TEAM
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.
Shweta Venkatesan
Fellow
Shweta is a lawyer with a deep interest in the regulation of emerging technologies. Prior to joining the Esya Centre she worked at Koan Advisory Group, where she provided leading technology companies with policy advisory across areas such as data protection, competition, and platform regulation. She holds an LL.M. in IT and Data Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a B.A. LL.B (Hons.) degree from National Law University Delhi.
Ajay Maherchandani
Fellow
Ajay is a lawyer with experience in Access to Justice lawyering having passed out from the LL.M program from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has been a Senior Research Fellow at the O P Jindal Global University and has worked in multiple capacities in various NGOs bordering on larger human rights issues. He is interested in working on the gender digital divide and AI governance and ethics.
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.
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.
Dr. Ajai Garg
Adjunct Fellow
Dr. Garg is a veteran technocrat who has played a pivotal role in India's digitalisation initiatives. In his prior role as Senior Director at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), he spearheaded the International Cooperation Division. He continues to be an influential figure in various Track II and Track 1.5 initiatives.
Sanket Kashyap
Adjunct Fellow
Sanket Kashyap has been a Lead ML Engineer at Level AI since August 2019. Before this, he worked as a Research Associate at the Trivedi Centre for Political Data and as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant at Ashoka University. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and also holds a Master of Arts degree in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Computer Science from Ashoka University.
Aaqib Qayoom
Junior Fellow
Aaqib Qayoom is a dedicated researcher with expertise in economic analysis, public policy, and development. Prior to joining Esya, Aaqib worked as a Research Associate at Ashoka University, Department of Economics, where he worked on a pioneering project studying workplace safety constraints for female workers across industrial sectors in India. Previously, he served as a Research Associate at the Centre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University. His experience also includes research positions at Stanford University’s Department of Political Science, Harvard University Department of Economics, University of Western Australia and the National Human Rights Commission. Aaqib holds a Masters degree in Economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and a Bachelor, degree in Economics from the University of Delhi.
Chhavi Pathak
Research Assistant
Chhavi is a law graduate from CHRIST (Deemed to be) University with a keen interest in researching policy and regulations surrounding emerging technologies, intellectual property rights, and competition law.
Madeeha arshad
Research Assistant
Madeeha is a lawyer specialising in technology and media law, with particular expertise in data protection, intellectual property, AI regulation, and emerging technologies. Her interests include exploring the legal and policy challenges at the intersection of innovation and regulation, with a focus on digital rights, competition law, and technology governance frameworks. Prior to joining the centre, Madeeha served as an associate at AP & Partners. She is a 2024 graduate of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.
Avneet Oberoi
Research Assistant
Avneet Oberoi is a master’s student in Economics at the London School of Economics, graduating with Distinction, and holds a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce. Her research spans public policy, economic development, and corporate strategy, with experience in econometric modeling, market analysis, and policy evaluation. She has worked on projects analyzing poverty reduction strategies, assessing DEI frameworks in multinational corporations at Nikore Associates, and developing KPIs and feasibility studies for sustainability-focused corporate initiatives at Apollo Tyres Ltd.
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.
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.