MICRO-BIO

• Sara Ahmed has more than 30 years of applied research experience on water, livelihoods and social equity in India specifically, and South and SE Asia and China more broadly. Sara has been actively engaged in teaching and mentoring young development...More

  Sara Ahmed has more than 30 years of applied research experience on water, livelihoods and social equity in India specifically, and South and SE Asia and China more broadly. Sara has been actively engaged in teaching and mentoring young development professionals in India, managing large and complex regional research portfolios on water, food security and climate change in Asia, and advising a range of development organisations and water networks globally. She was the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Gender and Water Alliance and has been on the board of WaterAid India since 2013. In March 2015, Sara left her highly lucrative career with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to facilitate a digital museum on water heritage in India, an idea she has been passionate about for quite some time now. She is the Lead Curator for the Living Waters Museum which is currently based at the Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University, Gujarat and supported by private donations. Sara has published extensively and her last co-edited book is entitled, Diverting the Flow: Gender Equity and Water in South Asia (Zubaan 2012). 

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EXPERIENCE

• Living Waters Museum

  • -
  • -
  • 2014 to Present

• International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

  • Senior Program Specialist
  • Agriculture and the Environment / Climate Change and Water
  • May 2009 to March 2015

• Institute for Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

  • Visiting Fellow, Assistant / Associate Professor
  • Rural Development
  • June 1992 to April 2002

EDUCATION

• University of Cambridge

  • PhD, Social and Political Sciences
  • July 1986 to March 1991

  My doctoral research looked at the politics of pollution and participation in the cleaning of India's holy river Ganges in the equally venerated city of Varanasi. Since then (1986), I have been interested in the intersection between water governance, cultural heritage and livelihoods, especially for the vulnerable and marginalised (women, minorities, etc.).

• University of Cambridge, UK

  • MPhil International Relations
  • October 1985 to June 1986

• University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

  • BA Honours in Development Studies
  • September 1981 to June 1984

Links

• Living Waters Museum