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Kunal Sen is awardee of the 2020-22 V. K. R. V. Rao Chair at ISEC


Kunal Sen, our Director, has been awarded the prestigious Dr V K R V Rao Chair Professorship by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC). The Chair is named after one of India’s most important economists, is awarded biennially to scholars of international eminence, and is one of India’s most distinguished visiting chairs.

Professor Kunal Sen
Professor Kunal Sen (left) with former V.K.R.V. Rao Chair Ravi Kanbur (right)

The chair is awarded to scholars with significant academic or policy contribution and has been held by such renowned economists as Prof. Ravi Kanbur –Professor of Economics at Cornell University and a former Chair of the UNU-WIDER Advisory Board – Prof. Gita Gopinath – at Harvard University and currently the Chief Economist of the IMF – Prof. Kaushik Basu – former Chief Economist of the World Bank and currently at Cornell University – Prof. T. N. Srinivasan – Chairman of the Department of Economics at Yale University – and Prof. Michael Goldman, Prof. David E. Bloom, and Prof. Ashutosh Varshney.

As Chair, Professor Sen will spend a few weeks at ISEC and will interact with faculty and students, give lectures and seminars to PhD students, and undertake collaborative research.

ISEC, established in 1972 by the late Professor V K R V Rao, is a national center of excellence specializing in interdisciplinary research and training in social sciences and analyses of critical issues affecting the transformation of economy, polity, and society. More information about the appointment can be found here.