm in Silicon Valley and has also developed & conducted firm surveys with the US Census Bureau as well as the Atlanta Fed on management and uncertainty.  Earlier, she completed her BSc in Mathematics from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, India and her MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics in the UK.

 

Aastha Prasad

Adjunct Fellow

Aastha Prasad is a DPhil candidate at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS), University of Oxford. She is supervised by Professor Fernanda Pirie. She holds an MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, United Kingdom. She also holds a BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences (major in International Justice and minor in World Politics) from Leiden University College (LUC), Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Aastha is also active as an artist and has previously won the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights’ artwork competition

 

Tamanna Sharma

Associate Fellow

Tamanna is a Physics graduate from Miranda House, University of Delhi, and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Her interests include policy and regulation around emerging technologies such as Virtual Digital Assets, AI, Machine Learning, as well as new forms of Digital Media. She is also deeply passionate about entrepreneurship and sustainability.

 

noyanika batta

Junior Fellow

Noyanika is a lawyer whose research interests lie in technology policy, regulatory governance, digital trade and areas lying at the intersection of competition law and technology. She has previously worked as a senior associate at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys and is a graduate of Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar. Outside of law, she likes to read political non-fiction and play badminton.

 

Akanksha dutta

Junior Fellow

Akanksha holds a masters in law from National Law University Delhi, her research interests lie in intellectual property and technology law and policy, especially their intersection with emerging technologies like AI. She was previously a Research Assistant to the DPIIT-IPR Chair at National Law University Delhi. In her spare time she is an avid reader and reviewer of fiction novels. 

 
Khalid.jpg

Khalid Jaleel

Programme Coordinator

Khalid serves as the Programme Coordinator at the Esya Centre and is also the Deputy Director at the International Summer School, New Delhi. Prior to this, he served as the Program Coordinator for the Centre for Escalation of Peace, which is focused on establishing programs that focus on empowering young minds. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of South Alabama, USA and a Master’s degree in Political Science from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

 
SS.jpg

Spandana singh

Non-resident Fellow

Spandana is a Policy Analyst at New America's Open Technology Institute in Washington, DC. She previously served as a Millennial Public Policy Fellow at New America, as the 2018 Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Cybersecurity and Technology Fellow and as a Public Policy Fellow at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Ms. Singh holds a dual Bachelor's degree in international development and media studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

 

Shohini Sengupta

Non-resident Fellow

Shohini is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Jindal School of Banking and Finance. Prior to this she was a Senior Resident Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and has also worked for the Government of India as an energy lawyer. She has assisted the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, financial sector regulators, and the Fifteenth Finance Commission on several socio-economic and legal matters. She has a bachelor’s degree in law from the National Law Institute University, Bhopal, and a master’s degree in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford on a leadership scholarship.

 
Aishwarya.jpg

aishwarya giridhar

Non-resident Fellow

Aishwarya is a lawyer whose areas of interest include internet governance, free speech, and intellectual property. She also enjoys working on issues relating to competition, labour and technology. She has previously worked as an associate at Khaitan & Co. and is a graduate of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.

 
Shivangi Mittal.jpg

Shivangi Mittal

Non-resident Fellow

Shivangi is a technology policy consultant. She conducts research on market structure, regulation, consumer welfare in Intellectual Property, and technology-centric industries. Some of the key topics that she has worked on include market structure and competition in media markets, consumer welfare in the digital payments industry, and collective copyright licensing in India. Her commentaries have been published on leading platforms such as: The Daily Pioneer, The Wire, and The Print. She has a Masters in Finance and Economics from the University of Warwick, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi.

 
Megha Bahree 300X375.jpg

Megha Bahree

Non-resident Fellow

Megha is an award-winning journalist with nearly 20 years of experience reporting stories from across the Indian subcontinent and parts of Asia and the US. She’s currently based in New Delhi as a freelancer where she writes about business, technology and policy and their impact on society for a range of publications including Forbes Asia Magazine, Nikkei Asian Review, Al Jazeera and Wired online. In the past she has worked at Forbes US, the Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters and AFP.