Ms. Ina Goel

Assistant Professor

M.Phil. Social Medicine & Community Health, JNU

Assistant Professor, TSLAS, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Bhadson Road, Patiala-147004, Punjab

PUBLICATIONS

Academic

• (Forthcoming): Rituals of harm: Castration and genealogies of sacred wound cultures in the hijra communities of India, Behavioral Sciences & The Law
• (Forthcoming): Queering Kumbh Mela: Kinnar Akhada, the world’s first transgender Hindu spiritual order, Current Anthropology
• (2022): How much land do we need? In People Before Markets: An alternative case book (eds.) Daniel Souleles, Johan Gersel, and Morten Sørensen Thanning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 157-170. DOI: 10.1017/9781009165846.009
• (2022): Situational Analysis and Needs Assessment of LBT (Lesbian, Bisexual women, and Transmen) Community in India: Country Report. Family Planning Association of India.
• (2022): Introduction to South Asia in Gendered Lives: Global Issues (eds.) Nadine T. Fernandez and Katie Nelson, OER Textbook, American Anthropological Association and SUNY Press: New York. 52-69. Access: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/genderedlives/chapter/chapter-3-introducing-the-region/
• (2022): Understanding caste and kinship with hijras, a 'third' gender community in India in Gendered Lives: Global Issues (eds.) Nadine T. Fernandez and Katie Nelson, OER Textbook, American Anthropological Association and SUNY Press: New York. 98-115 Access: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/genderedlives/chapter/chapter-5-understanding-caste-and-kinship-within-hijras-a-third-gender-community-in-india/
• (2020): Impact of Covid-19 on Hijras, a Third-Gender Community in India. Covid-19, Cultural Anthropology, May 4. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/impact-of-covid-19-on-hijras-a-third-gender-community-in-india
  [IMPACT- Essential reading for University of Calgary, Alberta course code ANTH 490: Anthropological Theory; Listed under ‘COVID-19 and Gender’ resources by GENDRO, a not-for-profit government organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Access: https://www.gendro.org/resources; Listed by Medical Anthropological Quarterly under resources on precarity, labor, and care for their ‘Medical anthropology weekly: COVID-19’ issue]
• (2020): Manufacturing ‘self’ through the divine - Thangka paintings of Tibet, Material Religion: The journal of objects, art and belief. Vol. 16, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2020.1717833
• (2020): Queer politics of representation: Ram Mandir and Kinnar Akhada controversy, Economic and Political Weekly Engage. Access: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/queer-politics-representation-ram-mandir-and
• (2020): ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????????? ???????????? (Social Stratification in the hijra communities), In Plainspeak Hindi Print Digest, Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI). New Delhi, India. 69-76. Access:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338682248_hijara_samaja_ke_bhitara_nirdharita_srenibad'dhata
  [IMPACT: Winner of UNFPA-Laadli media national award for gender sensitivity (2021) in the category of Hindi Print: Special Edition; Republished in special edition book by UNFPA and Population First]
• (2019): Transing-normativities: Understanding hijra communes as queer homes in The Everyday Makings of Heteronormativity: Cross-cultural Explorations of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (eds.) Sertaç Sehlikoglu and Frank G. Karioris. Lexington Books, London. 139-152
• (2018): Transgender Identities, The Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 53, Issue 36, 4-5. Access: https://www.epw.in/journal/2018/36/letters/transgender-identities.html
• (2018): What does it mean to be a Hijra Mother? Economic and Political Weekly Engage, Vol. 53, No. 8. Access: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/what-does-it-mean-to-be-hijra-mother
• (2016): The hijra communities of Delhi, Sexualities, Vol. 19, No. 5-6, 535-546. Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460715616946
  [IMPACT- Essential reading for Chinese University of Hong Kong course code ANTH 5324: Indian Culture and Society; John Felice Rome Center Loyola University Chicago course code THEO 278: Religion and Gender]
• (2014): Beyond the Gender Binary, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLIX, No. 15, 77-78. Access: https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/15/discussion/beyond-gender-binary.html
  [IMPACT- Essential reading for IFSA-Butler University course code GEND320: Studies in Gender; Recommended reading for the gender course in a private college, Cape Town, South Africa]
• (2013): The lives of intersexed and transgender people: Indo-German perspectives in Global Health (Vol. 2) (eds.) Transnational networks and health: India and Germany, Department of Epidemiology and International Health. University of Bielefeld, Germany. 52-55
• (2013): Gendered complexities: A study of social and cultural exclusion among hijras in Delhi in Social Inclusion and Women Health: Perspectives and Issues (Vol. 2) (eds.) Somayajulu U, Siva Raju S, Prakasam CP. Women Press, Delhi. 51-69
• (2012): Trajectories of the transgender: The need to move from sex to sexuality, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLVII, No. 47-48. (co-author Nayar, K.R.) Access: https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/47-48/commentary/trajectories-transgender.html
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Other selected works

• (2024): Diary: What Does The Idea Of Beauty Mean?. OUTLOOK INDIA. 13 March. Access: https://www.outlookindia.com/culture-society/diary-what-does-the-idea-of-beauty-mean
• (2022): ?????? ??????? ?? ????????? ?? ????????? (Public health challenges faced by transmasculine people), NewsClick, 3 September. Access: https://hindi.newsclick.in/The-health-and-challenges-of-trans-men
• (2022): ????? ?? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ????? (Hijras and the right to property: Turning tables on neglect), Satya Hindi, 7 August. Access: https://www.satyahindi.com/analysis/eunuch-hijras-and-right-to-property-129072.html
  [IMPACT: Winner of Likho Award for Excellence in Media (2023) in the Outstanding Regional Print story category]
• (2022): ???? ?? ‘??????’ ?? ?????? ????? (On the margins of Sangam, Kinnar Akhada), Gorakhpur Newsline, 19 July. Access: https://gorakhpurnewsline.com/kinnar-akhada-on-the-margins-of-the-sangam/
• (2022): ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ?? (Questions about the trans community and motherhood), Feminism in India, 13 July. Access: https://hindi.feminisminindia.com/2022/07/13/transgender-community-and-motherhood-hindi/
• (2021): Waiting as fieldwork. Feeling Digital and Reimagining Fieldwork during COVID Times, a U21-funded initiative. Access: https://www.feelingdigital.org
• (2020): Ecologies of Harm: Mapping Contexts of Vulnerability in the Time of COVID-19. The University of British Columbia. Vancouver, Canada. Access: https://blogs.ubc.ca/ecologiesofharmproject/
• (2019): India’s third gender rises again. SAPIENS, 26 September. Access: https://www.sapiens.org/body/hijra-india-third-gender/
  [IMPACT: Essential Reading for Montclair University course code ANTH 100: Cultural Anthropology; Essential reading for University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee course code ANTHRO 102: Introduction to Anthropology; Republished by Anthropology News (26 November 2019) and The Seattle Star (30 September 2019); Mentioned as recommended reads on The Behavioral Scientist; Republished (forthcoming 2024) in Sourcebook for transgender persons in India, published by the Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension, University of Delhi]
• (2019): Studying my Indianness in the foreign land of Hong Kong. The Wire, 10 May. Access: https://thewire.in/culture/studying-my-indianness-in-the-foreign-land-of-hong-kong
• (2018): Caste and religion create barriers within the hijra community. The Wire, 18 May. Access: https://thewire.in/lgbtqia/caste-religion-hijra-community
• (2018): The lifestyle of hijras embodies resistance to state, societal neglect. The Wire, 12 April. Access: https://thewire.in/gender/the-lifestyle-of-hijras-embodies-resistance-to-state-societal-neglect
• (2018): A brief note on the hijra communities in India. Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Blog, 12 February. Access: https://inlaksshivdasanifoundationblog.org/home/2018/2/12/alumna-update-ina-goel
• (2017): ?????? ?? ?????? ‘??? ?? ???? ??? ?? ???? (Menstruation Tales), Feminism in India, 8 August. Access: https://hindi.feminisminindia.com/2017/08/08/indian-women-menstruation-hindi/
  [Listed #2 under Top 10 articles of 2017 at Feminism in India]
• Republished by Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI) for the issue of their digital magazine In Plainspeak on time and sexuality, 15 November 2017. Access: http://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/period-ka-chittha-kuch-aap-beeti-kuch-jag-beeti/
• (2017): ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? (The secret world of hijra communities), Gorakhpur Newsline, 9 January. Access: https://tinyurl.com/y2edujkm
• Republished (abridged version) by Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues (TARSHI) for the issue of issue of their digital magazine In Plainspeak on caste and sexuality, 16 October 2017. Access: http://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/hijra-samaj-ke-bhietar/
• (2017): Beyond medicine: Difficult dialogues. UCL blog, 3 May. Access: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-global/2017/05/03/beyond-medicine-difficult-dialogues-2017/
• (2017): Roadblocking Universal Health Coverage. Difficult Dialogues: Is India’s health a grand challenge? conference proceedings, UCL, 10–12 February 2017, 17–18. This article previously appeared online in NewsYaps Policy series and was later republished as a conference brief in February. Access:https://medium.com/@inagoel/roadblocking-universal-health-coverage-in-india-f412f6a05dcc
• (2015): Menstrual chronicles from Delhi. The Fem Literary Magazine, 1 December. Access: https://thefemlitmagazine.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/menstrual-chronicles-from-delhi-ina-goel/
  [Listed under ‘Best Reads’ (December list) by The Writes of Womxn and ‘Badass Reads’ by ladyboxbooks.com]
• (2015): The construction of the beauty myth. Genderal Studies, UCLU Women's Network, 14 August. Access: https://genderalstudies.tumblr.com/post/126676637841/construction-of-the-beauty-myth-by-ina-goel
• (2014): Demystifying hijras: One of India’s most misunderstood communities. The Good Men Project, 13 May. Access: https://goodmenproject.com/gender-sexuality/demystifying-hijra-indias-misunderstood-jvinc/

Awards and Recognition

• Likho Award for Excellence in Media (2023)
• Research Fellow, Department of Media Management, University of Religions and Denominations, Iran (2023)
• Laadli Media Fellowship supported by UNFPA and The Royal Norwegian Embassy (2022)
• Talent Development Scholarship, HKSAR Government Fund (2022)
• UNFPA-Laadli Media Award for gender sensitivity (2021)
• Outstanding Student Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2021)
• Honorary Visiting Fellow, Anthropos India Foundation (2020)
• Reaching Out Award, HKSAR Government Fund (2020)
• American Anthropological Association Photography Award (2020)
• Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Research Output Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2019)
• Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Award, Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (2018)
• Yusuf Ali Travel Award, University College London (2016)
• Jackson Lewis Scholarship award for academic excellence, University College London (2015) (2016)
• INLAKS scholarship awarded to study at University College London (2014)
• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship awarded as part of A New Passage to India program, Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, Bielefeld University (2012)
• SPIC MACAY Gurukul fellowship awarded to train in Buddhist philosophy under the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh (2012)
• Honorable mention, Youth Best Paper Award, Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (2011)
• University Grants Commission (UGC) Fellowship to support MPhil research in India (2010)
• Certificate of Appreciation awarded for outstanding contribution to Department of Journalism, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi (2008)
• Rotary News Trust educational scholarship in journalism awarded by Rotary International District 3010 (2007)

Academic conferences

• Feeling Digital during COVID Times: A multi-modal ethnographic experiment, presented as a part of the Feeling Digital Collective (consisting of artists, activists, and researchers from different embodied, disciplinary, and socio-cultural backgrounds across multiple time-spaces) at the biennial anthropology conference ‘Virtual Otherwise’ organised by the Society for Cultural anthropology, Society for Visual Anthropology, Wenner-Gren Foundation and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American University of Cairo, 2-4 June 2022.
• Hijra Ethnoscapes: Turf-wars between ‘third’ gender communities in New Delhi, India presented at ‘Shocks, Turmoil and Transformations: Symposium Feminist Geographies’ organised by Freie University, Berlin, 28-30 April 2022
• Crossing boundaries of care: Hijras during COVID-19 lockdown in India presented at ‘Negotiating Identity and Creativity in Times of Crisis’ online conference for humanities organised by Faculty of Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, 24-25 September 2021
• Paradoxes of Indian Law in Hijra Kinship presented at ‘LGBT Rights and Constitutionalism: New Paradigms and Challenges in Asia’ for ‘Crisis Healing and Re-Imagining’ Law and Society Association Annual Conference, 26-30 May 2021
• Reimagining fieldwork in the interconnected world: ethnography-inspired digital strategies under the COVID-19 challenges presented at 'Feeling Digital' Workshop organised by The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the HKU Anthropology Network and the Department of Sociology, 11-12 May 2021
• A queer geography of New Delhi – Negotiating the ‘hijra’ identity through cultural mapping presented at ‘Space, Place and Temporalities’ Fourth Annual White Rose South Asia conference, 30 April 2021
• Understanding Caste and Kinship with Hijras, a ‘Third’ Gender Community in India presented at the British Association of South Asian Studies conference, 20 - 23 April 2021
• Crossing boundaries of care during the world's biggest lockdown: Hijras, a 'third' gender community in India during COVID-19 presented at ‘Responsibility’ organized by the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK conference, March 29 - April 2, 2021
• Impact of Covid-19 on hijras, a ‘third’ gender community in India presented at ‘Uncertainty and the Everyday’ organized by the 12th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum at the Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 29-30 January 2021
• Paradoxes of repair in queer kinship presented at ‘Workshop on Repair in Anthropology’ organised by Society for Cultural Anthropology, 10 December 2020
• Mapping New Delhi with hijras, a ‘third’ gender community in India presented at ‘Anthropology and geography: Dialogues past, present and future’ organized by Royal Anthropological Institute, Royal Geographical Society, British Academy, Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, and the British Museum’s Department for Africa, Oceania and the Americas, London 14-18 September 2020
• Cultural governance, castration and the hijras of India presented at the international conference of cultural governance in Asia co-organized by Department of Asian and International Studies and Southeast Asia Research Centre of City University of Hong Kong, Contemporary China Research Centre of Hong Kong Shue Yan University, and Department of Anthropology of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 10-11 May 2019
• The queer paradox of being third gender: Constructions and contradictions in framing the hijra identity in India presented at the third Ireland India Institute South Asian Conference at Dublin City University, 24-26 April 2019
• Locating home in hijra houses and households presented at the postgraduate study conference organized by the Centre for Studies of Home, Queen Mary University of London and the Geffrye Museum of the Home, London, 21 November 2017
• Transing-normativities: understanding hijra communes as queer homes presented at an inter-disciplinary workshop ‘Cultures of difference: The everyday makings of heteronormativity’ at Pembroke college, University of Cambridge, 10-11 June 2017
• Are hijras queer? presented at the Queer Asia conference organized by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, 10 June 2016
• The secret language of the hijra community in India and Pakistan presented at the international mother language day symposium organized by the Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 21 February 2014
• The Hijra Project presented at the social entrepreneur conference organized by Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, 25 January 2014
• Critical methodologies: Establishing code of ethics in research on sex and sexuality presented at the ‘National convention on ethics in research on human subjects: Problems of implementing international norms and guidelines in Indian context,’ organized by Institutional Ethics Review Board (IERB), Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 30-31 July 2013
• Negotiating identities and sexualities: A case from the Indian intersexed and transgender (hijra) community presented at the Indian Social Work Congress, New Delhi, 23-25 February 2013
• Birth of a hijra as a social body: Gender questions presented at the ‘International conference on gender relations in developing societies: A 21st century perspective,’ Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi, 30-31 October 2012
• Poster Presentation ‘Impact of Delhi University Community Radio 90.4 Mhz’ at the second National Community Radio Sammelan, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, 18-20 February 2012
• Honorable mention, ‘Youth Best Paper Award’ by the Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (IASSH), for the paper titled Gendered complexities: A study on the social and cultural exclusion of the hijra community in Delhi, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, 24-26 November 2011

Invited talks and panels

• Invited speaker for Friday seminar titled ‘Wounded kinship: Social stratification among hijras, a ‘third’ gender community in India’ by Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 14 October 2022
• Invited speaker on ‘Marriage among failing institutions: Courts, parliaments, and love in South Asia’ organised by Grammars of Marriage and Desire (GoMAD), Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge, January 18, 2022
• Second University Grants Commission (India) Faculty Induction Programme lecture on 'Transgenders in higher education' conducted by the Human Resource Development Centre, University of Allahabad on December 7, 2020
• Invited speaker by Human Resource Development Center (University Grants Commission) at the University of Allahabad, Prayagraj for an international webinar on ‘The Mahatma: A montage of Gandhian ideas’ to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, August 31, 2020
• Invited speaker by the US Embassy New Delhi to give a talk on the Hijra communities of India for the LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, 27 June 2018
• Public talk on 'Paradoxes of being Hijra in India' at UCL India Voices Festival, University College London, 21 June 2017. Public access: https://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Play/7221
• Invited speaker, 'How can gender affect your health and healthcare?' at Difficult Dialogues 2017: Is India's health a grand challenge? organized in collaboration with University College London, Goa International Centre, 10-12 February 2017
• Public lecture on ‘Why Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) must go’ organized by the Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union (JNUSU), Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, 23 December 2013
• Invited speaker at the Gurukul Reunion by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (FURHHLD) for an experience sharing talk at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, 6-7 June 2013
• Invited for conducting an interactive workshop and talk with hijra and trans community members in collaboration with the Vistaar Project aimed at vulnerable communities, Department of Adult Education, Delhi University, 4 November 2013
• Guest lecture on Indian intersexed and transgender community in the University lecture series ‘Days of action against sexism and homophobia,’ University of Bielefeld, Germany, 9-19 November 2012
• Invited speaker as a Gurukul scholar for a talk to commemorate the 77th birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama at Dolma Ling Nunnery, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, 6 July 2012
• Invited Speaker for ‘Experience sharing’ at the UNICEF Knowledge Community of Children in India (KCCI) Opening Workshop at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, May 23, 2012
• Invited speaker by the World Debate Forum to give a talk on ‘Community radio science debates: To be or not to be a debater in a non-debating world’ in the session ‘Mobilizing debaters for social action,’ New Delhi, 13-15 April 2012. Public access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9gobnXzI1M

Moderator/Convener/Discussant

• Moderator for a national webinar on ‘Understanding the sexual and reproductive health needs of lesbian, bisexual and transmasculine community in India’ conducted under Movement Accelerator project, Family Planning Association of India, 31 May 2022
• Moderator and discussant for multiple sessions for an international webinar on ‘COVID 19 Pandemic: A crisis of human health or planet health?’ organized by Maharaja Agrasen College Initiative for Sharing Ecological Responsibility and Conserving Heritage, University of Delhi, India, 5-10 June 2020
• Convener and discussant for panel 'Longing for Belonging (Kinship/Communities)' at Queer Asia conference organized by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, 16 June 2017
• Moderator and discussant for multiple sessions for the talk series titled ‘Diaspora: A Tibetan perspective’ organized by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (FURHHDL), India International Centre, New Delhi (September-October 2013)

Invited lectures

• Guest Lecture, ‘Understanding hijras, a ‘third’ gender community in India’ for undergraduate course HS4090 Gender and identity politics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore on 17 February 2022
• Guest Lecture ‘India’s third gender rises again’ for foundational undergraduate course ANTH100 Cultural Anthropology, Montclair State University on 8 November 2021
• Guest lecture ‘Introduction to Gender’ for postgraduate student course on Gender and Disaster Management at Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru University on 23 September 2020
• Special lecture ‘Queering ethnography’ for Ethnography workshop organized by Anthropos India Foundation, 18-20 June 2020
• Guest lecture for Digital Human Library Workshop, English Language Teaching Unit, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 14 April 2020
• Guest lecture for ‘Cultural Identities’ for undergraduate course ELTU3503 Intercultural Communication, English Language Teaching Unit, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 6 April 2020
• Guest lecture ‘Understanding hijras in India’ for anthropology undergraduate and postgraduate course ANTH 5324 Indian Culture and Society, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong on 22 October 2019.
• Guest lecture ‘Understanding hijras in India’ for anthropology undergraduate and postgraduate course ANTH 1020 Understanding Cultures, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong on 21 October 2019.
• Guest lecture ‘Kumbh Mela and the Kinnar Akhada’ addressing anthropology undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Department of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, March 6, 2019. Lecture summary available at Allahabad University website: http://allduniv.ac.in/home/news/1956

Research consultancies

• Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, ANTH 6010 Seminars in Anthropological Theory, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (August – December 2018)
• Research consultant for transcription and translation services (Hindi-English), MET project EPIDZE6612, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Dec 2017-March 2018)
• Research assistant, Office of the Vice-Provost (Research), University College London (Nov 2016-August 2017)
• Research consultant with Social and Development Research and Action Group (SADRAG), working on need assessment of quality education in schools in East and North-West Delhi under Universal Elementary Education (UEE), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India (2012-2013)
• Research associate, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), providing technical support on assessing multi-media campaigns of Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (July-October 2011)
• Research consultant for site assessment of the transgender population in New Delhi with community-based organization Kinnar Bharti and UNAIDS, India (March-May 2011)
• Research consultant for assessing score cards for securing child rights and child protection in government schools in Uttar Pradesh with Social and Development Research and Action Group (SADRAG) supported by Plan International (August 2010)
• Research assistant and enumerator for research project ‘Images of welfare: An assessment study of the welfare programs and services within Delhi University campus,’ Department of Social Work, Delhi University (September 2009-March 2010)
• Research intern at the UNICEF KCCI Summer Programme working on SWASTH PLUS - a project in the area of water, sanitation, health and hygiene assessing capacities developed at the school, project implementation and state level, New Delhi and Karnataka (June-August 2009)
• Research assistant and enumerator for research project ‘Delhi University campus safety: Perception and experiences of students with focus on women students,’ Department of Social Work, Delhi University (July-December 2008)

Policy consultancies

• Empanelled trainer and resource person, Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India; Facilitated many training workshops and developed training modules on transgender awareness for schools and universities in Uttar Pradesh (December 2022). [IMPACT - Featured in regional and national news channels for exceptional community service]
• Lead Consultant for conducting country-wide needs assessment and situation analysis of lesbian, bisexual women and transmen community issues in India, Family Planning Association of India funded by IPPF (November 2021)
• Consultant, National Symposium on LGBTQI+ health theme: Setting health research agenda for action, The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai (December 2021)
• Consultant for documentation and policy brief, UNAIDS in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National AIDS Control Organisation, Government of India (August 2021)
• Consultant trainer, Zero tolerance to sexual harassment, University College London Union (UCLU) Women's Network, UCL (September 2015)
• Consultant trainer for designing the curriculum framework of many Plan International funded non-governmental organizations including Alamb, AV Baliga Trust, Bal Vikas Dhara and Navsrishti; Facilitated many training workshops and developed training modules on reproductive and sexual health, family health education, life skills, child protection and IYCF (Infant Young Child Feeding) for adolescent girls and mothers in urban slums and rehabilitation colonies all over Delhi (March 2010-2014). [IMPACT - Featured in local and national newspapers for exceptional community service]
• Consultant trainer for needs assessment in soft skills development for the executive police of Kashmir Zone, Department of Social Work, Delhi University and Jammu & Kashmir Police. The project was aimed at sensitizing police personnel towards gender and soft skills training in Srinagar, Baramula and Anantnag districts of Kashmir, India (Jan 2012)
• Consultant trainer for designing curriculum, innovative training aids on interpersonal communication and behavior change communication as life skills tools on HIV and AIDS for young outreach workers in Uttar Pradesh, Family Health International (FHI 360) (Dec 2010)
• Consultant trainer for facilitating technical sessions on interpersonal communication and behavior change communication during the training of outreach workers of TI (Targeted Intervention) projects with Futures Group and Uttarakhand State AIDS Control Society, Uttarakhand, India (September 2010)
• Research consultant for need-assessment of training needs on gender mainstreaming into HIV for organizations engaged in implementation of TI (Targeted Intervention) projects with Delhi State Training and Resource Centre (STRC) and UNIFEM (May 2010)

Professional Memberships

• Member, Association for Social Anthropologists of the UK (2021-present)
• Member, Society for Cultural Anthropology (2020-present)
• Member, Royal Anthropological Institute (2020-present)
• Member, Association of Feminist Anthropology (2020-present)
• Member, American Anthropological Association (2020-present)
• Member, Hong Kong Association of University Women (2020-present)
• Member, British Association for South Asian Studies (2020-present)
• Member, Hong Kong Anthropological Society (2018-present)
• Postgraduate fellow, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (2014-18)
• Life member, National Association of Professional Social Workers in India (2012-present)
• Life member, Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (2011-present)

Peer Reviewer

• Sexualities, Sage
• Sexuality Research and Social Policy, Springer
• Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities, Berghahn
• Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Sage
• Journal of Homosexuality, Taylor & Francis
• Society and Culture in South Asia, Sage
• Journal of Human Rights Practice, Oxford University Press
• Asian Anthropology, Taylor&Francis
• European Journal of Women Studies, Sage
• Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, Lectito