Dr. Saumya is an Associate Professor at School of Social Work, Indira Gandhi National Open University (GNOU) New Delhi. She did her B.A in Sociology from Miranda House and M.A in Social Work at Department of Social Work, University of Delhi (was awarded University Gold Medal) followed by a year of policy research at Action Aid, Chhattisgarh in the area of ‘Right to Food’. She holds a Ph.D degree in Social Work from University of Delhi, and was recipient of Junior & Senior Research Fellowship from UGC between 2003 and 2006. Prior to joining IGNOU, she taught at University of Delhi as Lecturer in Department of Social Work. Her academic and research interests include field work, Social Work Education, Open and Distance Learning, Community Organization and tribal issues.

 

She has received Visiting Fellowship to Shanghai Open University, China in 2014, Commonwealth Fellowship in 2018 & 2021 and AAOU Inter University Staff Exchange Fellowship at OUSL, Sri Lanka 2021. She has won 2018 Young Innovator Award for her paper at 32^nd Annual Conference of The Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU). She has received research project grant under ICSSR IMPRESS (Impactful Policy Research in Social Science) Scheme for her research proposal on Impact of ‘Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan on Rural Health and Hygiene Practices’2019-2022. She has published books and several articles in national and international journals. She has presented several papers in national and international seminars and webinars. She has been an Invited speaker at several workshops and webinars.