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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Ashoka University
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TZID:Asia/Kolkata
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DTSTART:20250101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T132000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T144000
DTSTAMP:20260422T002415Z
CREATED:20260422T002415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260422T002415Z
UID:92377-1776864000-1776868800@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:Post Admissions at LSE and UK Universities
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/post-admissions-at-lse-and-uk-universities/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T132500
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T150000
DTSTAMP:20260417T031018Z
CREATED:20260417T031018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260417T031018Z
UID:92156-1776864300-1776870000@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:22 April (Wed) 1:40 PM: Sixth Lecture in Ashoka History Spring Seminar Series 2026
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:  \nThis talk explores how early modern Gujaratis imagined land\, sea\, and the wider world. Drawing on painted maps\, pilgrim scrolls\, and hybrid cartographic experiments produced between the Mughal and early colonial periods\, it presents Gujarat as a site where multiple spatial logics collided and coexisted. These mappings reveal vibrant circulation of techniques between the sailors\, pilots\, astrologers\, surveyors\, cultivators\, and scribes who embedded knowledge in visual — and sometimes non-visual — form.  Most of all\, they foreground relationships: between work and environment\, devotion and commerce\, sovereignty\, and plurality. \nBio:  \nSamira Sheikh is an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Forging a Region: Sultans\, Traders\, and Pilgrims in Gujarat\, 1200-1500 (2010)\, and co-editor of After Timur Left (2014). Having recently completed a book on late Mughal Bharuch\, she is now working on a book and exhibition on early modern mapping practices in India. She is currently the fifth Obaid Siddiqi Chair at the Archives at NCBS\, Bangalore (2025-26).
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/22-april-wed-140-pm-sixth-lecture-in-ashoka-history-spring-seminar-series-2026/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T133000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T143000
DTSTAMP:20260422T050044Z
CREATED:20260417T104646Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260422T050044Z
UID:91832-1776864600-1776868200@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:Reliable Inference at Scale Using Graph Structure - Mansi Sood
DESCRIPTION:Colloquium announcement\nReliable Inference at Scale Using Graph Structure\nMansi Sood \nMIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems \n \n\nAbstract: As our world becomes increasingly interconnected\, the informational landscape that drives decision-making is marked by ever-expanding scale and interdependencies. Leveraging graph structure\, we develop computationally efficient alternatives to canonical subroutines that underlie inference in modern machine learning and optimization infrastructure. We discuss two key directions: First\, we optimize graph algorithms for learning from distributed data sources\, addressing a key challenge in decentralized settings- namely\, identifying simple probabilistic rules for organizing nodes to balance sparsity with reliable connectivity. Our results resolve several open problems related to the exact analysis of connectivity properties in a class of random graph models known as random k-out graphs\, widely appearing as heuristics for network design in settings with limited trust. Second\, we discuss computationally efficient alternatives to parameter learning in probabilistic graphical models. We develop methods that retain the statistical advantage of classical maximum likelihood estimation while significantly cutting computational costs in the context of high dimensional exponential family models. Summing\, our work sheds new light on how the interplay between graph structure and performance can be leveraged to push the frontiers of efficient and provably reliable algorithms. \nAbout the speaker: Mansi Sood is a Schmidt Science Fellow at the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems\, working with Devavrat Shah. Her research sits at the interface of network science\, stochastic modeling\, and learning\, with the aim of developing inference algorithms for socio- technical systems that are both practical and provably reliable. Prior to this\, she received her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) where she was recognized with the AG Jordan Award for Outstanding Thesis and Community Impact. She completed her joint B.Tech. and M.Tech. at IIT Bombay\, where she received Excellence in Research and Mentorship Award from the Department of Electrical Engineering. Her work won a Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Communications and a Graduation Day Award in Information Theory and Applications. She has been twice recognized as an EECS Rising Star. For her contributions to outreach and mentorship\, she has been honored with an Unsung Hero Award at CMU and the Advanced Graduate Ambassadorship of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)\, Princeton. \n\nDate: Wednesday\, April 22\, 2026Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM\nVenue: AC-02-LR-108Email: scdlds@ashoka.edu.inZoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94373290765?pwd=Uzc9Ae8djoxKtLzw2ShlwRpERl1qoc.1Website: https://scdlds.ashoka.edu.in/
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/scdlds-coll15/
ORGANIZER;CN="SCDLDS":MAILTO:ashoka-cdlds@ashoka.edu.in
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T133000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T144500
DTSTAMP:20260416T033029Z
CREATED:20260416T033029Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T033029Z
UID:92145-1776864600-1776869100@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:Colloquium on Alkali- and Alkaline Earth Metal Complexes as Catalysts for Sustainable Polymers
DESCRIPTION:Dear All\, \nThe Vice Chancellor's office invites you to a colloquium on "Alkali- and Alkaline Earth Metal Complexes as Catalysts for Sustainable Polymers" by Prof. V. Chandrasekhar\, Visiting Distinguished Professor\, TIFR\, Hyderabad \nAbstract: Efficient polymerization methods for the preparation of sustainable polymers such as poly (lactic acid) or poly (ε-caprolactone) and the corresponding co-polymers are important targets of research. In this context\, unsymmetrical imino─phosphanamidinate\, N-P-N ligands (Figure) were designed and synthesized\, and their reactivity with various metal precursors was studied.  In general\, such reactions proceed to afford a monoanionic chelating N-P-N motif that can bind to metal centres affording four-membered rings1-4 (Figure). Utilizing this strategy we prepared a Cs(I) complex2 and a Mg(II) complex4 which were studied by NMR and crystallography. Further\, these complexes were shown to be highly efficient catalysts for the homopolymerization of lactide and ε-caprolactone as well for the block co-polymerization of lactide with caprolactone.2\,4 These results will be presented. \n \nAbout the Speaker: Prof V. Chandrasekhar studied chemistry and obtained his PhD degree in 1982 from the Indian Institute of Science\, Bangalore and postdoctoral work at the University of Massachusetts\, Amherst\, Massachusetts\, USA. After briefly working at the Research and Development section of the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation at Vadodara\, as a Senior Research Officer\, he joined the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1987 where he has been a full professor since 1995 until his superannuation in November 2023. He served for an additional month at IIT Kanpur as a professor. He served as the Head of the Department of Chemistry\, IIT Kanpur (2008–10)\, and as the Dean of Faculty Affairs\, IIT Kanpur (2011–12). He also worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research\, Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences\, Hyderabad\, as a Senior Professor/Dean (2012–14) and Director (2014–17)\, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER)\, Bhubaneswar\, India\, as a Centre Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research\, Hyderabad (2017-23). He is currently a visiting Distinguished Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad. His research interests are in molecular materials\, inorganic rings and polymers\, main-group organometallic chemistry and polynuclear metal assemblies. He has been a recipient of the S. S. Bhatnagar Award of the Council and Scientific Industrial Research\, India\, and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation\, Germany (With Prof. H. W. Roesky at Goettingen 2003 Dec-2004 June). \nHe is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences\, Bangalore\, the National Academy of Sciences\, Allahabad\, the Indian National Science Academy\, New Delhi and the World Academy of Sciences\, Trieste\, Italy. He is currently the President of the Chemical Research Society of India and the President-elect of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society. He has been on the editorial board of several journals including\, Organometallics. Currently he is on the editorial board of Dalton Transactions as an Associate Editor. His research work is documented in 460+ publications. \nWe look forward to your active participation. \nWith regards
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/colloquium-on-alkali-and-alkaline-earth-metal-complexes-as-catalysts-for-sustainable-polymers/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T133000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T150000
DTSTAMP:20260421T064549Z
CREATED:20260421T064549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T064549Z
UID:92367-1776864600-1776870000@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:\"Who is afraid of love?\"
DESCRIPTION:Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality invites you to a lecture by Rama Devi titled 'Who is Afraid of Love? Gender\, Caste\, Faith and Marriage'. The lecture is a part of our flagship series ISHQ (Issues in Society\, History and Queerness) and will take place on April 22\, 1.30 PM at AC-04 LR 302. \n“Love is unconditional” is one of the commonly used phrases to describe its transcendental quality. It also implies that love does not have to be bound by a marital bond; yet marriage is often viewed as the meaningful and logical culmination of amorous bonds. Even if not the norm\, an increasing shift from arranged marriages towards love-cum-arranged/companionate/choice marriages is notable.  These diversifying matrimonial practices are now not exceptional or rare\, symbolizing one of the markers of social change in contemporary India.  \n  \nThis talk will critically engage with the questions of whether the abstract/transcendental conception of love meets and matches the reality of the world around us. Can we really love and marry the one or those we share an amorous bond with? Or is the “choice” to love and marry shadowed and defined by the social norms (caste rules) and expectations? Is it possible to discount the gender dynamics\, sexuality\, and baggage of our historical identities in amorous-marital relationships? How does society respond to the transgressions of norms that guide marriage? What forms of social anxieties are revealed through resistance to amorous-marital relationships? By focusing on inter-caste romantic and marital relationships\, the talk will trace the changes in the durable institution of marriage and the limits of these changes. It will delineate how the notions of honor\, shame\, disgrace\, choice\, purity\, contamination\, desire\, and intimacy are negotiated as the institution is met with inescapable changes. \n  \nAbout the speaker: Rama Devi is a sociologist whose research focuses on contemporary caste\, and urban Dalit lives. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre De Sciences and Humaines (CSH)\, Delhi. Previously\, she taught social science courses at KREA University. Her research work and opinion pieces have been published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education\, Sociological Bulletin\, LSE Blogs\, and Economic and Political Weekly. Her monograph Caste and Emancipatory Quest: Ethnography of Dalit Lives in an Urban Neighborhood (2025) unravels the entangled relationship between ascriptive identity (caste) and space (urban) and how this interaction (re)moulds urban stratification. \n 
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/who-is-afraid-of-love/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T134000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T145000
DTSTAMP:20260421T013427Z
CREATED:20260421T013427Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T013427Z
UID:92304-1776865200-1776869400@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:Economics Department Weekly Seminar | Prof. Hargungeet Singh | 22nd April 2026 | 1:40 PM
DESCRIPTION:Title: Designing Information about Co-workers' Successes \nAbstract: Firms consist of teams of workers whose effort often impacts the team as a whole positively\, and others' progress\, either positively or negatively. Firms can also design how much information should workers have access to when each worker can generate private successes for themselves and the firm. Should workers know when other workers are successful? I study cases when each worker can generate at most one success for themselves and the firm\, and where the workers' incentives only depend on the expected number of successful co-workers. This simplifies and reduces the dimensionality of the information-design problem of the firm. I obtain the optimal information policy for the firm for general cross-worker effects. As specific examples\, I show that the optimal information policy is to delay full information till a probabilistic time in the case of complementary effort\, and provide full information in case of substitutable effort.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/economics-department-weekly-seminar-prof-hargungeet-singh-22nd-april-2026-140-pm/
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T183000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260422T193000
DTSTAMP:20260422T014153Z
CREATED:20260420T005252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260422T014153Z
UID:92200-1776882600-1776886200@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:The Fossil Dilemma: Law\, Sovereignty and Forest Rights in a Warming World
DESCRIPTION:Dear All\, \nThe department of Environmental Studies cordially invites you to a colloquium on  \nTitle: The Fossil Dilemma: Law\, Sovereignty and Forest Rights in a Warming World \nSpeaker: ARPITHA KODIVERI\, Assistant Professor of Political Science\, Vassar College\, New York \nDate: 22 April 2026 \nTime: 6:30 – 7:30 PM  \nZoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/97608050293?pwd=NlqdqRyivmbuYqyk1u7X1yDBNiO9qk.1  \nAbstract: In the coal rich forests in India the law configures conflict and contestations over land through a particular definition\, understanding and interpretation of sovereignty\, rights and property. In this talk I will explore how the multiple expressions of sovereignty and rights in land conflicts emerging from the state\, forest-dwelling communities and the non-human world inhabit the law and are made and unmade through specific legal interpretations by the bureaucracy and invention of new legal categories in coal bearing areas. Through an analysis of jurisprudence\, legislation and interviews with forest-dwelling communities and lawyers embedded in these conflicts the talk focuses on how the law is mobilized and interpreted by these actors and the strategies that underlie them. The talk will conclude by seeing how newer climate legal frameworks on the regulation of fossil fuels particularly those in the recent advisory opinion by the international court of justice may shape the law and decision-making in these localized forest rights struggles.  \nSpeaker's Bio: Arpitha Kodiveri is an international and comparative environmental law scholar and assistant professor of political science at Vassar College. Her work focuses on the role of environmental law in the context of forest governance in South Asia. Her previous research examines land conflicts and legal mobilization by forest-dwelling communities in India. She has worked as an environmental lawyer supporting Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities in India. She is the recipient of the Hans Kelsen Fellowship at the EUI and the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship. \n  \nWe encourage insterested students and faculty members to join the talk. \nWarm regards\, \nEnvironmental Studies Department
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/the-fossil-dilemma-law-sovereignty-and-forest-rights-in-a-warming-world/
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