Scholars 2023: Baljeet Kaur, Harshit Khandelwal, Kartikeya Rai and Meghnad Bose
The 2023 scholars are from a variety of disciplines ranging from physics, design, law, history and more. Over the month of June will be presenting our 11 scholars in a 3 part series via the blog.
This week we have Baljeet Kaur, Harshit Khandelwal, Kartikeya Rai and Meghnad Bose.
Baljeet is attending the University of Cambridge for an MPhil in Criminological Research. Harshit is joining the University of Leiden, Netherlands for an MSc in Astronomy Research Specialisation. Kartikeya is going to the University of Cambridge for a MASt in Pure Mathematics. Meghnad will be attending Columbia University for an MSc in Data Journalism.
Baljeet Kaur
After completing her Masters in Social Work (Criminology and Justice) degree in 2017 from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Baljeet has been working in the field of criminal justice and human rights. She has led the research project documenting experiences of prisoners with the criminal justice system and presenting analysis of procedures involved in criminal prosecution involving terrorism charges in Maharashtra at Quill Foundation-Centre for Research and Advocacy. She has also engaged in advocacy mechanisms at the National Human Rights Commission of India and United Nation’s Human Rights Council and Special Rapporteurs on issues of torture and extra-judicial killings. In 2019, she joined Project 39A - a pro bono litigation and criminal justice research organization based in National Law University Delhi - as a Mitigation Investigator which involved investigating life histories of prisoners sentenced to death and present assessment from a bio-psycho-social lens before the court to assist in the sentencing hearing. Additionally, she has worked on research projects understanding living conditions of death row prisoners and socio-economic background of their families. She has presented papers in University of Oxford and University of Melbourne, and regularly writes on media platforms on the issues of criminal justice specially rights of prisoners and conditions of prisons.
She is going to study MPhil in Criminological Research at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. She intends to specialise in the fields of penology and critical criminology. She is interested in developing her advanced research skills and she will be specifically studying carceral undercurrents of penal policy categorising prisoners based on risk and security.
Harshit Khandelwal
As a child Harshit was fascinated by heavenly objects. From a young age, he liked stargazing from his roof. He would match the patterns of the constellations with those he explored in different astronomical software. He knew his calling lay within the stars, planets and cosmos. Fast forward to the present, he will be graduating in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science and looks forward to exploring different domains of modern astronomical study and research.
Hailing from a business family, his own social background according to him was largely distanced from academia, making him the only family member, except for his uncle, who chose to pursue academics. It is his uncle who has encouraged his pursuit and enabled him to recognise his childhood passion for Astronomy.
He has worked extensively towards shaping his educational journey into a meaningful path. He has sought research projects and presentations that offer him exposure on an international level, including the Mitacs internship in Canada. They enabled him to participate in meaningful research and taught him the importance of the community in the research world. He hopes that this path will help him give back to society by allowing him to implement better research and nurture interests in budding astronomers.
Kartikeya Rai
In the coming academic year, Kartikeya will be pursuing Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge. He believes that a Master of Advanced Study from Cambridge will serve as excellent preparation for his future goal of a career in pure mathematics.
His tryst with mathematics began in class 9 when he enrolled me for mathematics sessions outside school. He was fortunate to find a wonderful teacher there, who truly intellectually challenged students to think in new ways. He found the process of forming a conjecture, and trying to prove or refute it very exciting.
His interest in mathematics has only grown since then, as he was exposed to a great breadth of areas in college. He further participated in research projects in graph theory and additive number theory. In his thesis, he has worked on understanding Fourier analysis on number fields in the context of Tate’s thesis. His broad exposure enabled him to develop a keen understanding of preferences and tastes, and he found that he enjoys mathematics the most when there is an interplay between different areas.
He also enjoys being a teaching assistant, designing problem sheets and conducting tutorials. This affords him the opportunity to refine his own understanding. Recently, he was a facilitator for a Mentor Training Programme at the Royal Academy in Bhutan. The programmes trained mathematics school teachers from across Bhutan, and his time there was instrumental in convincing him that education is a very potent tool for social change. He hopes to continue teaching and contributing to society in this manner in the future.
His hobbies include playing lawn tennis and reading fiction. He is an avid follower of football and is also fond of exploring different cuisines.
Meghnad Bose
Meghnad is a multimedia journalist and will be pursuing the MS Data Journalism program at Columbia University, to leverage the power of computation to find and tell important stories, especially ones that lie hidden between the numbers.
As Deputy Editor of The Quint Lab, Meghnad helms innovations in journalistic storytelling. Recently, Meghnad has also led The Quint’s efforts in exploring the various ways in which Artificial Intelligence can be used by different teams in the newsroom, and how AI could be utilised to create offerings that improve reader experience and engagement on the website. This is an area that he wishes to study and delve into further during his time at Columbia.
His documentary ‘The Making of Lynchistan’, uncovering the modus operandi of lynch mobs in India, received the South Asian Digital Media Award from the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), as well as the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award.
After completing his Bachelor’s in Mass Media from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai in 2014, Meghnad went on to become a South Asia Foundation scholar at the Asian College of Journalism, from where he graduated in 2015.
Apart from journalism, Meghnad is passionate about cricket — so much so that even as he eagerly looks forward to undertaking the course at Columbia, it comes along with a tinge of disappointment at missing the Cricket World Cup which is to be held in India later this year!
