Dr. Debolina Kundu, Director of NIUA, has over 30 years of professional experience in the field of development studies. She has worked as a consultant with the ADB, LSE, IIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCAP, KfW, GIZ, Urban Institute, Washington, and East-West Centre Honolulu on issues of urbanization, migration, urban development policies, municipal finance, social protection, governance, and exclusion.

At NIUA, she is the Country Investigator – India for the GCRF Centre for Sustainable Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods supported by UK Research and Innovation and leading several projects supported by UNICEF, World Bank, and KFW. She is a member of various committees formed by the central and state governments, including the Fifth Delhi Finance Commission. She has several articles published in books and journals. She recently co-edited a book on New Drivers of Division: Urbanisation and Spatial Inequality in Africa and Asia (Springer) and is currently working on a ‘Handbook on Urbanisation in the Global South’. She is chief editor of journals – Environment and Urbanisation, Asia (SAGE) and Urban India (NIUA). She was Co-Chair of the Task Force on LiFE, Resilience, and Values for Wellbeing under G20 Think Tank initiative.