About

Prof. Lavanya Suresh is an Associate Professor at BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, where she has been a faculty member since 2017. A political scientist by training, she specialises in the political ecology of commons in India, with broader research interests in decentralisation and public administration.

Prof. Lavanya earned her PhD in Political Science from the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad. As a recipient of the prestigious Visiting Research Scholar Fellowship under the Graduate Development Program at the Watson Institute of International Studies, Brown University, USA, she has engaged with international scholars on governance and environmental issues.

Her research has been published in leading social science journals, and she has co-authored the book Decentralised Democracy: Gandhi’s Vision and Indian Reality. She has successfully led multiple funded research projects, and is currently working on two projects titled "Mapping Institutions, Rules, and Norms Defining Commons" and "Waste-to-Energy: Technology Integration for the Production of Clean Energy from Organic Waste." Currently, she mentors five PhD scholars, while two of her former students have already been awarded their degrees.

Prof. Lavanya’s contributions to the academic and policy discourse on commons governance have been recognized through key leadership roles. She was elected as an Executive Committee member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) for two consecutive terms (2020–2024) and served as the Early Career Network (ECN) Council Representative in the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) (2023–2025).

In addition to her research and teaching, she holds key administrative positions at BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad, as the Faculty-in-Charge of Publications and Media Relations and the Convener of the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Her work continues to shape discussions on environmental governance, institutions, and policy frameworks, bridging academic research with real-world applications.

Positions held in Professional Bodies

• Elected as Executive Committee member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) for two consecutive two year terms starting in 2020 - 2024
• Elected IASC ECN Representative of the Early Carrier Network (ECN) in the International Association for the Study of the Commons from January 15, 2023 to January 14, 2025.
• Member of International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC)
• Member of International Political Science Association (IPSA)

Administrative Position held at present in BITS

• Faculty-in-charge of Publications and Media Relations - First Term - 19th Aug 2022 to 18th Aug 2024, Second Term - 19th Aug 2024 to 18th Aug 2026
• Editor BITScan 
• Convener, Departmental Research Committees (DRC), Department of Humanities and Social Sciences from 1st Dec 2022 to 30th Nov 2024, Second Terms- 01-12-2024 to 30-11-2026.