Tag: research

Call for Applications: Tata-Cornell Summer Internship

Posted on January 20, 2018

The Tata-Cornell Institute is actively recruiting graduate students for the 2018 Summer Internship Program. This is a 6-8 week professional development and research-oriented opportunity for students interested in issues related to food policy, agriculture &… Read more

Decoding open defecation: Relevance of early findings for field and policy

Posted on September 12, 2017

In my previous blog, I described the prevalence and predicaments of open defecation (OD) in India. For my PhD thesis, I am working with GDS to make villages open defecation free (ODF) by investing in construction of toilets as well as bringing about a behavior change and… Read more

Key lessons in exploratory research and fieldwork

Posted on July 7, 2017

A key feature of the Tata-Cornell experience is conducting fieldwork. As TCI Scholars, we gather primary data for our thesis research through a long-term engagement with villages in rural India. Before we finalize our research questions, write a proposal and pres… Read more

Reflections from a year in the field: Sustainable livestock feeding systems in rural India

Posted on March 17, 2017

Over the last year, I was conducting fieldwork in the Kandhamal District of Odisha, India. We implemented a goat feeding experiment with Kondha tribal farmers in the forest fringe areas of Tikabali Block. Livestock management in the project area was extensive (as opp… Read more

Combating open defecation through a community-led sanitation approach in rural India

Posted on March 9, 2017

Every year, 188,000 children under five in India die due to diarrhea-related illnesses. This catastrophic burden on children’s health is largely due to the fact that over a third of the Indian population defecates in the open. Open defecation (OD) also has strong gend… Read more

Field notes: Essentials of enumerator training

Posted on January 23, 2017

I have been lodged in Mahrajganj, Uttar Pradesh for the past month and a half with the purpose of conducting the survey for two chapters of my doctoral thesis. For this study, I have had the gracious support of the entire TCI team and our partnering NGO Grameen Development… Read more

Field notes: Finalizing the research plan

Posted on April 6, 2016

Dr. Debbie Cherney, one of TCI’s Faculty Fellows and my committee chair, was graciously supported by TCI to visit India during Spring Break 2016. Dr. Cherney had never travelled to India previously, so this was an invaluable experience for her to observe India’s lives… Read more

ICRW interviews Dr. Soumya Gupta, Winner of the Paula Kantor Award

Posted on January 29, 2016

By Erin Kelly Erin Kelly is a Communications Specialist at the International Center for Research on Women. This interview originally appeared on the ICRW website. On January 20th, ICRW awarded Dr. Soumya Gupta with the inaugural Paula Kantor Award for Excellence in F… Read more

Deadline approaching: Summer Internship Applications due January 27th

Posted on January 22, 2016

TCi Interns conducting market-level dietary diversity survey, Telangana, India (Photo credit: Jessica Ames) This summer internship opportunity in India may be of special interest to students in departments like government, economics, international relations… Read more

ICRW Announces Winner of the Inaugural Paula Kantor Award

Posted on January 20, 2016

By Erin Kelly Erin Kelly is a Communications Specialist at the International Center for Research on Women. This is a re-post of her piece which originally appeared on the News & Commentary section of the ICRW website. The International Center for Research on Women… Read more

Call for Applications: TCi Summer Internship

Posted on December 15, 2015

The application period for the TCi Summer Internship Program is open! The application packet can be accessed here. The deadline to apply is January 19th, 2016 (day after MLK day). About TCi:TCi is the Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative. It i… Read more

Illuminating trade-offs with the intensification of goat systems in India

Posted on November 5, 2015

Maureen Valentine is a TCi Scholar and a second year Ph.D student in the department of Animal Science at Cornell University. She will begin one year of field-based research in January 2016. Agriculture in India is predominately organized into integrated crop-livest… Read more

Nutrition Researchers – Look forward to new anthropometric data for India!

Posted on October 17, 2015

Tanvi Rao is a TCi Scholar and PhD Candidate in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell’s Dyson School. This Monday’s exciting announcement of the Nobel Prize in Economics being awarded to Angus Deaton is inspiring news for data enthusiasts and applied developme… Read more

Getting the most out of academic conferences: reflections from a TCi Scholar

Posted on October 12, 2015

Amit Anshumali is a TCi Scholar and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. Amit’s research primarily focuses on the connections between men’s access to rural off-farm employment and women’s relativ… Read more

Young Indian Scholars supported by TCi at GFS Conference

Posted on October 10, 2015

The Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative (TCi) offered funding to bring Young Indian Scholars (Indian citizens based in India), who have an accepted paper/poster to the 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security. Diversity of perspective… Read more

TCi Presents: the Global Food Security Conference

Posted on October 9, 2015

The 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security will be hosted at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA from October 11th – 14th, 2015. The conference is jam packed with many excellent keynotes, posters and presenters. (View the full conference prog… Read more

Women’s Empowerment in the Context of Field Research

Posted on September 28, 2015

Soumya Gupta is a recent graduate of the PhD program at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the first graduate from the Tata-Cornell Initiative, and a Chicago Council 2015 Global Agriculture and Food Next Generation Delegate. Thi… Read more

In Bihar, a quiet gender revolution

Posted on August 19, 2015

Amruta Byatnal is a Masters in Public Administration candidate at the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs. This summer, Amruta interned at Digital Green, where she assessed their health and nutrition intervention in the states of Bihar and Odisha- targeted towards… Read more

Oreos and Lays and Fanta, oh my: the necessary surprises of field research

Posted on August 5, 2015

By John Lowry John Lowry is a TCi intern and undergraduate senior studying biology and government. Alongside the other interns at ICRISAT, he studies individual and household dietary diversity with a special focus on the consumption of packaged foods and foods prepa… Read more

Reflections from ICRISAT: Science with a human face

Posted on August 2, 2015

TCi Intern Dora Heng recently graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Economics and minors in International Relations and Information Science. This summer, her internship is based at ICRISAT where she has been conducting household surveys on dietary diver… Read more

Cow culture: tackling taboos in field-based research

Posted on July 23, 2015

Maureen Valentine is a TCi Scholar and a second year Ph.D student in the department of Animal Science. For her research, she plans to focus on the widespread deficit of biomass for animal consumption in India. Comments in this blog are Maureen’s perspective as an… Read more

Eyes on focus groups

Posted on July 15, 2015

TCi Summer intern Dora Heng (center), a recent Economics graduate, reflects on her experience during her two weeks of village-based field work. She shares her takeaways from participating in Focus Group Discussions. (Photo features household survey. Credit: J. Am… Read more

Tangible impacts of clean water

Posted on July 14, 2015

Uttara “Tara” Gadde (left) is a TCi Intern researching the health and socioeconomic impacts of a clean water project implemented by AguaClara in rural Jharkhand. She is teamed up with TCi Scholar and Ph.D. student Shiuli Vanaja (right). After working in the tribal vil… Read more

America the– raw meat eating?—beautiful: the value of living alongside villagers

Posted on July 10, 2015

John Lowry is a TCi intern and undergraduate senior studying biology and government. As part of a team of students and translators, he collected data on the dietary habits of villagers. Below he reflects on the cultural experiences natural to spending two weeks in Indi… Read more

Telugu Essentials: Kodi Kura Cala Manci

Posted on July 3, 2015

Michaela Brown is majoring in Food Science and minoring in International Development Studies at Cornell University. As a TCi Intern, she is conducting household surveys on dietary diversity and eating out behavior for the Minimum Nutrition Dataset for Agriculture… Read more

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