HYDERABAD: Chinar Mehta, a doctoral student at the University of Hyderabad, working under the guidance of Prof Usha Raman, has received the prestigious Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Fellowship. The fellowship, instituted by the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) and Fulbright Commission in India, is awarded every year after a rigorous application and interview process.
A native of Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Chinar is currently pursuing PhD at the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad. She has been a part of a research project that aims to understand the communicative practices of women workers in India and Bangladesh to leverage digital tools for their collectivization. Chinar has also worked earlier as a web developer before becoming a media researcher.
These fellowships, validated for a period of six to nine months, are designed for Indian scholars who are registered for a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) at an Indian institution. Starting in January, Chinar will spend the next nine months at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, US, at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science, mentored by Dr Sarah Fox. Chinar’s work looks at the social and cultural dynamics of new media development.