Sumirtha Gandhi

Development economics with a focus on health economics and behavioural economics. Research spans impact evaluation of maternal and child healthcare programmes, healthcare equity and horizontal inequity in health service utilisation, menstrual health and workplace conditions, tribal and marginalised community healthcare decision-making, COVID-19 healthcare capacity modelling, and social protection policy. Ongoing work examines social entrepreneurship in informal settings, willingness to pay for education, and nutrition and healthcare outcomes among particularly vulnerable tribal groups.

• Principal Investigator — "Choosing Social Entrepreneurs by Residents in Informal Settings", funded by Rising Tide Foundation, UK, 2023 (ongoing)
• Principal Investigator — "Willingness to Pay for Education among Informal Settings", funded by Rising Tide Foundation, UK, 2022 (ongoing)
• Co-Principal Investigator — "Quantum and Spread of Government Support to Households under Social Protection Policies in Select States of South India", funded by UNICEF Hyderabad, 2022 (ongoing)
• Co-Principal Investigator — "Impact of Ahar Anudan Yojana on Nutrition and Healthcare among Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups in Madhya Pradesh", funded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis, Bhopal, 2022
• Co-Principal Investigator — "Impact of MGNREGS in Preventing Distress Migration in North Karnataka", funded by Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, 2022

• Visiting Researcher, Newcastle University, United Kingdom (ongoing)
• Collaborator, Newcastle University UK (Pauline Dixon & Steve Humble) — Child Education during COVID-19 Pandemic, Karnataka