“What stands out for me at Somerville is the spirit of sharing and connectivity, no one is isolated” announced Gopal Subramaniam, former Solicitor General of India, addressing a crowd of scholars and supporters at an event held at the Royal Automobile Club, London, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD). The event comes just two months after the launch of the Savitribhai Phule Graduate Scholarship, established to support Indian students from Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi (SC/ST/OBC) and other underrepresented backgrounds as well as first-generation students.
Established at Oxford’s Somerville College in 2013, the OICSD aims to advance research on the complex challenges and opportunities posed by sustainable development in the Indian subcontinent. It achieves this by taking on an interdisciplinary approach to addressing a core set of sustainable development challenges in India, working to translate academic research into policy-relevant actions and impacts. Importantly, it also aims to develop future leaders by providing fully funded scholarships to Indian graduate students with sustainability as a key focus of their research.
A crowd of Somerville staff, scholars and supporters listen to a speech given by the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, Chair of the Advisory Board for the OICSD, Royal Automobile Club, London, July 6, 2023
Speaking at the event, Somerville’s Principal and acting director of the OICSD, Baroness Jan Royall of Blaisdon drew attention to the new scholarship. “The Savitribhai Phule scholarship is for the most disadvantaged people in India. When we launched the scholarship earlier this year we thought we would have only one Dalit scholar – in fact we have three Dalit scholars and a Muslim scholar this year which is testament to the fact that we seek to represent India as a whole. We seek to give opportunities to people from all over India, no matter what their background, no matter what their caste, and I think that is a matter of pride.”
For Meghmala Mukherjee, 28, a BCL scholar at Somerville, the OICSD has been far more than a financial scholarship body and has transformed the way she approaches her own subject. “Whilst the scholarship has opened doors that we thought had closed on us, the support you get after you come here is phenomenal, with the team constantly checking up on our progress. They’ve motivated us to think beyond our streams in more international and sustainably focussed ways. I’ve been able to spot patterns and gaps where I had not seen them before and my aim now is to fill in those gaps.”
The OICSD has also proven to be crucially supportive for Aradhana Vadekkethil, 29, a final year DPhil Law candidate at Somerville, over the course of the 6 years that she has been studying at Oxford. “The OICSD has given me access to all of the scholars that I could possibly need and many of those scholars have become important friends. As isolating as a degree like a DPhil could be during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is those friendships that take you through to the finish line. The directors are also so generous with their time and they truly mean it when they say they are just a message away.”
Sujit Ghosh, India’s deputy High Commissioner to London, emphasized India’s geopolitical importance and the key role that the OICSD has in driving and supporting sustainable development in India and beyond. “It is in this planet’s interest that what happens in India doesn’t only stay in India because developments in India will move the global needle on planet action. As the OICSD enters the second decade of its existence, we hope that, through increased engagement with India and Indian experiences, the centre will continue to increase the impact and relevance of research, contribute to the strengthening of the India-UK partnership, especially in the green space, and bring together academia, business, policy makers and government to take forward the centre’s core mission of finding sustainable development options for India and the rest of the world.”
Looking towards the future, OICSD advisor Nayan Patel is excited to see the centre providing scholarships and supporting a greater number of Indian scholars. “We are looking forward to raising funds to enable more bright minds to flourish at Oxford. My greatest motivation is that education is a driver of all change; through education you can break down so many barriers and the youth of today are hungry to develop their own skills and knowledge. I think our main aim is for our scholars to be able to go out into the world and translate what they’ve learnt at Oxford into doing good and making a difference.”
From left: OICSD Scholars Ishani Mookherjee & Meghmala Mukherjee, Gopal Subramanium & OICSD Scholar Payal Agarwal, Royal Automobile Club, London, July 6, 2023
