M.Sc., Ph.D. (Delhi)
Telephone No. (Off.) 022-25525343
(Mobile) +919820761580
Email Address: sujatas@tiss.ac.in; sujatasriram@gmail.com
I am Professor and Dean at the School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai. I was awarded the Fulbright Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, 2010-11, at the Department of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. I have been in the field of higher education for over three decades. Before my two decades at TISS, I taught at Delhi University. In TISS, I was part of the team that set up iCALL, the psychosocial helpline that offers counselling services over telephone, email and chat. In collaboration with the Tata Memorial Center, Mumbai, I helped develop an innovative project on training patient navigators for cancer care called Kevat. I enjoy teaching and research. I am eternally curious, and enjoy trying to find out what makes people tick. My areas of research interest are many. I have written and published on issues and themes of psychology and human development.
The research projects that I have been working on since joining TISS in 2003, have been in diverse areas such as mental hralth, employability, familism, support systems and quality of life, and understanding banking culture and practices. I have been a part of multi-disciplinary teams of researchers for projects. My domain knowledge for the projects have been in the areas of psychology, human development and qualitative research.
In 2017, I completed a study on stress among students in coaching centers in Kota, Rajasthan, commissioned by the District Administration, Kota. The study was titled Stress among students in Kota, Rajasthan: A systemic analysis. In 2020, I and a colleague completed a research project with the Family Courts Mumbai on Marital dissolution though family court: Data trends and individual experiences. In 2021, I and a colleague completed a project titled Narratives Landscapes of Covid-19 – Storied Experiences of Older Adults in India. I am working with colleagues from the University College of London (UCL) on a collaborative research project titlted Cultural differences in students’ mental health and attitudes towards science coursework: A comparative study between India and the UK.
I have written and published on issues and themes of psychology and human development.
I teach courses on psychology, research methods and human development for the MA Applied Psychology students in TISS. I work on areas of:
· Mental health, psychological counselling and wellbeing
· Families, childcare and parenting
· Marriage, divorce and family socialization in the context of globalization and migration
· Social media and its impact
· Happiness and wellbeing
· Identity, religion, and spirituality
· Meaning making of caste and identity
· Culture and psychology
· Qualitative research
Some of my recent publicaitons are:
Will be updated soon...
Teaching and Administrative Work:
The School of Human Ecology (SHE) became a full-fledged School in the organizational structure of the TISS when I was heading the Centre for Human Ecology. In 2015, we moved from being an Independent Centre to become the School of Human Ecology. Since then, the School has begun many new teaching programs at the MA level, along with a taught PhD program and multiple diploma programs. The diploma programs are for practitioners to augment their skills. Under my leadership the School has just initiated two new teaching programs, which will be launched from the academic session of 2023. These are one year MA programs in keeping with the national level policy changes. The programs are MA in Global Mental Health and MA in Animal Assisted Therapy in Counselling. Both these programs address felt needs from the academics and practitioners, and the SHE is uniquely positioned to offer these programs. The one-year MA programs will be conducted along with the two-year MA Applied Psychology – Clinical and Counselling Practice program.
At the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), I teach courses in the MA Applied Psychology – Clinical and Counselling Practice, MA in Global Mental Health and MA in Animal Assisted Therapy in Counselling, and the post-graduate diploma in Patient Navigation. I coordinate the research program of the MA in Applied Psychology program. I have developed a course titled Counselling Older Adults, which is offered as a disciplinary elective for students in the Semester IV of the MA Applied Psychology – Clinical and Counselling Practice. This elective is offered along with a field practicum where students work with older adults in residential facilities.
In 2017, I was part of the team developing an innovative project on training Patient Navigators for oncology called Kevat; set up in collaboration with the Tata Memorial Centre. We have completed two rounds of training, and the third cycle has just begun. The Kevat program has now been initiated with doctors and nurses from Indonesia on their behest.
I am on the national task force setting up national guidelines for Acanthosis Nigricans.
I worked with my fellow colleagues in the SHE to develop the integrated MPhil/PhD Program in Applied Psychology (Specialization in Clinical and Counselling Practice), offered from 2017 till 2021. The program is an innovative combination of teaching, practice and research, to develop the scarce human capital of practicing mental health professionals in the country.