Meet The Team

Satyajit Singh is a Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Global Studies. He has worked as Professor at the University of Delhi, as Dean at the School of Development Studies and School of Human Ecology, at Ambedkar University Delhi, and in The World Bank. He has been India Chair at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan; Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex; Leverhulme Fellow for Environment and Development at the University of Sussex; and Asia Fellow at the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, Manila. He is interested in Water and Environmental Politics, South Asian Politics, Local Governance, Public Policy, and Development. He has worked as an Advisor to UNDP, UNICEF, The European Commission, Governments of Mongolia, Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India. His publications include The Local in Governance: Politics, Decentralization & Environment (OUP 2016); Taming the Waters: The Political Economy of Large Dams in India (OUP 1997); (co-ed) The Dam and the Nation: Displacement and Resettlement in the Narmada Valley (OUP, 1997); (co-ed) Decentralisation: Institutions and Politics in Rural India (OUP, 2007), forthcoming (ed) Polity as Fiction, Fiction as Polity: Raag Darbari (Orient Blackswan, 2023), forthcoming (co-ed) Environmental Politics at the Local: Natural Resource Governance in India (Orient Blackswan, 2023). He has also published in Asian Survey, Policy & Society, Economic and Political Weekly, among other places. He is currently working on aspects of local governance related to water and climate change.  

Hallie Georguson is a fourth-year UCSB student from Sacramento, CA, studying political science and philosophy. Her passion for public policy and addressing inequities motivated her to pursue the Charles Burdick Scholars study with Professor Singh. During this project, she has worked with WaterAid, India, and the Regional Centre for Development Cooperation (RCDC) to study the effects of the fluoride menace in Nuapada, Odisha. Hallie notes that this study has been extremely insightful, and it has inspired her to continue working with public policy and research before later pursuing a Masters in Public Policy.

Molly McAnany is an Honors graduate from the University of California, Santa Barbara who double majored in English and Political Science and minored in Journalism. Her love of telling stories is what peaked her interest in this research as she spent her college career programming news and public affairs shows at KCSB-FM radio. She and her research partner both wanted to study the gendered impact of climate change in Madhya Pradesh, allowing women to tell their own narrative. Through the short documentary video she produced, Molly captured the relationship women have to water through lores and their role as water collectors. The Voices from Below project granted her the agency to pursue a tailored studied based upon her interest in women’s rights research and advocacy, expanding her views as a writer and reminding her how powerful representation in media can be for those who are often overlooked.

Sitara Slee is a recent graduate of UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies and is currently a postgraduate at the University of Edinburgh studying Global Environmental Politics. Her research interests revolve around the intersections of climate change, politics, and marginality. 

The Voices from Below project has been the most wonderful learning experience and opportunity to explore these interests. Having the chance to work cross culturally and study interdisciplinary issues with people who bring a depth of experience and knowledge is a remarkable opportunity. The most meaningful part of this project was the ability to interact with and listen to the community members in Chandbali which was made possible by field partner, Debabrata Dash. 

Sitara's plans for the future have been greatly informed by this project and she hopes to continue the study of climate change and marginalization, working under the guiding principles of empowerment and equity. 

Pailyn Kelley is a University of California, Santa Barbara student studying political science.
Their project focuses on village-level spring water management based in Uttarakhand, India.
Similar to this project, Pailyn is interested in environmental politics. They hope to continue their
education in graduate school and further research in the field of water politics.

Annie Lovell started her career working on water resource management projects, but in 2015, she decided to take a break from that work to travel. This is when she visited India for the first time. From the minute she landed in Mumbai, she was completely fascinated by the country. She spent a few weeks traveling down the west coast and in each place she visited, she observed the different ways in which communities were connected to water.

In order to explore that connection between communities and their water resources, she decided to pursue a degree at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. She is specializing in Coastal Marine Resource Management and Corporate Environmental Management with a focus in Eco-Entrepreneurship and Strategic Communications. In her current studies and for her future career goals, she is particularly interested in designing projects that support communities in protecting their water and coastal resources.

Megan recently graduated with Highest Honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she double majored in Global Studies and Political Science and minored in Professional Writing with an emphasis in Civic Engagement. She worked on the Gujarat case study with field partner Kartik Joshi, and she had an incredible experience creating and conducting a study with such an important and inspired purpose. This project encouraged her to pursue her passions for research, sustainability, and international development policy, and she looks forward to finding her next research opportunity that will allow her to bring about positive change in the world.

Rachel Dice graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2021 with a double major in Communication and Political Science and a minor in Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice. She has been working for a public waste management agency in Northern California called RethinkWaste as a Public Spaces Fellow since September of 2021. Her work is focused on diverting waste from landfills by increasing the availability of recycling and compost services in public areas like downtowns and parks. She hopes to continue to work in sustainability in the public sector after the conclusion of her fellowship and plans to attend graduate school to obtain a master’s degree in Public Policy or Urban Planning in the coming years.
As an undergraduate, she worked as the Outreach Coordinator for the Compost department at UC Santa Barbara, educating the campus community about gardening, composting, and sustainability. She also interned at the global nonprofit Direct Relief in the Research & Analysis department where she focused on analyzing data related to maternal and infant health. As a student researcher with the Water & Climate change in India project, she worked with WaterAid partners Parhit Samaj Seva Sanstha, to conduct remote ethnographic research concerning how climate change is affecting the water supply and health of Sahariya communities in rural India.