Unlike conventional research institutes, the ERU research and documentation team comprises a core team of professionals and a wider pool of independent researchers who come on board for specific assignments / projects. The team is handpicked to suit the specific requirement of every assignment and we are able to bring on board researchers from across the country and work in different languages. Our team includes the following members:
Nishi Mehrotra
Nishi has multi- sectoral experience in elementary and secondary education, sustainable agriculture, watershed development, rural development and women’s empowerment issues. During the 1990s, she worked as consultant with International companies like Euro Consult and DHV (Dutch), WS Atkins (EU), and GTZ (German Development Corporation) in India, in partnerships with the state government in UP and was the State Programme Director of Mahila Samakhya Programme in Uttar Pradesh.
She has technical expertise on gender issues of Elementary and Secondary Education. She has conducted education sector reviews, evaluations and provided technical resource support to state governments, bilateral agencies and NGOs. Her special forte is working with and for socio-economically marginalized groups, women and children with a rights-based approach. She has significant qualitative research experience. She has conducted education research as a member of the ERU Team in UP, Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himanchal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
She is on the Board of several NGOs and schools in UP. She is based in Lucknow.
Vimala Ramachandran
Vimala, was the founder Director of ERU and was the first National Project Director of Mahila Samakhya (1988-1993) – a Government of India programme on women’s education based in the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD). She was also the co-founder and Managing Trustee of HealthWatch – a women’s health network. She was Professor (Chair on Teacher Management and Development) and National Fellow in National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (from 2011 to 2015). She has published extensively on education, health, gender issues and women’s empowerment. She has been engaged in advocacy for universal quality education and girls’ education.
Among her notable publications are Inside Indian Schools (2018) Social Science Press and Routledge UK, Getting the Right Teachers into Right Schools (2018) The World Bank, Washington DC; Health and Girls Education in South Asia: An Essential Synergy, UNICEF – UNGEI, Kathmandu (2008); Fostering Opportunities to Learn at an Accelerated Pace: Why do Girls Benefit Enormously?; UNICEF, New Delhi (2004); Hierarchies of Access: Gender and Equity in Primary Education, Sage Publications, New Delhi (2004); Getting Children Back to School: Case Studies in Primary Education, Sage Publications, New Delhi (2003); and Bridging the Gap Between Intention and Action – Girls’ and Women’s Education in South Asia, UNESCO-PROAP, Bangkok and ASPBAE, New Delhi (1998).
She is currently on the Research Council of Azim Premji University, Bangalore. She is the President India Education Collective, New Delhi. She is the Vice-President of Etasha, an NGO that works on livelihood related issues with young urban men and women in New Delhi. Vimala is based in Jaipur.
Kameshwari Jandhyala
Kameshwari has taught Modern Asian History at the Central University of Hyderabad and was a founder of the University Women’s Studies Cell. She has guided and supervised 2 Phd and 7 MPhil students in modern Andhra History and Women’s history.
She was the first Director of Mahila Samakhya in the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh (1992-1996) and Consultant to the National Office of Mahila Samakhya in Department of Education, GOI (1996-2000, 2003-2006). She has led multi-state studies, evaluation and impact assessments on women’s empowerment, girls’ education, grassroot level women’s leadership initiatives and has special expertise in longitudinal qualitative studies.
As a member of the UGC Standing Committee on Women’s Studies (2006-2012), she was engaged in the review of the Women’s Studies programme and in the development of UGC curricular guidelines in Women’s Studies for the UG and PG level. Some of her key publications and work are Cartographies of Empowerment: the Mahila Samakhya Journey, Zubaan, 2012 (coedited with Vimala Ramachandran); Ruminations on Evaluation in the Mahila Samakhya Programme, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 2012 ; Empowering education: The Mahila Samakhya Experience, commissioned for the UNESCO Monitoring Report, 2003; and the Development of a Digital Atlas for Advancing Girls Education commissioned by GOI-UNICEF, 2014-2015. She is currently a Trustee of Indian Social Studies Institute, New Delhi. She is also on the governing body of Anurag University, Hyderabad and on the school management committees of Durgabai Deshmukh Mahila Sabha P Obul Reddy High School and Safdaria Urdu Medium High School for girls in Hyderabad.
Kameshwari is based in Hyderabad.
Chitra Jayanty
Chitra is an education and health professional by training and working in the development sector for over 30 years. She brings a deep understanding of field realities and has capabilities to build the synergy between communities, government and civil society. She is a consultant on STEM Education with various governments, not for profits and communities on programmes to enhance Mathematics and Science skills in middle and high school children. She has developed gender and equity tools to measure Cognitive & non-Cognitive skills (life skills) in children.
Chitra worked in Effective Intervention as the Director Africa and India (2007 to 2018), a UK based charity. Effective Interventions works in partnership with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London School of Economics, and other local and international partners, on evidence-based projects with a focus on women, child and its wellbeing in Health and Education. From 2002 to 2007, she was part of the Core Team of Naandi Foundation leading projects on Child Rights, sustainable livelihoods for indigenous communities and small farmers, and safe drinking water for rural communities in partnerships with governments, corporates, INGOs and civil society institutions. She has also worked with Agha Khan Education Services on Quality Education; Catholic Relief Services on Safe Motherhood Child Survival and Child Education programmes funded by USAID. She has published articles on education and health in reputed journals. Chitra is based in Hyderabad.
