ISEC and Fulbright Programme
The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) is an All India Institute for Interdisciplinary Research and Training in the Social Sciences, established in 1972 by Padmavibhushana Professor V K R V Rao to create a blend of field-oriented empirical research and advances in social science theories leading to better public policy formulation.
ISEC is amply suited in many ways to host Fulbright scholars and send prospective Fulbright scholars to the United States. Historically, ISEC’s VKRV Rao Chair professors have held senior academic positions in the United States and India. Some of ISEC’s VKRV Rao Chair professors are: late Professor T.N.Srinivasan (Yale University), Professor Kaushik Basu (Cornell University), Professor Ravi Kanbur (Cornell University), Professor Michael Walton (Harvard University), Professor Ashutosh Varshney (Brown University), Professor Gita Gopinath (Harvard University), Professor David Bloom (Harvard University) and Professor Michael Goldman (University of Minnesota).
Further several of ISEC’s faculty have had their training in the United States. Professor M.G.Chandrakanth, Director, ISEC, was the Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellow in institutional economics, University of California, Berkeley under Professor Jeff Romm; Professor Kala S Sridhar has a M.S. from the University of Iowa, and Ph.D. from Ohio State University, Dr Lekha Subaiya has a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. The National Fellow of ICSSR Prof N Nagaraj was the Fulbright fellow at University of Colorado.
ISEC scholars have excellent publication record, publishing books out of Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Springer, Sage, Elsevier and articles in world-renowned journals inter alia, World Development, The Economic Journal, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Urban Studies (Sage), Regional Science and Urban Economics (Elsevier), Economic and Political Weekly, Indian Economic Review, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Environmental Management (Elsevier), Land Use Policy (Elsevier).
Not only will ISEC benefit from collaborating with institutions in the US, such as Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, but also will be highly suitably placed with its focus on social science research and public policy to host Fulbright scholars from the United States. In addition, ISEC has excellent infrastructure and logistical support for the benefit of visiting scholars.
Professor Kala S. Sridhar, Head of the Centre for Research on Urban Affairs, has been selected as Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellow (Research Award) for 2020-2021 by the Fulbright Committee. Professor Kala is the first faculty to receive this honour in ISEC.
Currently, since April 2020, Professor Krishna Raj, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Policy (CESP), ISEC, is the Fulbright Campus Representative. He may be reached at: krishnaraj@isec.ac.in or krishnarajmysore@gmail.com. His website is at: http://www.isec.ac.in/KrishnaRaj