Biography

BipashaI am a tenured Full Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Western University. I also hold the Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Global Women’s Issues. Prior to this appointment, I was (from 2006 to 2012) an Associate and Assistant Professor of International Studies at California State University, USA. I hold a PhD in environmental studies from York University in Toronto. I specialize in interdisciplinary research at the intersections of gender, economy, environment, and development; gender and work; and social, political, and economic inequality. Most of my current research aims to understand how to ensure that a global low-carbon economy will be more gender equitable and socially just than its fossil-fuel based predecessor. My scholarship is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative fieldwork-based research in South Asia (India, Bangladesh); Eastern Caribbean (St. Vincent & Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis); and the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia). My research contributes not just to academic theory but also to methodology, capacity building and policy formulation. I have published one book (Women and Property in Urban India, University of British Columbia Press, 2010) and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, working papers, policy briefs and professional reports. My research appears in journals such as World Development, Feminist Economics, Development in Practice, Progress in Development Studies, Water Policy, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Labor Studies, Environment and Planning, and Natural Resources Forum (a United Nations journal). Because my research is of applied policy relevance for governments and civil society organizations, I also communicate research findings through op-eds, blog posts and articles in non-academic venues such as Modern Diplomacy, The Conversation, Policy Options and Huffington Post. I have received a total of 3.5 million Canadian dollars of research funding over the course of my career from Canadian and international funding agencies, governments, intergovernmental agencies, private foundations, and NGOs.

Alongside my academic career, I have extensive non-academic professional research experience with aid agencies, intergovernmental organizations, development banks, NGOs, labour associations and think-tanks in Canada, USA, India, France, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Eastern Caribbean. Through collaborative research, consultancies, external reviews, secondments and other interactions, I have worked with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Resources Institute (WRI), the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID). In Canada, I have contributed to the work of Natural Resources Canada, Global Affairs Canada, Women and Gender Equality Canada, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Smart Prosperity Institute, Ontario Climate Consortium, Women in Renewable Energy, Electricity Distributors Association of Ontario, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, World University Service of Canada, Islamic Relief Canada, and Aga Khan Foundation of Canada.

In 2015, I was named to The Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. “The College” is Canada’s only national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. Every year, it names individuals who have made exceptional professional contributions to Canada and the world within 15 years of completing their doctorates.