Debolina Kundu Professor and HUDCO Chair, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, India

Prof. Debolina Kundu, has over 20 years of professional experience in the field of development studies. She has been a doctoral fellow with the ICSSR with a Ph.D from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has worked as a consultant with ADB, LSE, IIDS, UNDP, UNESCAP, KfW, GIZ, Urban Institute, Washington etc. on issues of urban development, governance and exclusion.

She holds the HUDCO Chair at National Institute of Urban Affairs. She is also the Principal Investigator for the study on Sustainable, Healthy, Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (India) under Global Challenges Research Fund funded by the Research Councils UK Collective Fund and another project supported by UNICEF. Previously she was in-charge of Reform Appraisal of JNNURM under Government of India and coordinated projects on Doing Business in Indian Cities, migration, housing and slums. She has worked as an urban specialist with Asian Development Bank.

She is the editor of the journal Environment and Urbanisation, Asia (SAGE) and has a large number of articles published in books and journals. Currently she is working on a book titled ‘Urbanisation in India: Trends and Patterns’ and editing books on national urban policies and internal migration in India. She is a member of the Fifth Delhi Finance Commission and member of various working groups and committees.