Received Sylff fellowship in 2016.
Education
2015-2020 PhD in Anthropology and Sociology, The Graduate Institute, Geneva (Specialisation: Medical Anthropology).
Dissertation – ‘Banking on Cord Blood: Decoding Amulets & Canisters in South India’.
Supervisor – Professor Aditya Bharadwaj
2013 MPhil Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
Dissertation – ‘Constructing a New Normal: On the Foundations of Suffering, Disease & Death’.
Advisors – Professor Tulsi Patel and Dr. Yasmeen Arif
2012 MA Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
2010 BA Sociology, Stella Maris College, University of Madras.
Academic Honors & Fellowships
2018 and 2017 The Graduate Institute Excellence Scholarship.
2016 Tokyo Foundation Fellowship/Sylff Fellow.
2015 The Graduate Institute Doctoral Scholarship.
2010 Gold medal with distinction, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.
Publication
Panwar, A. Channeling grief in fieldwork: Seeking closure in clinical spaces in “Dissertating.” Medicine Anthropology Theory. Forthcoming, April 2020.
Conference papers & Research workshops
September 2018, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Medical Anthropology Centre.
Valuing Health, Biennial Conference.
Presented ‘Banking on Blood: The Science, Market & Traditional Methods of Umbilical Cord Blood Storage in South India’.
July 2018, Lancaster, European Association for the Study of Science & Technology.
Meetings: Making Science, Technology & Society Together.
Presented ‘Banking on Blood: The Science, Market & Umbilical Cord Blood Storage in South India’ in the panel ‘Colliding theories, cultures and futures.’
April 2018, Athens.
Research Workshop on Science, Technology, Society (STS)/History, Technology, Society (HTS): Bio economy, Biotechnology, Medical technologies.
Presented a paper titled ‘Banking on Blood: The Life, Science & Market of Blood Stem Cells in India’ in the panel ‘Rethinking bio-values & the political economy of bio-banking’. For an EAAST published review, please click here.
March 2018, Geneva, IHEID. Organizer.
Workshop on Academic Conferences in the Humanities & Social Sciences.
November 2017, Washington DC, American Anthropology Association Conference.
On the panel Life Matters: Stem Cell Science, Therapeutics and Banking in India.
Organised the panel and presented ‘Banking on Blood: The Life, Science & Market of Blood Stem Cells in India’
Work Experience
2018, Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology(ANSO), IHEID Geneva.
Spring Semester, for Anthropology & Sociology.
‘Social Theory II’ with Dr. Yvan Droz.
‘Health, Gender & Inequalities: Biological & Social Reproduction’ with Professor Aditya Bharadwaj.
Autumn Semester, for the Interdisciplinary programmes – Development Studies and International Affairs.
‘Gender & Development: from Theory to Practice’ with Professor Aditya Bharadwaj.
Taught a class of 70, lectured, facilitated Q&A and chaired presentations.
‘Introduction to Global Health: Problems, Principles, Actors and Practices’ with Professor Vinh-Kim Nguyen.
2014-2015, In-house consultant/ Research Associate for ‘The Emergence of Stem Cell
Biotechnologies in India’.
A project based at IHEID Geneva and funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The work involved researching and archiving media reports, data management and documenting,
identifying available grey literature, report writing, collecting and annotating relevant
publications, and scoping the field for identifying stem cell facilities in India.
2014, Research Assistant to Dr. Yasmeen Arif for her book titled ‘Life, Emergent’.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2016. The work involved editing,
proofreading, annotation and reference. Dr. Arif is Associate Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
2012, Research Assistant to Dr. Malene T Kristensen.
For Dr. Kristensen’s doctoral project at Aarhus University, titled ‘Reproductive Tourism in India: A Description of Surrogate Mothers and Their Offspring’ between August – October
2012. Transcribed interviews from Hindi to English.
2012, Research Assistant to Dr. Janina Geist.
For Dr. Geist’s doctoral thesis at Georg-August University, Göttingen, titled ‘Queering space and politics: gender constructions and hierarchies of Indian queers in cyberspace and the political queer movement’, for a month in 2012. Conducted participant observation in field and transcribed interviews.
Fieldwork
November 2016 – November 2017 (1 year) and May – July 2015 (3 mos)
Ethnographic study of public and private umbilical cord blood banks and counselling centres in Chennai, New Delhi & Kolkata, India). This study was supported by a field work grant under Professor Aditya Bharadwaj’s ERC-funded project titled ‘Red Revolution: The Emergence of Stem Cell Biotechnologies in India’ (Project ID: 313769).
September – October 2011 (1 mo)
Team ethnographic field study of Shape India Foundation, New Delhi – an NGO that works towards enabling the hijra community with a focus on creating awareness on HIV/AIDS.
Submitted an individual field report titled ‘Inter-corporeality and Sensual Geographies’ as part of the Research Methods course of the MA in Sociology.
Languages
English, Hindi, Tamil and French.
References
Professor Aditya Bharadwaj
Professor Vinh- Kim Nguyen
Professor Deepak Mehta
Dr. Yvan Droz
Dr. Yasmeen Arif
