B.E. Computer Science
M.Sc. Economics
CGPA: 8.53
EXPERIENCE
Jul 2020- Present
Centre for Policy Research
Research Associate
I presently work on designing policies by trying to find out the solutions to various problems faced by people . I try to find solutions through our academic understanding, and our understanding of various disciplines.
Aug 2019-May 2020
KPIT
Software Developer
I developed software for connected, shared, and autonomous vehicles at KPIT.
May 2018 – Jul 2018
Samsung RnD
Research Intern
I worked in the Android Memory Performance team and built a neural network model that predicts the next app based on user context, so that memory performance of the phone can be optimized.
May 2017 – Jul 2017
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi
Research Intern
It was a critical turning point and was my first experience in the policy research field. I worked in the quant team of the Macro-Finance research group and built a model to construct an index of Financial Stability for India, using various indicators of the macroeconomy, financial markets, etc.
QnA
Policy researchers act as a bridge between the academic world and the actual problems that people face in real life. What makes policy research different from pure academic research is that you are also directly in contact with stakeholders who implement those policies like the bureaucracies, govt., NGOs, etc. One gets to see those changes on the ground level. Policy researchers try to find solutions through their academic understanding, their understanding of the existing institutions and policies, and their impact on the people.
So this depends on the problems. For example, my team works with problems on the energy environment and climate change. These are kind of slow because they are often not at the top priority of the governments at the moment. Suppose air pollution, so people have been working on air pollution for the past 20 years but suddenly you see in the last five, 10 years many people or governments across the world are looking into this field and want solutions. You need people who are experts in this field already because once you see the problem, then it's really difficult to start afresh. Generally, it depends on the kind of government and their priorities and the kind of problems that you are trying to address. Some problems are more short-term but generally, problems are more long-term. 5-10 years would be a good guess between when your ideas get published, and when they are finally brought to life.
So there are quite a few opportunities in private companies. Eg. The tech companies like Facebook have an India policy research team that helps them deal with the regulatory environment, especially on their activities related to politics. More and more governments today are also engaging consulting companies like BCG and Deloitte to help them with policy rollouts and strategy. There are opportunities in Consulting and in general also because it's such an economic stats-related discipline. So the skills are quite transferable to other fields, like Banking and finance if you're interested.
At the start, you tend to learn by assisting the senior researchers. In most cases, you require a Ph.D. to get to a place where you can decide your own research agenda. Most people work for a couple of years and try to figure out whether a research career is for them or not. A Ph.D. takes a significant commitment of four to five years. The jobs after a Ph.D. often tend to give you the freedom to address the problems you want to. . So growth in this sector is different from a normal industry in the sense that there is no linear path and everyone has a different trajectory. There is a lot of freedom to work the way you want to. People generally start out as research associates and then figure out whether they have an interest, then they gain the skill sets required for a Ph.D. or another master's kind of programs which help them specialize in their field. Then they start working as policy researchers or within the government. . People often end up going to teach at various universities across the world while also pursuing their research there.
There are two aspects to this. Policy research would be the more academic aspect and someone like an IAS officer would actually be at the head of the implementation body. So you as a policy researcher will probably be in a position to advise an IAS officer on what he or she can do. But the eventual power and the eventual decision-making in India often lies with the civil servant and the Indian government. So if you are interested in more administrative and implementation-focused work, then probably civil services will be a good option. But if you're interested in academic problems or if you're interested in, say, theorizing and trying to address various different issues, keeping your own independent thought process, then you will enjoy the research part of it.
It depends like I just joined this role last year so I am not in a very senior position. I'm working as a research associate and my supervisor is the principal investigator for the projects that we do. So she is the one who basically decides the research agenda and gets the funds for those projects. My job is to curate all the knowledge around the problem, run various experiments and provide my intellectual contributions in the execution of the research.
So the way I see it is when you are doing a Ph.D., you're learning transferables. You're not just trying to solve the problem, you're trying to understand and ingrain the approach of solving all of the problems which can come up. So what people generally advise is to go for broader disciplines like say economics or physics or maths rather than super specific disciplines. The idea is to get transferable skills.
In recent times there have been considerable developments in fieldwork-based approaches. Like last year, The Nobel prize in economics was given to researchers based at JPAL at MIT for their randomised control trials based approach for poverty alleviating policies. So these kinds of interventions and fieldwork and evidence from the ground are becoming really common to make policy decisions. In fact, I'm gonna say that it's becoming the most popular method to design policies.
I travel to meet the people whose problems I am trying to address. It's nowhere close to the travel that consultants do; t's mostly traveling to the field. At a more senior level, people travel for conferences or lectures in different parts of the world. Usually, at the RA level, you travel once a week or so and you would be going to the field, supervising the surveyors, etc. It really depends on your research area.
In fact, most of the people who are working on climate change problems in my team are from engineering backgrounds and later did their PhDs and research on policy work. So they come from a science background and then try to leverage their technical backgrounds to solve policy challenges.
Most of the job opportunities that I saw are not super competitive, especially for engineers with quantitative skills. This is strictly speaking for the research associate positions, they’re looking for someone with a quantitative background and programming skills and I guess engineers have an edge. Most of the other people come from a background in social sciences. I had applied to just four or five places and a couple of them responded back so I don't really know the full answer to this competition thing but I think what they look for is a genuine interest and an ability to make a contribution to the research. I wouldn’t say it’s as competitive as some of the top IT or Consulting jobs.
I wasn’t really interested in IT and realized this after my PS2 and a couple of months in a full-time software development role. . I got interested in the field of policy research because the problems were generally from economics which has always fascinated me. I developed an interest in energy policy during a SOP with Prof Krishna Muniyoor where I worked on the relationship between energy consumption and economic well-being. Along with that, the Huels under Prof. Hari Nair were really helpful in widening my view and helping me put my research interests in context. There isn't that much money in this field but the satisfaction you get after addressing problems having a great impact on society is immense.
One of the limitations at BITS regarding this field is that there aren't many profs who are doing research explicitly in this field and thus, you have to apply for internships at DU and other universities to explore this field.
The role of CG initially isn't that much for RA jobs. CG plays a great role if you decide to pursue this field further and thus apply for a Ph.D. or Masters.CG in general should be kept as high as possible.
It was a natural progression. I had eco as my dual degree and thus when I was studying the Eco courses then I wanted to explore this sector. I liked policy research then but didn’t really wanna give up on CS without ever trying it. Later when CS subjects were taught, I went on to explore the field of IT. I did internships and PS2 to explore the IT sector. After exploring both sectors I found more satisfaction in Policy research.
Depends a lot on the kind of approach you have towards the problem statements. Quantitative research is one option. Then Data science for social good, banking, and finance are other options. Moreover, health foundations and startups are always available as an option.
In five years from now, I probably will be doing my Ph.D. in some field I want to work on and addressing the problems of climate change or energy transitions. And eventually, I see myself as a Consultant for the government for Industries on these issues and probably even teaching.
Try to explore your interests as much as possible and if the interest is in economics then books and some youtube series are recommended. I would say that try to grab as many opportunities as you can get even if they are in different domains - they will help you narrow down your interests. Even in policy research, there are lots of diverse fields like working on macroeconomy, inequality, climate, etc I would definitely say to not ignore your academics because it will help you further. BITS gives an opportunity to pursue courses in different fields and expand your horizons. I would definitely say to take all those courses seriously and keep your CG as high as possible.
The satisfaction while addressing the problems on a global magnitude and helping solve these global problems and being able to help people is the biggest motivation for me.
Openings are there on Twitter where the organizations post their updates. You can also mail them, like maybe the head of departments along with your CV and cover letter.
For climate policy, you can apply to the institute of CPR, CSTEP, WRI, EPICin India,
For general policy, you can apply to institutes like NIPFP, JPAL, EPoD.