‘Cities and Governance’ – A panel discussion

Catalyst in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences cordially invites social science and post-graduate aspirants, working professionals to an interactive session on the emerging career opportunities in social sciences and the development sector with a panel discussion on ‘Cities and Governance’ 

Schedule of the webinar : Saturday, 28th May, 2022; 6pm – 7pm (IST)

Register for free in advance via the link below :

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvcOGhqDwvGNw4PLf9I1TZ0Rnhg7efLTxN

The interactive session endeavours to undertake the following explorations:

• Understanding cities through existing theories, planning mechanisms, practices and their limitations.

• Scope of engaging with developmental frameworks, institutions, and policy instruments governing the cities.

• Developing clarity about practical skills in city-centric finance, data, and planning exercises.

• Methodological skills to study cities

• Evolving a perspective on equity and access in the context of cities.

• Discussing career pathways with government, public, private and civil society organisation and the start up space

Speakers :

Aseem Prakash is a Professor of Public Policy, School of  Public Policy, and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Aseem has more than 20 years of experience in research and teaching which also includes a stint at the University of Oxford as a Fell Fund Fellow. Aseem has been instrumental in laying the intellectual foundation of the School of Public Policy and Governance including designing the course curriculum of the M.A. in Public Policy and Governance Programme (PPG) at TISS.

Before joining TISS, Aseem was part of the two-member team which established the first Public Policy school in India- Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. Aseem was also invited by the UNDP and Department of Planning, Government of Maldives to prepare a rubric for the first-ever Maldives Institute of Policy Studies in Male, Maldives.

Aseem has completed over a dozen big research projects for various international and national donors. His research interests include the interface between the state and markets; regulation and institutions; sociology of markets, social discrimination, human development. Currently, Aseem’s research efforts are focused on two research projects: “Regulation of Small Town Capitalism” and “Cities, Social History and Muslim Entrepreneurs”.

Aseem also serves in an advisory capacity in numerous public policy and social science departments. He is regularly invited as a resource person in various training programmes conducted for Indian civil servants.

His most recent books are titled Dalit Capital: State, Markets, and Civil Society in Urban India; published by Routledge (2015) and The Indian Middle Class (co-authored with Surinder Jodhka), published by Oxford University Press (2016).

Aseem is a compulsive follower of political gossip and likes discussing it with people who can make sense of it. He believes that he would have been more contented and happy if he had pursued a career in sports. Aseem earned his doctorate from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Dr. Arvind Pandey is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. He received his M. Phil., and Ph.D. from Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Before joining TISS, he was working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi on a project- ‘Sustainable, Healthy, Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC)’ which is managed by the GCRF Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods, University of Glasgow. This project is part of an international consortium of nine research institutions of seven countries. During his three-year duration in NIUA, he has worked on several projects funded by UNICEF, UNDP, ICMPD, and ICLD. He was also part of the research team providing inputs for the National Urban Policy Framework (Draft) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

He has worked for UNESCO-India as an Individual Consultant in 2016. He was also part of a team of Trans-Disciplinary Cluster in Jawaharlal Nehru University in which he has worked on two projects titled “Transformative Pathways to Sustainability: Learning across Disciplines, Contexts and Cultures” sponsored by International Social Science Council and “Urbanisation and Sustainability in the era of Globalisation: Emerging Scenarios in South-West National Capital Region” sponsored by University Programme for Excellence (UPE-II).

Dr. Arvind’s academic credentials include a scholarship to attend Population and Development Institute in 2014 from Brown International Advanced Research Institute (BIARI), Brown University, USA, a Gold Medal in the University for the first Rank in M.A., and a Senior Research Fellowship to conduct research in Population Studies from the University Grants Commission.

Sauraveswar Sen established Catalyst in 2011 with a vision to catalyse social science education in India and to leverage careers in the Humanities driven development sector to be at par with the prospects of Science and Commerce. Before initiating ‘Catalyst’ Sauraveswar switched gears from being a Design Engineer to what he was most passionate about- teaching and training. At 23, he was the youngest trainer delivering sessions at nationally reputed training institutes for competitive exams that paved the way to envisage Catalyst.

Since 2018, Sauraveswar has been empanelled as a faculty with Tata Institute of Social Sciences – to build capacities in students from Masters Programmes for their campus placements. He is also a visiting mentor with St Xavier’s College Mumbai, Jadavpur University, Presidency University, Scottish Church College, Bethune College, Lady Brabourne College, Shri Shikshayatan College, Women’s Christian College, New Alipore College and a mentor with the State Government of Chhattisgarh to foster Social Entrepreneurship.

Social science aspirants trained at Catalyst from schools and colleges across India with fieldwork and up-skilling have been able to successfully craft a career as human service professionals – working with multi-laterals like the UN, UNICEF, WHO, with Corporate Social Responsibility verticals, policy think tanks, national and international grass-root level organisations and social enterprises after successfully qualifying for the entrance tests and interviews of Bachelors-Masters-MPhil-PhD-Fellowship opportunities at the leading institutions of social sciences in India and Abroad as well as for social sector jobs. Sauraveswar contributes career related stories to ‘Anandabazar Patrika’, ‘The Telegraph’, ‘The HINDU’, ‘Times of India’ and ‘Femina’, ‘Aaj Tak’, ‘NewsX’ ‘ CNN- IBN’. Catalyst was featured by the International Women’s Day 2021 and 2022 global platform for “Women creating impact by pursuing careers in social development”.

Enrolments are open for 2022-23-24 Social Science Aspirants! 

Prepare for Bachelors – Masters – MPhil -PhD – Fellowships : TISS, Azim Premji University, TERI, JNU, O.P. Jindal, Ashoka University, XIC, IIMC, ACJ CHRIST University, Manipal, SciencesPo, LSE, Symbiosis, IIPR, IRMA, IIPS

Register for a free career mapping session via the link below :

Career Mapping Session Registration