Writing Urban India (2024)

Writing and publishing Fellowship for early career scholars

Funding period: 1 September 2024 – 1 December 2025
Type of funding: Other Grants
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69752/FWJ7-VR59
Award Number: USF-GRT-240801

This grant was awarded to the third round of the Writing Urban India (WUI) programme (grant USF-GRT-240801). You can read about the first round here, and the second round here.


The Writing Urban India (WUI) programme is a mentoring initiative to nurture early-career scholars in writing and publishing on urbanisation in India. The programme has been supported by partnerships with the National Law School of India University (Bangalore) and the Centre for Policy Research (Delhi), as well as receiving support from other institutions and individuals in the WUI collective. The wider Mentorship network comprises around twenty-five mid-to-senior scholars in urban studies, who teach and research across several universities in India.

The programme has supported over fifty writing Fellowships across three rounds, and aims to enable candidates with the skills and knowledge required to produce a structured writing outputs that are academic in nature. Supported activities follow a hybrid approach, and include capacity-building workshops, seminars, and one-to-one mentorship. Mentors typically work closely with the Fellows to write their first journal article or long form read.

List of WUI Mentors

Professor Amita Bhide (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
Dr Anant Maringanti (Hyderabad Urban Lab, Hyderabad)
Dr Anwesha Ghosh (National Law School of India University, Bengaluru)
Dr Ashima Sood (Anant National University, Ahmedabad)
Dr Champaka Rajagopal (Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi)
Dr Gautam Bhan (Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru)
Professor Gopa Samanta (University of Burdwan, Bardhaman)
Dr Himanshu Burte (Indian Institute for Technology, Bombay)
Professor J. Devika (Centre for Development Studies, Kerala)
Dr Karen Coehlo (Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai)
Dr Lalitha Kamath (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
Dr Marie-Hélène Zérah (Research Institute for Development, Marseille)
Dr Mukta Naik (National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi)
Dr Neha Sami (Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru)
Dr Partha Mukhopadhyay (Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi)
Dr Ratoola Kundu (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)
Dr Rohit Negi (Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta)
Dr Sushmita Pati (National Law School, Bengaluru)

List of WUI Fellows (third round)

Aditi Pradhan
Aishwarya
Anindya Basak
Fathima Noora
Garima Jasrotia
Gayotree Phukon
Hafsa Sayeed Shah
Lakshyayog
Mohd Aquil
Monica Sekar
Mukesh Lakum
Neenu Suresh
Nisar Kannangara
Prithiraj Borah
Qurratul Ain Maryam
Ramengmawia Bawitlung
Sandhya Gawali
Shainal Verma
Shashwat Vikram Singh
Sindu Deivanayagam
Subhamay Ghosh
Sumit Kumar

Project Website