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Professional Executive and Development Programme In

Data Science For Social Impact 2024

for working professionals

Applications for this year's programme is closed now.

Applications for this year's programme is closed.

100% scholarships available for deserving candidates

20-week live and online programme with 10 courses

Online classes by faculty on Wednesdays and Saturdays

Hands-on practical sessions, guest lectures or topic-based sessions on Saturdays

Learning journey in two tracks - based on your goals

Includes a foundation course on prerequisite basic concepts

Online proctored mid-term and end-term exams

Data Science for Social Impact - 2024

Following the success of our inaugural cohort, we are pleased to announce the launch of the second cohort of the PEDP in Data Science for Social Impact. This pioneering programme seeks to train a group of social impact professionals in the techniques and tools of data science, with a focus on climate change, public health, and their intersection. Ashoka University has developed this programme as one of the founding members of data.org’s India Data Capacity Accelerator (IDCA) initiative, alongside J-PAL South Asia.

Hosted on the AshokaX platform and organized by the Centre for Data Sciences and Analytics (CDSA), the program faculty includes Prof Partha Pratim Das and other distinguished experts and practitioners from Ashoka University and other leading institutes and organisations. Ashoka University is offering a two-track program this year - 1) Data Science and Analytics for Social Impact, and 2) Data Science for Social Impact Management. The programme starts from 30th September and the foundation course starts from 9th September, 2024.

Programme Design

This online program will take place over 20 weeks from September 2024 to April 2025. It will consist of lectures, tutorials, a discussion forum, assignments, quizzes and project presentations, all conducted entirely online. The only in-person component of the program will be an end-of-term examination. This examination will be proctored at designated centres around the country. Arrangements will be flexible to account for any specific professional or personal constraints.

Program Highlights:

  • 20-week live-online program with 9 courses, divided into two parts of 10 weeks each
  • Online lectures by faculty during weekday evenings and Saturday mornings
  • Online tutorial and/or doubt-clearing sessions by faculty and/or learning coordinators during Saturday afternoons
  • Access to Learning Management System to enable flexible access to course materials, lecture videos and other study resources
  • Discussion Forum for ongoing clarifications and ongoing support by Learning Coordinators 
  • Opportunity to bring in data problems from Learners’ own work areas to the class
  • Opportunity to work on real-life datasets in collaboration with J-PAL and program partners
  • 10 learners will have the opportunity to qualify for one-year fellowships or three-month internships, funded by J-PAL and organised by its partner organisations.

Programme Structure

Timings

Application and Selection
Step 1 -Registration

Register to receive prospectus & application

Step 2 -Application

Submit application with a

simple statement of purpose

Step 3 - Selection

Once selected, complete

joining formalities to join the Cohort

20 Weeks | Live - Online | 2 Tracks


Core Programme Faculty & Sector Leads

Rita Kothari

Rita Kothari

Professor of English, Ashoka University

Director, MA in English Programme

Ph.D. Gujarat University

Rita Kothari is a multilingual scholar and translator whose work spans across different disciplines such as literature, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, and history. Her questions emerge from observations of regions and communities in the western part of the Indian subcontinent—Gujarat, Kutch, and Sindh.

Her ethnographic research on marginal communities—through religion, caste, occupation, and gender—focuses upon narratives of identity, raising questions of both linguistic and cultural translation. Kothari has translated extensively from Gujarati and Sindhi into English, and occasionally vice versa. Her translations, as well as her edited volumes, have made significant contributions to the field of language politics and translation. Movement across languages, contexts, and cultures form the fulcrum of her interests, making translation the prism through which she sees the Indian context.

Her latest book, Uneasy Translations: Self, Experience and Indian Literature, interweaves her personal journey as an academic into reflections around self, language, and translation – with an eye upon the intangibly available category of experience. It is available here.

Rita Kothari

Professor of English, Ashoka University

Director, MA in English Programme

Ph.D. Gujarat University

Rita Kothari is a multilingual scholar and translator whose work spans across different disciplines such as literature, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, and history. Her questions emerge from observations of regions and communities in the western part of the Indian subcontinent—Gujarat, Kutch, and Sindh.

Her ethnographic research on marginal communities—through religion, caste, occupation, and gender—focuses upon narratives of identity, raising questions of both linguistic and cultural translation. Kothari has translated extensively from Gujarati and Sindhi into English, and occasionally vice versa. Her translations, as well as her edited volumes, have made significant contributions to the field of language politics and translation. Movement across languages, contexts, and cultures form the fulcrum of her interests, making translation the prism through which she sees the Indian context.

Her latest book, Uneasy Translations: Self, Experience and Indian Literature, interweaves her personal journey as an academic into reflections around self, language, and translation – with an eye upon the intangibly available category of experience. It is available here.

Arvind Panagariya

Rita Kothari

Professor of English, Ashoka University

Director, MA in English Programme

Ph.D. Gujarat University

Rita Kothari is a multilingual scholar and translator whose work spans across different disciplines such as literature, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, and history. Her questions emerge from observations of regions and communities in the western part of the Indian subcontinent—Gujarat, Kutch, and Sindh.

Her ethnographic research on marginal communities—through religion, caste, occupation, and gender—focuses upon narratives of identity, raising questions of both linguistic and cultural translation. Kothari has translated extensively from Gujarati and Sindhi into English, and occasionally vice versa. Her translations, as well as her edited volumes, have made significant contributions to the field of language politics and translation. Movement across languages, contexts, and cultures form the fulcrum of her interests, making translation the prism through which she sees the Indian context.

Her latest book, Uneasy Translations: Self, Experience and Indian Literature, interweaves her personal journey as an academic into reflections around self, language, and translation – with an eye upon the intangibly available category of experience. It is available here.

Arvind Panagariya

Professor of Economics and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of

Indian Political Economy at Columbia University

PhD Princeton University

Arvind Panagariya is Professor of Economics and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of

Indian Political Economy at Columbia University.

He served as the first Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, Government of India in the rank of a Cabinet Minister. During this time, he also served as India’s G20 Sherpa and led the Indian teams that negotiated the G20 Leaders’ Communiqués during presidencies of Turkey (2015), China (2016) and Germany (2017).

Professor Panagariya is a former Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and was on the faculty of the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park. During those years, he also worked with the World Bank, IMF and UNCTAD in various capacities.

Professor Panagariya is a prolific writer. He has authored or edited 20 books. The latest among them are Free Trade and Prosperity and India Unlimited. His book India: The Emerging Giant was listed as a top pick of 2008 by The Economist and described as the “definitive book on the Indian economy” by Fareed Zakaria of CNN. The Economist has described his book, Why Growth Matters, (with Jagdish Bhagwati) as “a manifesto for policymakers and analysts.”

Scientific papers by Professor Panagariya have appeared in the top economics journals while policy papers by him have appeared in the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. He writes a monthly column in the Times of India and his guest columns have appeared in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and India Today.

In March 2012, the Government of India honoured Professor Panagariya with Padma

Bhushan, the third highest civilian honours the country bestows in any field.

Vinay Sitapati

Vinay Sitapati

Associate Professor, Political Science and Legal Studies, Ashoka University

Ph.D. Princeton University

Vinay Sitapati is a political scientist and award-winning author, recognized as one of Apolitical’s global 100 Most Influential Academics in Government’

After beginning his career as a journalist with The Indian Express he earned his Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University where he continues to serve as Visiting Professor of Political Science. 

He is the author of two best-selling books. His first book Half-Lion, a biography of Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, was also named "A Book of the Year” by The Economist. His latest book, Jugalbandi: BJP Before Modi, traces how the BJP came to power today through an analysis of its past leaders, Vajpayee and Advani. 

He also writes extensively for national and international publications, where he analyzes laws, provides on-ground coverage of the elections and dissects political campaigns. 

He is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies at Ashoka University.

Vinay Sitapati

Associate Professor, Political Science and Legal Studies, Ashoka University

Ph.D. Princeton University

Vinay Sitapati is a political scientist and award-winning author, recognized as one of Apolitical’s global 100 Most Influential Academics in Government’

After beginning his career as a journalist with The Indian Express he earned his Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University where he continues to serve as Visiting Professor of Political Science. 

He is the author of two best-selling books. His first book Half-Lion, a biography of Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, was also named "A Book of the Year” by The Economist. His latest book, Jugalbandi: BJP Before Modi, traces how the BJP came to power today through an analysis of its past leaders, Vajpayee and Advani. 

He also writes extensively for national and international publications, where he analyzes laws, provides on-ground coverage of the elections and dissects political campaigns. 

He is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies at Ashoka University.

Rohit De