Scholars 2024: Anjali Madangarli, Arjun Kamdar and Mansvini Jain
In part 2 of our 4-part series introducing the 2024 Inlaks Scholars, meet Anjali Madangarli, Arjun Kamdar and Mansvini Jain.
Anjali will be joining Leiden University for an MSc in Physics (Research in Physics and Cosmology), Arjun will be pursuing an MPhil in Land Economy Research from University of Cambridge, and Mansvini will be studying for her Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L) degree from the University of Oxford.
Anjali Madangarli
Anjali graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Physics from Ashoka University in 2024. Her journey into the world of Physics began with a deep love for Mathematics, instilled by exceptional teachers who taught her during high school. Eventually, this love empowered her to study the intricate workings of the physical world during her undergraduate education. Equipped with the ability to employ elegant formulae and equations to express different laws and principles, she found her Physics courses to be captivating. In her last year as an undergraduate, she opted for a course titled Cosmology and General Relativity, which ignited her interest in the subject. This experience motivated her to take up a year of formal research in Inflation Cosmology, a field she wishes to pursue in the future.
She will now be pursuing a Master’s in Physics, with a specialization in Cosmology research, at Leiden University. She hopes to engage with the ongoing research in Inflation Cosmology at Leiden and answer pertinent questions regarding the origin of the universe. Her dedication to research is complemented by a commitment towards fostering an inclusive learning environment, which she has realized through her role as a Teaching Assistant. Enamored by the mysteries of the early universe, she aspires to work towards a future where she can share this passion as a Professor of Physics. She hopes to encourage and inspire more women to take up Physics and pursue research in STEM.
Beyond the classroom, she finds joy in cooking, reading, and dancing. Trained as a Bharatnatyam dancer for over 12 years, she also hopes to rekindle her passion for dance alongside her academic pursuits.
Arjun Kamdar
Arjun Kamdar is an applied conservation scientist using an interdisciplinary approach to understand how human and animal behaviors can be individually and jointly targeted to architect a safe, shared space. He draws tools from a repository of subject areas such as behavioral economics, ecology, and anthropology to design and implement conservation projects.
He will be doing an MPhil in Land Economy Research at the University of Cambridge, looking at human behavioral science for conservation action and policy. Through this, he aims to better understand decision-making and the levers of change in complex social-ecological systems. These insights can be harnessed to improve the effectiveness and efficacy of conservation projects while securing social justice.
Arjun is particularly interested in conservation outside protected areas, with his previous work focussing on improving human-nature interactions. He has worked with a diverse set of stakeholders towards securing a wildlife corridor between two fragmented protected areas in northeast India, understanding elephants’ ecology through radio-telemetry, and developing a framework called NOSTRIL for applying behavioural insights to drive environmental impact. He is also involved in snakebite mitigation work in northeast India and the Western Ghats through a series of on-the-ground interventions comprising workshops, outreach, and building capacity amongst local communities and frontline staff. Arjun also enjoys using innovative methods for communicating science, creating a module that draws on everyday observations to explain concepts in ecology, evolution, and conservation - which has been in various settings, from cafes to schools to fellowship programmes for rural youth. A strong proponent of social science for conservation, he has also conducted workshops on design and behavioral tools for practitioners and students.
Given that at its core, conservation is about human behavior, Arjun believes that a human-centered approach that actively incorporates how people think, feel, and eventually act is critical for effective and scalable action.
Mansvini Jain
Mansvini decided to pursue law after developing an interest in how the law governs, shapes, and interacts with our economy and polity while studying humanities in school. She obtained a national rank of 25 in the Common Law Admission Test and gained admission to the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. Here, she read arts and law as part of the integrated B.A. LL. B. (Honours) programme and graduated with four gold medals for academic distinction.
After graduation, Mansvini worked with a boutique dispute resolution firm in New Delhi, advising and representing Indian and foreign clients before the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court, international arbitration tribunals and other fora in civil and commercial disputes ranging across sectors such as mining, construction, energy, and aviation. She has also contributed to research and submissions for cases that resulted in important precedent by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, including a seven-judge bench decision on the role of courts in examining arbitration agreements during appointment of arbitrators.
Having engaged with contemporary commercial issues as a litigator and arbitration practitioner, Mansvini is keen to refine her theoretical understanding of these areas at the University of Oxford under the BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) program.
When she is not stuck in law books, she enjoys reading, running and hiking.
To know more about the Inlaks scholarship, visit our website here.
