Dr Nilanjana Ray | Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr Nilanjana Ray

Assistant Professor
Hyderabad Campus,
Assistant Professor, School of Gender and Livelihoods
Coordinator, MA in Women’s Studies Programme

Qualification

B.Sc. (Calcutta University),
M.A. (University of Allahabad),
Ph.D. in Modern History (University of Allahabad),
Ph.D. in Social Work (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Contact

nilanjana.ray[at]tiss[dot]ac[dot]in

Email: nilanjana.ray@tiss.ac.in

Dr. Nilanjana Ray obtained her PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, ranked in the top three Social Work Schools in the United States. The topic of her dissertation was Vulnerability to Human Trafficking.

Prior to joining TISS, Dr. Ray worked for five years in UNICEF India Country Office in the Child Protection Unit, joining in the anti-trafficking efforts.

She brings the combined strength of her field experience and research training in both India and United States to class.

Her core competencies are in Human Trafficking, Migration Studies, Child Protection, Qualitative Research Methods and Qualitative Impact Evaluation.

She has made 33 presentations in international and national academic forums.

She has international presence in academics as editorial board member and reviewer for high impact factor journals. She is on the Editorial Board of the journal Social Sciences and is a reviewer for Springer, Taylor and Francis, Routledge, Sage, MDPI Academic Publishers and Peter Lang Academic Publishers.

She has been associated with Field Action Projects and Research Projects that were funded by World Bank, UNICEF, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the State Government , London School of Economics, Plan International and World Vision.

She has supervised 38 MPhil and Masters dissertations.

Dr. Ray is a bibliophile who is especially fascinated by travel writing. Though no longer a frequent traveller as earlier, she has substituted actual travel with armchair travelling through books.

Human Trafficking

Child Protection

Gender and Migration

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative Impact Evaluation

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

1. Ray, N. (2024). Covid-19 and Child Trafficking in India: Mapping the Crisis Through Media Coverage. Trends in Organized Crime. DOI: 10.1007/s12117-024-09550-4. [5-year Impact Factor: 2.3]

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385130377_Covid-19_and_child_trafficking_in_India_mapping_the_crisis_through_media_coverage

2. Ray, N. (2023). ‘We Look at Our Feet and Work’: Women Construction Workers Negotiating Patriarchies in Kolkata, India, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 46:1, 39-54, DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2023.2138169 [5-year Impact Factor: 1.2; Cite Score: 1.2]

3. Ray, N. (2021). Review of Roli Mishra (Ed.) Migration, Trafficking and Gender Construction: Women in Transition. New Delhi: Sage/Stree, 2020, ISBN 978-93-81345-47-4. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 28 (3): 473-476. DOI: 10.1177/09715215211030566. [5-year Impact Factor: 0.8]

4. Ray, N. 2016. “Patriarchy and forbidden love”, The Book Review Journal (Special issue on Gender), August 2016. ISSN 0970-4975. [UGC Care List 2021: Arts and Humanities]

5. Ray, N. 2007. “Wither childhood? Child trafficking in India”. Social Development Issues, 29 (3), 72-83. ISSN 0147-1473.

6. Ray, N. 2006. “Looking at trafficking through a new lens”. Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender, 12 (3), 909-927. ISSN 1074-5785.

Book Chapters

1. Ray, N. 2019. “Indian Women as Nurses and Domestic Workers in the Middle East: A feminist perspective”. In S. Irudaya Rajan and Prem Saxena (eds.) India’s Unskilled Migration to the Middle East: Policies, Politics and Challenges. Pp339-354. New Delhi: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-981-13-9223-8. [Listed in Web of Science and Scopus]

2. Ray, N. 2017.“Human Trafficking: A form of violence against women”. In Rashmi Jain

and Virendra Goswami (Eds.) Series on Gender. New Delhi: Studium Press, LLC. ISBN 978-93-85046-05-6.

Other Writings

1. Ray, N. 2024. “How South Asian workers land in Modern Slavery in the Middle East”, 360info, September 16. DOI: 10.54377/1b20-bd15. https://360info.org/how-south-asian-workers-land-in-modern-slavery-in-the-middle-east/

2. Ray, N. 2016. “Short-term Relationship”, Development and Cooperation, July 2016. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/indian-city-hyderabad-sheikh-marriages-are-never-meant-last

3. Ray, N. 2014. “Aborted girls and trafficked brides: An Asian tragedy”. Development and Cooperation, 41 (4), April 2014. https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/aborted-girls-enslaved-brides-depressing-asian-drama

Research/Organizational Reports

1. Gyanmudra and Ray, N. 2022. “Impact Assessment Study of Ujjawala Homes - Telangana”. Funded by Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana.

2. Gyanmudra and Ray, N. 2022. “Impact Evaluation Study of Swadhar Homes, Telangana”. Funded by Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana.

3. Gyanmudra and Ray, N. 2022. “Impact Evaluation of Sakhi One-Stop Centres in Telangana”. Funded by Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana.

4. Gyanmudra and Ray, N. 2021. “One-Stop Centre: Standard Operating Procedures”. Funded by Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana.

Conference Papers

International

1. Ray, N. 2023. “Women Convicted of Human Trafficking: Personal Profiles and Involvement in Crime.” APCORE-PIKSI International Conference 2023, Bandung, Indonesia, August 29, 2023.

2. Ray, N. 2023. “Domestic Violence and Vulnerability to Trafficking”. Second International Women Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 11, 2023.

3. Ray, N. and Sudha Upadhyula. 2023. “Exploring the pathway of women into trafficking”. Second International Women Conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 11, 2023.

4. Ray, N. and Sudha Upadhyula. 2023. Exploring the Modus Operandi of Human Traffickers in India: Tactics, Networks, and Implications. The Serious and Organized Crime Conference, The Hume Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland, June 17, 2023.

5. Ray, N. 2017. “Speaking of the Unspeakable: The Debate on Sex Trafficking in Colonial India.” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities, Hofstra University, New York, June 1-June 4, 2017.

6. Ray, N. 2013. Women Who Traffic Women into Sexual Slavery: What do we know about them? Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, USA, San Diego, California, January 16-20, 2013.

7. Ray, N. 2011. Does Domestic violence make women more vulnerable to sex trafficking? Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work Research, USA, Tampa, Florida, January 12-16, 2011. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10607.04008

8. Ray, N. 2005. Re-conceptualizing Trafficking. Conference on Sexual Slavery: New Approaches to an Old Problem, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York City, NY.

National
1. Ray, N. 2020. “Child Trafficking and Abuse: Moving from Offline to Online”. National Seminar on Discourses of Trafficking, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, February 9, 2020.

2. Ray, N. 2020. “Risk Prevention and Mitigation of Gender -Based Violence in World Bank Projects”. Consultative Group Meeting on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Framework. World Bank Office, New Delhi, January 29, 2020.

3. Ray, N. 2020. “Use of Social Media in Child Trafficking”. Online Child Trafficking: Mapping the Landscape. CyberPeace Foundation and K.T. Somaiyya College, Mumbai. January 5, 2020.

4. Ray, N. 2019. “Gender based violence and women’s labour force participation.” Consultative Group Meeting on Women’s Economic Empowerment. World Bank Office, New Delhi, October 25, 2019.

5. Ray, N. 2019. “Women and Land Rights”. Consultative Group Meeting on Women’s Economic Empowerment. World Bank Office, New Delhi, May 8, 2019.

6. Ray, N. 2019. "Gender Equality and Empowerment: Prioritizing Industries and Prioritizing Themes". Global Roundtable on Benchmarking Ethical Business Practices. World Benchmarking Alliance and the Consulate of Netherlands. Mumbai, March 7, 2019.

7. Ray, N. 2018. “Barriers to Economic Empowerment of Women: Lessons from the field”. International Conference on Women’s Economic Empowerment, World Bank Office, New Delhi, May 17, 2018.

8. Ray, N. 2017. “Exploring the lived experience of daily-commuting women construction workers: Vulnerabilities and resilience”. National Conference of the Indian Association of Women’s Studies, Chennai, January 22-25, 2017.

9. Ray N. 2016. “Exploring the anti -trafficking movement in India: A movement against gender based violence”. National Conference on Sociology of Social Movements: Trends and Directions in Contemporary India, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, June 12- 13, 2016. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30739.69928

10. Ray, N. 2016. “Adolescents in India: The context of vulnerability”. Strategic Consultation on Adolescents, Hotel Marigold, Hyderabad, May 12, 2016.

11. Ray N. 2016. “International Migration by Indian Women: Healthcare and Domestic Workers in the Middle East”. ICSSR Conference on Migration Studies, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, March 21-26, 2016.

12. Ray, N. 2014. Marriage Poems as Historical Sources – Mining cultural forms for women’s voices. Shifting Contours Widening Concerns: Women’s History, Historiography and the Politics of Historical Representation, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, 11 -13 February 2015. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27384.25609

As PI

"Risk Communication and Community Engagement " - PI - Funded by UNICEF (2022-23) – Completed.
“Knowledge Partner for State Resource Centre for Women, State Government of Telangana” – PI – Funded by State Government of Telangana (2022-2023) - Completed
“Study on the effectiveness of child sponsorship in the lives of sponsored children and their families”. – PI - Funded by CESS and World Vision (2019) – Completed.
"Study of the functioning of Observation Homes in Telangana”. PI - Funded by CESS, NALSAR and UNICEF (2019) – Completed
"Perceptions about Child Abuse: An Exploratory Study in Two Districts of Andhra Pradesh". – PI - Funded by World Vision (2018) - Completed

As Co-PI

“Strengthening State Responsiveness for Prevention of Gender -based Violence: Toward a State-Civil Society-Community Framework for the State of Kerala” – Co-PI - Funded by World Bank (2022-2023)– Completed
“Knowledge Partner for Sakhi One-Stop Centres in Telangana”- Co-PI - Funded by Department of Woman Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana (2020-2023) - Completed.
“Analysing the Factors associated with a decline in stunting in India: An analysis of exemplars in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State” – Co PI – Funded by IAVI (2022-2023) – Completed.
"Developing Standard Operating Procedures for One-Stop Centres". – Co PI - Funded by Department of Woman Development and Child Welfare, Government of Telangana (2021)- Completed.
"An Exploratory Study of the Conditional Cash Transfer Schemes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to Prevent Child Marriage" - Co PI - Funded by Plan India (2019) - Completed
"Marriage or Trafficking? The Phenomenon of Sheikh Marriages in Hyderabad". – Co PI - Funded by London School of Economics (2015-2016) – Completed.

MA in Women's Studies

Migration, Labour and Economy
Women and the State: Engagement and Contestation
Qualitative Research: Methods and Methodologies
Project Management
Qualitative Impact Evaluation for the Development Sector
Experiential Learning
Internship
Research Proposal and Dissertation Guidance

PhD in Women's Studies

Social Research Ethics
Feminist Perspectives on Women, Gender and Society
Dissertation Guidance of Five students

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

A. MA in Women’s Studies original curriculum

· Philosophy and Methods of Social research (2014)

· Introduction to Women’s Studies (2014)

· Experiential Learning (2014)

· Internship (2014)

· Project Management and Impact Evaluation (2014)

· State, Women’s Rights and Legal Advocacy (2014)

· Research Proposal (2014)

· Migration, Labour and Economy (2014)

· Dissertation (2014)

B. MA in Women’s Studies revised curriculum

· Project Management (2021)

· Qualitative Impact Evaluation for the Development Sector (2021)

· Women and the State: Engagement and Contestation (2021)

· Gender and Law: The Indian Perspective (2021)

C. MA in Livelihoods: Gender and Development curriculum

Internship

Gender and Migration

Qualitative Impact Evalustion