Collaborations and Partnerships
Collaborative Partnerships that Harness Knowledge for Transformative Change
At the Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies, we hold a fundamental belief: rigorous scholarship and effective policy innovation do not exist in a vacuum. Rather, they are the result of dynamic cooperation—scholars, institutions, practitioners, and policymakers each providing insight and expertise for collective advancement.
Our commitment to collaborative strategic partnerships spans both regionally and globally. We partner with universities, think tanks, non-governmental organisations, and multilateral actors to achieve shared goals that are anchored in intellectual integrity and social significance. The interrelated nature of factors such as socio-economic development, public health, environmental resilience, and democratic governance in South Asia necessitates comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and cooperative responses. Our partnerships recognise this nature of the challenge and allow us to enhance the depth and breadth of our scholarly and policy impact.
Flagship Collaborations
Centre for South Asia Studies, University of Oxford
In partnership with the Centre for South Asia Studies at the University of Oxford, the Institute co-leads a multi-year research initiative entitled Tracing Governance from Colony to Republic. This initiative aims to examine the legacy of colonial administrative structures and their continued impact on modern state governance in South Asia. The collaboration focuses on joint publications, shared research products, and an international symposium to be held in 2024. The collaboration relies on, and encourages, mutual engagement through academic seminars, and public events.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Our collaboration with the UNDP in this context is related to its International Labour Organization project on sustainable agriculture in rural South Asia, which places agriculture as an important factor for socio-economic empowerment and ecological sustainability. The Institute has engaged in painstaking fieldwork, conference presentations, policy briefs that have all ensured input into the articulation and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with an emphasis on cross border social justice and economic resilience.
National Institute of Public Health, New Delhi
Alongside the National Institute of Public Health in India, we co-direct the Health Equity and Access Project, which is leading research on the social determinants of health inequities between marginalised communities in South Asia. We have produced valuable research for policymakers, including on the effectiveness of telemedicine, and mobile health provision. Since then, some Indian state governments have implemented these initiatives and we have seen a measurable increase in healthcare equity at the subnational level.
Expanding the Network: Regional and Global Engagements
Asia Foundation for Cultural Heritage Preservation
We work alongside the Asia Foundation for Cultural Heritage Preservation on the Enduring Legacies Project to support the protection of vulnerable cultural heritage sites. This project advances the preservation of heritage threatened by both rapid urbanisation and climate change through a combination of ethnographic field research, archival retrieval, and policy work. Our efforts focus on a developmental model that seeks to elevate cultural sustainability alongside material development.
Center for Sustainable Policy Solutions, Seoul
Through our partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Policy Solutions in Seoul, the Institute is embedded within a wider Asia-Pacific deliberation on climate change. As members of the Transnational Climate Policy Forum we adding to deliberation around adaptive governance, environmental justice, and sustainable development from a South Asia perspective. These cost-recovery initiatives and academic publications demonstrate the transregional obligation to ecological caretaking.
Council for South Asia – European Union Engagement
Through our partnership with the Council for South Asia–European Union Engagement, we contribute to building diplomatic and academic connections between South Asia and the European Union. Our Bilateral Engagement and Policy Innovation Programme supports ongoing conversations on migration, digital governance, and policy on trade, which leads to annual summits in Brussels and policy roundtables that advance mutual understanding and contribute to a more equitable system of global cooperation.
Envisioning the Future: Sustaining Transformative Collaboration
At the core of our institutional mission is a commitment to the co-production of knowledge and actionable insight. These partnerships are not peripheral to our work; they are central to it. They allow us to expand our research, infuse policy relevance, and build transnational networks that can work together in imagining and creating inclusive, just, and sustainable futures.
We are immensely grateful to our partners—esteemed institutions and brilliant individuals—who, through their partnerships with us, not only add to our intellectual community but encourage us in our pursuit of excellence in all our work. Together, we work to push the edges of understanding, develop evidence-based solutions for the policy world, and ensure that South Asia is a region of equity, dignity, and opportunity for generations to come.