Driven by Purpose. Defined by Impact.

Dr. Janki Andharia

Janki Andharia is a Senior Professor at the School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and has over 40 years of experience in the field of community organization and social development. Her areas of work focus on gender issues, environmental concerns, democratic governance, and addressing diverse forms of marginalization and vulnerability. She is also Honorary Professor at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute of Manchester University, UK. At the World Education Congress Global Awards for Excellence in Education, Leadership and Teaching on 23rd July 2015 held in Mumbai, Prof. Andharia received an award for her outstanding contribution to education.

She has been involved in national and state-level policy-making work and has had a long association with grassroots organisations. She was awarded the Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholarship to pursue her Ph.D from School of Environment Sciences, University of East Anglia U.K. in the area of Gender, Development and Environment.

She was responsible for laying the foundation of the School of Disaster Studies at TISS and was its Dean until 2022. Prior to that until 2006, she was Head, of the Department of Urban and Rural Community Development at TISS. She has provided leadership in the area of Disaster Management within TISS and in India, introducing a full-fledged Masters’ in the subject. The programme is located within the broad framework of social and environmental justice. Professor Andharia serves on several of the Working Groups and Committees of the National Disaster Management Authority of India and on Boards of several organizations. In 2014 she was invited to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Residency programme at the Bellagio Centre, Italy. In the same year, Professor Andharia was the recipient of the “Best Professor in Disaster Management award”, instituted by the National Education Leadership Awards, Lokmat, Mumbai. This was in recognition of the critical leadership she provided to the establishment of a multidisciplinary Centre for Disaster Management.

Over the years Professor Andharia has conducted research, trainings and consultancy assignments for governments, industry and NGOs and international agencies. She has travelled abroad to several countries to deliver special lectures, establish institutional linkages with Universities and also on research collaborations. She has been appointed as Honorary Professor at the University of manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute until 2026. She has published extensively and is the series editor for Springer’s new book series on Disaster Studies and Management. She also serves on several editorial boards of several International journals.