Biography
Sivakami is a Professor at the Center for Health and Social Sciences, School of Health Systems Studies (SHSS), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and a member of WHO Global Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Health, Migration and Displacement . Sivakami was also the Chairperson of the Centre for Health and Social Sciences, one of the four centres in SHSS, between June 2015 to June 2021. Before joining TISS, she was an Associate Professor and Assistant Professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, from 2002 to 2010. Sivakami joined TISS in 2010 as an Associate Professor. Sivakami broadly works on the intersections of Gender, Health and Demography . She was trained as a quantitative researcher and has vast experience conducting large-scale surveys like GATS, NFHS and DLHS. Over a period of time, she has also gained experience in conducting qualitative research studies. More recently, most of her research involves a mixed-methods approach. She has published widely in peer-reviewed national and international journals such as the Lancet, PLOS One, BMJ Global Health, BMJ Open, International Journal of Health Policy Management, Journal of Global Health (IJHPM), Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM), Journal of Biosocial Science (JBS), Asian Population Studies (ABS), Health Transition Review, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), Demography India and Sociological Bulletin , amongst others. Most recently, Sivakami co-edited the Springer “Handbook on Sex, Gender and Health: Perspectives from South Asia” . Sivakami collaborates globally and enjoys mentoring students for their research in India and outside India. Sivakami believes gender is a significant lens to address health and well-being inequities in India. Currently, Sivakami serves as an Academic Editor at PLOS Global Public Health. She was also a member of the Editorial Board for the journal BMC-Women’s Midlife Health . Sivakami is a member of the Human Ethics Committee at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) , Mumbai. She was a member of the Ethics Committee at the ICMR-NIRRH , Mumbai, from January 2018 to January 2025. Sivakami is an Internal Committee (IC) member under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal), Act-2013, Bharat Petroleum Corporation LTD . Sivakami has received research grants from major national and international funding organisations, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR, UNFPA, UNICEF, MRC (UK), ESRC (UK), and NIHR (UK) . Sivakami was awarded the " Linnaeus-Palme Fellowship " in 2015 to visit Karolinska Institute, Sweden. She was also awarded a “ Global Spotlight International Research Seed Grant ” 2014 from the University of Minnesota, USA. Sivakami was a recipient of the Dr C. Chandrasekaran Award in 2000 for the best paper (titled “Does Maternal Employment Influence Child Care and Morbidity? Evidence from Poor Populations”) presented by a young demographer at the Millennium Conference on Population Development and Environmental Nexus (XXIII Annual Conference of the IASP held at New Delhi). Sivakami has MA and PhD in Population Studies from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu , India. The title of her PhD work was “Mother’s Work Participation and Child Health: A Study in Poor Localities in Tamil Nadu, India”.