Talks

Academic

  • *’Environment & Development Economics: Research for Policy’, Hansraj College Distinguished Lecture Series, February 2023.
  • *‘Water-energy-climate ‘nexus’: truthiness and knowledge gaps’, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, January 2023.
  • *‘Water-energy-climate ‘nexus’: truthiness and knowledge gaps’, German Development Economics Seminar Series, January 2023.
  • *‘Managing irrigation under increasing water scarcity’, UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation and Development Distinguished Lecture Series, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, October 2022.
  • ‘Solar irrigation in Nepal: equity in energy access and implications for fossil fuel use’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2022 Conference, August 2022.
  • ‘Willingness to pay for bundled agricultural insurance products – results from a discrete choice experiment in Bihar, India’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2022 Conference, August 2022.
  • ‘Willingness to pay for bundled agricultural insurance products – results from a discrete choice experiment in Bihar, India’, Association of Environmental and Resource Economics Summer Conference, June 2022.
  • *‘Price, credit or uncertainty? Increasing small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia’, German Development Economics Conference 2022, June 2022.
  • ‘Can electricity rebates modify groundwater pumping behaviors? Evidence from a pilot study in Punjab’, 11th Indian Society for Ecological Economics Conference, December 2021.
  • *‘Making Irrigation Sustainable’, Plenary on Water at the 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists, August 2021 (session convener and organizer).
  • *‘Expanding Irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Invited session at the 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists, August 2021 (session convener and organizer).
  • ‘Irrigation for reducing food insecurity: the case of Niger’, 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists, August 2021.
  • ‘Can perceptions of physical reduction in water availability affect irrigation behavior? Evidence from Jordan’, 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists, August 2021.
  • ‘Price, credit or uncertainty? Increasing small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia’ 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists, August 2021.
  • *‘Price, credit or uncertainty? Increasing small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2021 Conference, Austin, August 2021.
  • ‘Irrigation for reducing food insecurity: the case of Niger’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2021 Conference, Austin, August 2021.
  • ‘Can electricity rebates modify groundwater pumping behaviors? Evidence from a pilot study in Punjab’, European Association for Environmental and Resource Economics, June 2021.
  • ‘Can electricity rebates modify groundwater pumping behaviors? Evidence from a pilot study in Punjab’, Association for Environmental and Resource Economics, June 2021.  
  • ‘Can perceptions of physical reduction in water availability affect irrigation behavior? Evidence from Jordan’, Association of Environmental and Resource Economics at WEAI, June 2021.
  • ‘‘Electric pumps, groundwater, agriculture and water buyers: evidence from West Bengal’, International Association of Energy Economics, June 2021.
  • *‘Chronic kidney disease and household behaviors in Sri Lanka: Historical choices of drinking water and agrochemical use’, Environment for Development 2020 Conference, University of Gothenburg and the Indian Statistical Institute, November 2020.
  • ‘Can electricity rebates modify groundwater pumping behaviors? Evidence from a pilot study in Punjab’, Environment for Development 2020 Conference, University of Gothenburg and the Indian Statistical Institute, November 2020.
  • ‘Electric pumps, groundwater, agriculture and water buyers: evidence from West Bengal’, Environment for Development 2020 Conference, University of Gothenburg and the Indian Statistical Institute, November 2020.
  • *‘Electric pumps, groundwater, agriculture and water buyers: evidence from West Bengal’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2020 Conference, July 2020.
  • *‘Understanding Chronic kidney disease in historically groundwater reliant communities in Sri Lanka: A socio-economic approach’, International Conference on Environmental and Medical Statistics, University of Peradeniya and University of Maryland Baltimore County, Kandy, Sri Lanka, January 2020.
  • *‘Female participation outside the household and intra-household decision making in agriculture: results from West Bengal’, Gender, Water and Food: Perspectives and Contestations Conference, Institute of Development Studies, England, December 2019.
  • *‘Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: implications for irrigation management’, IAMO, Haale (Salle), Germany, August 2019.
  • *‘The effect of irrigation service delivery and training in agronomy on crop choice in Tajikistan’, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2019 Conference, Atlanta, July 2019.
  • *‘Gendered division of agricultural labour and decision-making in midst of male out-migration in Tajikistan’, CGIAR Gender Platform Conference, Canberra, April 2019.
  • ‘Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka: a profile of affected districts reliant on groundwater’, Third International Workshop on Chronic Kidney Diseases of Uncertain/Non-traditional Etiology in Mesoamerica and Other Regions, San Jose, Costa Rica, March 2019
  • *‘Effects of training on farmer participation in water user associations in Tajikistan’, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, November 2018.
  • *‘Household behavior, groundwater use, and the struggle to prevent chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka’ Water and Health Conference, UNC Chapel Hill, October 2018.
  • *‘Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: implications for irrigation management’, International Symposium on Water and Land Resources in Central Asia, Kazakh German University, University of Wuerzburg, German Research Center for Geosciences, Almaty, October 2018.
  • *‘Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: implications for irrigation management’ CGIAR Annual Scientific Gender Conference, CGIAR Gender Platform, Addis Ababa, September 2018.
  • *‘Guiding Policy through Research’, International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, April 2018.
  • *‘Sanitation services for rural Bangladesh: costs and willingness to pay’, Duke University, North Carolina, January 2018.
  • *‘Establishing the costs and willingness to pay for emptying and transporting sludge in rural districts with high rates of access to latrines’, Duke University, Durham, November 2016.
  • * ‘Disposing sludge from pit toilets in rural Bangladesh: closing the poop loop’, South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics Summer School 2015, Colombo, July 2015.
  • *‘Towards sustainable sanitation management: establishing the costs and willingness to pay in rural districts with high rates of access to latrines’, Water and Health Conference 2016, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, October 2016.
  • *‘Financing the transport of fecal sludge in rural Bangladesh’, Centre for Research on the Economics of Climate, Food, Energy, and Environment, Indian Statistical Institute; and the Environment for Development Institute, University of Gothenburg, Delhi, November 2015
  • *‘Evolution of households’ responses to the groundwater arsenic crisis in Bangladesh: information on environmental health risks can have increasing behavioral impact over time.’ World Congress for Environmental and Resource Economics, Turkey, July 2014.
  • *‘Quantitative evaluation: what next?’, Innovations in Water Policy – Theory, Practice, and Impacts; National University of Singapore, Singapore, February 2013.
  • *‘Bright lines, peer effects, and risk avoidance- evidence from a randomized experiment in Bangladesh’, Camp Resources XVI; Asheville, August 2009.

Policy

  • *’Regenerative agriculture: constraints and paradoxes’, Keynote Address for One Planet Business for Biodiversity Seminar Series, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, October 2022. 
  • *‘Carrots, sticks, equity: managing over-pumped groundwater systems sustainably’, Stockholm Water Week, August 2021 (session convener and organizer). Available at: https://youtu.be/Dp8F5TM1YgU
  • *‘Social identity, migration, COVID19 and access to water and sanitation: evidence from Nepal’, invited talk at the International Knowledge Forum organized by the Government of Nepal and the Nepali Non-Residents’ Association, November 2020.
  • *‘Water security, risk and economic growth models’, Invited talk at a webinar ‘Economic impact of water insecurity’ organized by the Water Resources Commission of South Africa, October 2020.
  • *‘Characterizing rural households’ historical behavior and experience with CKD/CKDu in Sri Lanka’, International Water Association Water and Development Conference 2019, Colombo, December 2019.
  • *‘Effects of training duration and the role of gender on farm participation in water user associations in Southern Tajikistan: implications for irrigation management’, World Irrigation Forum 3, Bali, September 2019.
  • *‘The effect of irrigation service delivery and training in agronomy on crop choice in Tajikistan’, World Irrigation Forum 3, Bali, September 2019.
  • *‘Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease in Sri Lanka: A Socioeconomic Approach’, US Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Brown Bag Seminar, Washington D.C., July 2019.
  • *‘CKD and historical choices pertaining to drinking water sources and agrochemical use in Sri Lanka’, US Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Brown Bag Seminar, Washington D.C., June 2019.
  • *‘Gender and Water Usages in Sri Lanka’, United Nations Second Colombo Development Dialogue, United Nations Development Program and the London School of Economics, Colombo, August 2018.
  • *‘Economic solutions for improving water quality and ecosystem health’, Action Panel on Water Quality and Ecosystems’, High Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” 2018-2028, Dushanbe, June 2018.
  • *‘Effort reducing investments for women in agriculture’, Women Water Forum, High Level International Conference on the International Decade  for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” 2018-2028, Dushanbe, June 2018.
  • *‘IE baselines, sustainability and adaptive management: oh my!’, USAID Bureau of Food Security Brown Bag Seminar, Washington D.C., May 2018.
  • *‘Water Governance, Gender and Training in Agriculture: A New Evidence Base’, Agrilinks Seminar, USAID, Washington DC, May 2018.
  • *‘Gender and Irrigation in Tajikistan’, USAID, Dushanbe, March 2018.
  • *‘Gender and Irrigation in Tajikistan’, World Bank Brown Bag Seminar, Washington DC, February 2018.
  • *‘Assessing the relative effects of training on performance of water user associations and delivery of irrigation services in southern Tajikistan’, USAID, Dushanbe, December 2017.
  • *‘Designing the impact evaluation’, USAID Bureau of Food Security Brown Bag Seminar, Washington D.C., October 2017.
  • *‘Assessing the relative effects of training on performance of water user associations and delivery of irrigation services in southern Tajikistan’, USAID Bureau of Food security Brown Bang Seminar, Washington D.C., October 2017.
  • *‘Assessing the relative effects of training on performance of water user associations in southern Tajikistan’, USAID, Dushanbe, August 2017.
  • *‘Creating water user associations for improved agricultural productivity in Tajikistan: opportunities and challenges’, World Irrigation Forum 2, International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage, Chiang Mai, November 2016.
  • *‘Open Source Weather Stations: Innovative Solutions to Water Management Problems in Sri Lanka’, Understanding Risk 2016, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, Venice, May 2016.
  • *‘Value at the end of the sanitation value-chain:  results dissemination workshop’, University of Leeds, Dhaka, March 2015.
  • *‘Time matters: short term vs. medium term impacts’ Making Impact Evaluation Matter, Asian Development Bank and 3ie, Manila, September 2014.
  • *‘Scale matters: can revenue-sharing improve equity in hydropower development in Nepal?’, Workshop on challenges in benefit sharing and livelihood improvement with water storage development, BMZ, Vientiane, March 2014.
  • *‘Scale matters: can revenue-sharing improve equity in hydropower development in Nepal?’ Fifth International Conference on Water Resources and Hydropower Development in Asia; International Commission on Large Dams, Colombo, March 2014.
  • *’From the Shallows to the Deep- who takes the Lead? Women, Water and Leadership’, Asian Development Bank, Bangkok, February 2014. 
  • *‘Economic incentives in hydropower watersheds in Nepal’, 2nd Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy; CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, Hanoi, November 2012.
  • *‘Economic incentives in hydropower watersheds in the uplands of Nepal’, 5th annual Ecosystem Services Partnership Conference; Portland, August 2012.