Episode 1| Gender in/of Science: Feminist Conversations | Gita Chadha with Deepa Agashe

Welcome to Gender In/Of Science: Feminist Conversations conceptualised by Prof. Gita Chadha, Sociologist and Obaid Siddiqi Chair 2023-24 at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India.
In this episode, Gita Chadha talks to Deepa Agashe, Associate Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. Deepa has led a research group at NCBS since 2012.
Deepa received her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009 and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University before returning to India. Her team uses experimental and bioinformatics approaches to understand the processes and mechanisms underlying adaptive evolution, using insect and bacterial models. She has received grants from the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, and a Women Research Excellence Award from the Scientific and Engineering Research Board (SERB). Her major academic activities include serving as the Vice President of the American Society of Naturalists (2022), a Council member of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology, and a member of the editorial board of several journals including PloS Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.
About the Host:
Gita Chadha, Visiting Professor at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, holds the Obaid Siddiqi Chair at NCBS, Bangalore for 2023-24. Formerly a faculty member at the Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai, she has a doctorate in sociology and has taught at Mumbai University and the University of London's International Programme in Mumbai. She chaired the Women’s Development Centre, at the University of Mumbai, from 2016 to 2020. She has developed frameworks for feminist archiving at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, and designed a pioneering course in Feminist Science Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her research interests include science studies, feminist theories, and postcolonial studies. She has co-edited volumes titled Feminists and Science, Zero Point Bombay, and Re-Imagining Sociology in India: Feminist Perspectives. She has edited special issues for Contributions to Indian Sociology, the Review of Women’s Studies of the Economic and Political Weekly, and EPW Engage. Her recent volume Mapping Scientific Method: Disciplinary Narrations is co-edited with Renny Thomas and published by Routledge.
She has collaborated with women artists and poets to promote feminist art practices in India. She regularly writes on these issues.
Acknowledgements:
NCBS Science Communications and Outreach Team
Archives at NCBS

[@dhanrajdashrathdange7475]

Insightful

[@nanditajayaraj266]

Very interesting exchange. Great to hear Deepa's honest thoughts. Would love to hear more in-depth ideas from Gita about some of the topics touched upon, for example awards & the way to award (maybe with K VijayRaghavan!). Gita's audio was patchy in many places and that interfered with listening experience, but otherwise this was a good start. Look forward to future episodes.