Student Details

Uttara completed her BA in Economics and Sociology from St. Xavier’s College Mumbai. She worked with the NGO Avehi Abacus Project on developing a curriculum that addresses gender and gender sensitivity, Saath Saath – Living together in harmony before going on to do her Master’s. She completed a joint MA in Public Policy (Governance and Development) from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague and the University of York, UK under the Erasmus Mundus MAPP programme. Her thesis, The Misunderstood Middle: The emerging middle class in India and its absence from urban policy cemented her interest in urban policy in India and her determination to create more equitable and inclusive development policies in the global South. Uttara then worked with IITB’s Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) as a research assistant. She worked on creating the Centre’s MPP programme and continued to research urban policy, shifting her focus to smart cities. Her PhD research under Prof. Satish B Agnihotri (IIT Bombay) and Prof. Dharmalingam Arunachalam (Monash University) will delve into safety and surveillance in smart cites. Uttara enjoys reading, cinema, travelling, and cooking.