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MISSION

Data Sciences & Solutions: Interdisciplinary domain: data science, machine learning, AI, and Software solutions applied to the domain of social sciences. Provide comprehensive decision support to stakeholders involved in promoting women’s empowerment by leveraging the power of data-driven methodologies to support effective monitoring of the various factors influencing women’s empowerment, Uncover evidence-based trends and correlations. Advance research methodologies by integrating cutting-edge technologies such as AI and data science by developing comprehensive solutions that encompass Integrated data gathering tools Centralized storage to facilitate research. Developing the knowledge base (knowledge modeling, extraction, and evaluation). Explore computational science directions that supports the research methodologies Advanced qualitative analysis tools utilizing Natural Language Processing (NLP), Spatio-temporal analysis leveraging Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Modeling and simulations using machine learning, Study of relationships and dynamics through Social Network Analysis (SNA). 

Thematic Areas

Data strategies and digitalization solutions to facilitate and enhance community participation

End-to-end data strategies and solutions to collaborative tracking and monitoring of social interventions

Automated content analysis for Information extraction

Social knowledge systems to facilitate empowerment assessment and evaluation

TEAM Members

Aswathi P.
TAG Lead
Research Associate
Research Interests: Data Strategies and Tools; Computational Social Science; Data Value Chains; Knowledge Systems; Data Science; Machine Learning
aswathip@am.amrita.edu

Prof. Bhavani R. Rao
Dean, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Research Interests: Vocational Education; Vulnerability Mapping; Rural Development; Educational Technology; Games for Change; and Computing in Social Sciences
bhavani@am.amrita.edu

⁠Dr. Srividya Sheshadri
Associate Director, Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality
Research Interests: Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Programs; Technology and Sustainable Community Development; International Social Welfare; and International and Comparative Education
srividyasheshadri@am.amrita.edu

Dr. Christopher Coley
Social Sciences Research Lead, Amrita Institute for Advanced Research, Chicago, USA
Assistant Professor, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Research Interests: Anti-Poverty Interventions; Women Empowerment; Environmental Ethics; Vulnerability & Risk; Communities of Practice; Computerized Vocational Education and Training; Life Enrichment Education
christopher@am.amrita.edu

Kripa Gressel
Research Associate
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Personal & Social Values, Sustainable Development & Gender
kripag@am.amrita.edu

⁠Balu Mohandas Menon
Team Lead for Rural Technologies, Ammachi Labs, India
Research Interests: Machine Learning; Haptics; Computational Social Science; Data Analysis; Robotics; Develop/ Evaluate an Effective and Accurate Detection System, Evaluate the Role of Different Sensor Detection Strategies; Evaluate Real-World Effectiveness; Assess Stakeholder Notifications; Digitization of Participatory Rural Appraisal; Gender Analysis of Human-Animal Conflict
balummenon@am.amrita.edu

Lekha Shekhar
Software Development Lead, Interventions Implementation
Research Interests: Digitalization, Programming Languages and Tools, Database Models, Cloud Services
lekha.s@ammachilabs.org

Parameswari Anitha
Implementations Coordinator
Research Interests: Social Interventions, Technology Adoption Strategies, and Data Analysis
parameswari.a@ammachilabs.org

⁠Bhanu V. R. 
Research Associate
Research Interests: Implementation Science for Community Development, Education, and Empowerment; Vocational Education and Life Skills Training; Exploring Applications of Social Data Science
bhanu.vr@ammachilabs.org

Dr. Padma Rao Sahib 
Associate Professor, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Research Interests: Strategy; International Business; Sustainable Development; Mergers and Acquisition Process; Organizational Learning
p.rao.sahib@rug.nl

Dr. Gaurang Matthijs (Ties) Fakkel
Assistant Professor, Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Research Interests: Role of psychosocial factors such as self-control, social competence, locus of control, and parent and peer support in the processes of social reproduction and social mobility. What adolescents believe to be causes of poverty; Social inequalities among youth, e.g., in education, climate change, and research participation
matthijs.fakkel@ammachilabs.org

⁠Dr. Victoria Ustenko
Associate Professor, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Research Interests: Economic Development, Economics and Culture, Public Administration and Civil Service, Ethical Systems, Participatory Governance, Impact Evaluation
victoria.ustenko@am.amrita.edu

Funded Projects

Collaborators

Dr. Tarek Rashed
Adjunct Professor at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham;
Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Civilizology LLC,
Research Interests:
Geographic Information Science; Remote Sensing; Smart Cities; Big Data; Disaster Risk Management; Mitigation; Multicriteria Decision Making; Urban Resilience and Planning.

Dr. Ram Fishman
Department of Public Policy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Research Interests:
Sustainable Development; Food; Water; Energy; Technology Adoption; Climate Change; Agriculture

⁠Dr. Vijayan Sugumaran
Distinguished University Professor at Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
Research Interests:
Big data management and analytics; Ontologies and semantic web; Intelligent agents and Multiagent systems

Success Stories

Publications 2022 – 2025

  • Nedumaran, S. P., Padmavilochanan, A., & Bakiras, S. (2025, January 16–19). Empowering social interventions: An adaptive monitoring solution with integrated NLP analytics [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Sheshadri, S., Radhakrishnan, U., Padmavilochanan, A., Coley, C., & Bhavani, R. R. (2025, January 16–19). Generative AI for analyzing participatory rural appraisal data: An exploratory case study in gender research [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Gomez, M. B., Coley, C. L., Arlikatti, S., & Sahib, P. R. (2025, January 16–19). Examining the digital gender divide: A case study of teachers and students in a rural village, North India [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Gressel, C. M., & Anil, A. (2025, January 16–19). The future of gender data: Navigating ethical frontiers in the age of AI and big data [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Bhanu, V. R., Marwaha, D., Nayar, N., Nandha, S., & Philip, A. (2025, January 16–19). Development of a life enrichment education curriculum for rural women in India [Poster presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Bhanu, V. R., Nayar, N., Ramesh, R., Padmavilochan, A., Natarajan, A., & Sheshadri, S. (2025, January 16–19). Blended learning for women’s business development in rural India: Enhancing technology adoption and bridging the gender digital divide [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Marwaha, D., Bhanu, V. R., Sayujya, R. S., & Nair, S. (2025, January 16–19). Development of a digital literacy curriculum for rural women in India [Poster presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Sithara, G. S., Ramesh, R., Bhanu, V. R., Nayar, N., & Sheshadri, S. (2025, January 16–19). Inclusive learning model for technology-enhanced vocational education through culturally responsive pedagogy [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Mbye, F., Badjie, O., Coley, C. L., & Simmons, W. P. (2025, January 16–19). A systematic literature review on digital activism: Empowering women through technology in developing countries [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Yeboah, G., Pandey, P., Gomez, M. B., & Coley, C. (2025, January 16–19). Exploring gender influences on perceptions of sustainable development education among future educators in Ghana [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Yeboah, G., Pandey, P., Gomez, M. B., & Coley, C. (2025, January 16–19). Gender inclusivity in technology-enhanced teacher education in Ghana [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Menon, B. M., Festa Lovin, K. F., Nampoothiri, A. K., Rashed, T., & Bhavani, R. (2025, January 16–19). Human-wildlife conflict and gender: A case study from Odisha [Conference presentation]. International Conference on Gender and Technology, Amritapuri, India. 
  • Anitha, P., Shekar, L., Bhanu, V. R., Nayar, N., Menon, B. M., Padmavilochanan, A., & Sheshadri, S. (2023, November 24-26). ICT based reporting and monitoring for TVET: Effective adoption strategies [Conference presentation]. In 2023 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), Bombay, India. 
  • Bhanu, V. R., Nayar, N., Natarajan, A., Ramesh, R., Padmavilochanan, A., & Sheshadri, S. (2023, November 24-26). Blended learning for women’s business development in rural India: Enhancing technology adoption and bridging the gender digital divide [Conference presentation]. In 2023 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), Bombay, India. 
  • Sithara, G. S., Bhanu, V. R., Nayar, N., & Sheshadri, S. (2023, November 24-26). Inclusive learning model for technology-enhanced vocational education through culturally responsive pedagogy [Conference presentation]. In 2023 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), Bombay, India. 
  • Padmavilochanan, A., Anitha, P., Suresh, A. K., Refoulouma, S., Saravanakumaran, S., Sheshadri, S., & Rao, B. R. (2024, September). Tech for all: Innovating inclusive adoption measurement. In 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) (pp. 1-8). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS61960.2024.10732464 
  • Amritha, N., Marwaha, D., Bhanu, V. R., Singh, V., & Bhavani, R. R. (2024, September). Empowering rural women in India: SHG formation and training for social change using humanitarian technology. In 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) (pp. 1-7). IEEE. https://doi.org/0.1109/ISTAS61960.2024.10732061  
  • Pothancheri, G., AkshayRaj, K. P., & Shankar, S. K. (2024, August). Having a Smartphone and being enrolled in a higher education institution does not make students digitally literate!. In 2024 IEEE 5th India Council International Subsections Conference (INDISCON) (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/INDISCON62179.2024.10744329 
  • Menon, B. M., Nampoothiri, A. K., Festa Lovin, K. F., & Rao, B. (2024, October). User-centered design of a seasonal calendar app for women: Insights from a case study in India. In 2024 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) (pp. 319-325). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC62424.2024.10771573  
  • Padmavilochanan, A., Natarajan, A., Shekhar, L., Sheshadri, S., Parameswari, A., & Bhavani R. R. (2023, October). ICT significance for community engagement during COVID in rural India: An application suite. In 2023 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) (pp. 203-210). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC56179.2023.10354703 
  • Menon, B. M., Noble, V., Padmavilochanan, A., Rashed, T., & Bhavani, R. R. (2023, October). Capturing and digitization of indigenous knowledge in support of community resilience to climate change. In 2023 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) (pp. 184-187). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC56179.2023.10354562 
  • Padmavilochanan, A., Natarajan, A., Shekhar, L., Sheshadri, S., Parameswari, A., & Bhavani R. R. (2023, October). ICT significance for community engagement during COVID in rural India: An application suite. In 2023 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC) (pp. 203-210). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/GHTC56179.2023.10354703 
  • Coley, C., Gressel, C., Dhillon, A., Shukla, T., Sheshadri, S., Pandey, N., Kumar, G., & Bhavani, R. R. (2022). A braided river. The universe of Indian women in science. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380700
  • Freire, I. T., Løvschal, M., Bollen, J., Carugati, F., Ndzenyuiy, M. N., Page, S. E., Rao, B. R., & Tylén, K. (2025). How do we collaborate?. In P. F. M. J. Verschure (Ed.), The nature and dynamics of collaboration (pp. 317-333). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15533.003.0024 
  • McLain, M. L., Suresh, V., Sankaranarayanan, K., & Rao, B. R. (2025). Structure of collaboration in women’s self-help groups. In P. F. M. J. Verschure (Ed.), The nature and dynamics of collaboration (pp. 113-123). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/15533.003.0012 
  • Ramesh, R., Frank, E., Padmavilochanan, A., Barda, Y., Eldar, I., Wolf, H., Pras, A., Pousty, D., Anita, P., Shekar, L., von Lieres, J. S., Rao, R. B., Mamane, H., & Fishman, R. (2024). Reliable water quality monitoring by women in low-resource communities. ACS ES&T Water, 4(9), 3832-3841. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.4c00164  
  • Fakkel, M., Peeters, M., Branje, S., & Stevens, G. W. (2024). Parental SES and family support as predictors of educational level: Testing the buffering effect of effortful control and peer support. Journal of Adolescence, 96(8), 1884-1900. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12389  
  • Fakkel, M., Branje, S., Vollebergh, W. A., Stevens, G. W., & Peeters, M. (2024). Intergenerational upward and downward social mobility: The role of intelligence, effortful control, assertiveness, and peer competence in early adolescence. Emerging Adulthood, 12(5), 838-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968241257585 
  • Fakkel, M., Peeters, M., Vollebergh, W. A. M., & Branje, S. (2023). Parent-adolescent transmission of socioeconomic status: Testing serial mediation of conflict behaviors, emotion regulation, and empathy. Emerging Adulthood, 11(5), 1196-1210. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968231183029  
  • Fakkel, M., Peeters, M., Branje, S., Stevens, G. W., & Vollebergh, W. A. (2023). Decline in positive future orientations among adolescents during covid‐19: The role of socioeconomic status, parental support, and sense of control. Journal of Adolescence, 95(7), 1321-1332. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12204  
  • Ajith, V., Fishman, R., Yosef, E., Edris, S., Ramesh, R., Suresh, R. A., Pras, A., Rahim, V., Rajendran, S., Yanko, M., Amit, A., Bhavani, R. R., Ramesh, M. V., & Mamane, H. (2023). An integrated methodology for assessment of drinking-water quality in low-income settings. Environmental Development, 100862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2023.100862 
  • Coley, C., Sheshadri, S. & Devanathan, S. (2023). Men’s experience of women’s empowerment and gender equality: A phenomenological study in Kerala, India. Global Social Welfare, 10, 105-115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-022-00262-7 
  • Coley, C., Sheshadri, S., Devanathan, S., & Bhavani, R. R. (2023). Contextualizing women’s empowerment frameworks with an emphasis on social support: A study in rural, South India. Community, Work, & Family, 26(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2021.1879021 
  • Haidegger, T., Mai, V., Mörch, C. M., Boesl, D. O., Jacobs, A., Rao, B. R., Khamis, A., Lach, L., & Vanderborght, B. (2023). Robotics: Enabler and inhibitor of the sustainable development goals. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 43, 422-434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2023.11.011  
  • Sheshadri, S., Coley, C., Devanathan, S., & Rao, R. B. (2023). Towards synergistic women’s empowerment-transformative learning framework for TVET in rural India. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 75 (2), 255-277. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1834438 
  • Suresh, V., Fishman, R., von Lieres, J. S. and Rao, B. R. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the economic situation and food security of rural households in India. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies. 12(3), 491-509. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-07-2021-0177 
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