Dr. Sudha Shashwati

Dr. Sudha Shashwati is a psychologist with a keen interest in working at the intersection of gender, culture and mental health. Her research has been published in Q1 journals (cultural studies) and she has presented her work in more than a dozen national and international conferences. As a teacher, she is passionate about curriculum innovation and sharing pedagogical space with students through a range of creative pedagogies. 

She was a university gold medallist at undergraduate level (University of Delhi), won the award for ‘best research in clinical psychology’ at post-graduate level (TISS, Mumbai), and was a UGC Junior Research Fellowship awardee as well. She has around 7 years of teaching experience and is a therapist by training, certified in trauma therapy and queer affirmative counselling practices. She is also a trained comprehensive sexuality educator and consultant psychologist for mental health initiatives. She is passionate about conducting capacity building programs for holistic well-being and gender sensitisation, as well as for initiating young scholars into the exciting realm of qualitative and arts-based research. An avid reader who loves giving book recommendations, she enjoys conversations on existentialism, culture, feminism, mindfulness and psychotherapy. 

Dr. Sudha has close to 7 years of teaching experience, mostly in premier colleges of University of Delhi recognized for their excellence in teaching Psychology, such as Lady Shri Ram College, Jesus and Mary College, Daulat Ram College, and Kamla Nehru College. She has also acted as the course director of Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology specialization of a postgraduate course, responsible for curriculum development of 5 papers of I/O Psychology. Outside academia, Dr. Sudha engaged in a brief stint in market research and over the last few years has also been associated as consultant psychologist for various mental health initiatives.

Culture | Gender | Mental Health | Positive Psychology | Pedagogy

Dr. Sudha is passionate about qualitative research, arts-based research, and research conducted using the transformative paradigm. Methodological advances in creative social science research fascinate her and are her current area of focus.  

Her doctoral research involved an exploration of the way gender hegemony has modernized in present day India. It included a study on the navigation of everyday sexism by young adult women using non-retrospective data, the first of its kind in the Indian context. Her scholarship is at the intersection of gender relations, cultural practices, and mental health.

As a teacher Dr. Sudha attempts to make her classrooms energetic spaces where both teacher and students push each other’s intellectual boundaries and engage in co-learning. She teaches with a broad repertoire of instructional strategies, including immersive exercises and unconventional assignments. She attempts to share pedagogical space with her students, have a culture of high expectations, and operate with high emotional intelligence. She is passionate about curriculum innovation and skill-based curriculum development for undergraduate and post-graduate programs in Psychology through backward design.

Dr. Sudha has taught a wide range of courses across the 7 years she has spent in various institutions across India, teaching students of both undergraduate and post-graduate programs in Psychology: Research Methods in Psychology, Cultural and Indigenous Psychology, Emotional Intelligence, Intergroup Relations, Organizational Behavior, Community Psychology, Psychology of Disability, Development of Psychological Thought, Psychology of Health and Well-Being, Forensic Psychology, Human Resource Management, Psychology of Individual Differences, Counselling Psychology, Youth, Gender and Identity, Community Psychology, Psychology of Individual Differences, Organizational Development and Management of Change, Psychology of Entrepreneurship, Personality Psychology, Nutritional Psychology and Psychology of Gender.

Dr. Sudha has had a stellar academic track record, winning the university gold medal at undergraduate level (University of Delhi), the award for ‘best research in clinical psychology’ at post-graduate level (TISS, Mumbai), and UGC Junior Research Fellowship in Psychology prior to enrolling in PhD. She has also received several other prestigious awards such as Shree Krishna Mohan Memorial Award, Dr. Indu Gupta Memorial Award, Dr. L. Chandran Memorial Award, Dr. Rama Kaushik Memorial Award, Shree R.C Murarka Memorial Award, Smt. Meenakshi Ammal Memorial Award, and Silver Jubilee Merit Scholarship, all in University of Delhi for academic excellence in Psychology. 

Dr. Sudha has been a reviewer for several national and international journals of repute, and has delivered Faculty Development Program (FDP) sessions in the area of advanced qualitative research methods. She herself regularly attends FDPs as a participant, committed to continuing education in Psychology and Research Methods and upskilling as a teacher engaged in various digital pedagogies.  She is routinely invited as a resource person for delivering guest talks, mentoring sessions and conducting workshops and webinars, largely in the areas of career prospects in Psychology, youth mental health, mindfulness-based practices for well-being, gender sensitization etc. She is a member of various professional bodies such as Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences (ACBS), Academic Advisory Board of 3G International Psychology Forum, IIT Madras, and American Psychological Association (APA).

As a researcher, she has published her work in more than a dozen national and international peer-reviewed journals. Her upcoming work is focussed on conducting research based on the scientist-practitioner model to develop scalable mental health interventions for young adults. She is also passionate about popularizing innovative, unconventional research methods among students and sparking their interest in conducting original research and developing manuscripts for journals.

sudha.sahoo@ddn.upes.ac.in