Bhavya Chitranshi

Bhavya specialises in the area of gender and development, using collaborative and action-oriented research methods to work with women who are contending with life's challenges. Bhavya is a co-founder of Eka Nari Sanghathan (or single women's collective) in Rayagada, South Odisha, India, and she has collaborated with the collective for over ten years supporting their efforts to develop initiatives that help to secure livelihoods for women in precarious situations. In 2018 she was a finalist in the Martha Farrell Foundation's ‘Most Promising Individual’ award for her work with single Adivasi women across Odisha, including for securing women’s right to a pension from the state government, and establishing food security and a health fund for Adivasi women. Her work has also been featured in the 2023 Gender Equality Special Issue of the magazine, Future-Makers. She was a keynote presenter at the LIVIANA 2024, the annual online conference of the Community Economies Research Network (CERN). 

Bhavya is currently working on a research project titled ‘Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing’ conducted by Western Sydney University (2023-2026). This study bridges the growing gap between technological solutions and everyday social practice in current approaches to living with urban heat in Western Sydney, Australia. It provides an opportunity to develop climate-readiness in the longer term and assist with the urgent need to live with heat now.

Bhavya has also worked on seven other community-oriented research projects between 2019-2024, including a project titled, ‘Foundations for Belonging’ conducted by Western Sydney University and partner organization Settlement Services International (SSI). This project connects newly arrived refugees in Australia with Indigenous lands and custodians to understand how refugees relate with Indigenous issues (through their own histories of displacement) and experience a sense of belonging with the Country. This project aims to assist and facilitate reconciliation for settling refugees.

For information on Bhavya's publications, see her Google Scholar profile and her Western Sydney University profile.