United Kingdom

Principal Investigator

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Victoria is a Professor of in Mental Health Care at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently a Principal Investigator on a number of trials including global health projects assessing resource-oriented approaches to community mental health care.

Her research interests include quality of life for people with chronic mental and physical health conditions and global approaches to community based mental health care.

Co-Investigator

Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at Warwick University

Dr. Singh’s research has mainly been health services oriented, with focus on early psychosis, somatisation, and deliberate self-harm, cultural and ethnic factors in mental illness, mental health law, transitions and medical education, with interested in youth and minority mental health problems in the context of service configuration and delivery, with particular focus on improving access to care and outcomes

Project Manager

 Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London 

Komal is a mental health researcher and nurse with over five years of experience in the clinical and public mental health space in Pakistan and the UK. She graduated from King’s College London with an MSc in Global Mental Health in 2021. She has recently joined the unit of social and community psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London as a project manager. She is particularly passionate about improving the mental health of women in South Asia

Co-Lead Investigator

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Co-Investigator

Professor of Performance at the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University of London. Artistic Director, People’s Palace Projects

Mariana Steffen

Arts Project Manager

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Mariana has a Msc in Public Policies from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). She has five years of experience contributing to research projects on the creative economy, cultural policies and the arts, working with the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and other national cultural organisations. Believing that arts and culture have an important role in promoting a better and fairer world, she is particularly interested in their contributions to mental health and wellbeing of subjects and communities

Co-Investigator

Associate Professorial Research Fellow, London School of Economics

Sara is a mental health services researcher with a particular interest in the role of health services and social support in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and cross-cultural applications of this in addition to the evaluation of public health interventions such as the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign.

Renata Peppl

Programme Manager

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Renata has been working for over 8 years as a Senior Research and Projects Managers for International Researches on the fields of Gender-Based Violence, Mental Health, Urban Violence and Wellbeing and Arts and Homelessness. Since 2014, she has worked with People’s Palace Projects, an arts for social justice organisation, delivering international collaboration projects in the UK and Latin America. In 2021, she moved into the Unit of Social and Community Psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London to manage PIECEs

Trial Manager

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Sana is a public health professional with over nine years of experience in public health grants, programme management and epidemiological research. She holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has extensive experience working with non-communicable and communicable diseases within resource limited settings in Pakistan, South America, Uganda and Bosnia. 

Principal Investigator

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Victoria is a Professor of in Mental Health Care at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently a Principal Investigator on a number of trials including global health projects assessing resource-oriented approaches to community mental health care.

Her research interests include quality of life for people with chronic mental and physical health conditions and global approaches to community based mental health care.

Co-Investigator

Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at Warwick University

Dr. Singh’s research has mainly been health services oriented, with focus on early psychosis, somatisation, and deliberate self-harm, cultural and ethnic factors in mental illness, mental health law, transitions and medical education, with interested in youth and minority mental health problems in the context of service configuration and delivery, with particular focus on improving access to care and outcomes

Co-Lead Investigator

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Co-Investigator

Professor of Performance at the School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University of London. Artistic Director, People’s Palace Projects

Mariana Steffen

Arts Project Manager

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Mariana has a Msc in Public Policies from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). She has five years of experience contributing to research projects on the creative economy, cultural policies and the arts, working with the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and other national cultural organisations. Believing that arts and culture have an important role in promoting a better and fairer world, she is particularly interested in their contributions to mental health and wellbeing of subjects and communities

Co-Investigator

Associate Professorial Research Fellow, London School of Economics

Sara is a mental health services researcher with a particular interest in the role of health services and social support in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and cross-cultural applications of this in addition to the evaluation of public health interventions such as the Time to Change anti-stigma campaign.

Renata Peppl

General Programme Manager

Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry Newham Centre for Mental Health, Queen Mary University of London

Renata has been working for over 8 years as a Senior Research and Projects Managers for International Researches on the fields of Gender-Based Violence, Mental Health, Urban Violence and Wellbeing and Arts and Homelessness. Since 2014, she has worked with People’s Palace Projects, an arts for social justice organisation, delivering international collaboration projects in the UK and Latin America. In 2021, she moved into the Unit of Social and Community Psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London to manage PIECEs

Pakistan

Co-Investigator

Country Director, IRD Pakistan

Aneeta Pasha is a Fulbright scholar, with a graduate degree from the Masters of Arts Program in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, with a concentration in anthropology. She is a development professional with over 15 years of programmatic and research experience working in the development sector in Pakistan in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, and mental health. In 2014, Aneeta established IRD’s mental health program that aims to increase access to mental health services at the community level by increasing demand for services through awareness raising and community engagement, capacity building for a task-sharing approach that uses community health workers to deliver mental health interventions and finally, wide scale service delivery in low-income communities and health facilities

Pakeeza Arif

Senior Research Coordinator – IRD

Pakeeza Arif holds an MPhil in Clinical Psychology and has spent four impactful years of contributing to the field through her work in addiction rehabilitation. Since March 2022, she has taken on the role of Clinical Site Coordinator at IRD, showcasing her commitment in promoting mental health and well-being. 

Kainat Khurshid

Deputy Manager, Community Engagement Collective – IRD

Kainat Khurshid is a Social Behaviour Change Development Professional with a keen focus on driving social change by employing arts-based methodologies. Kainat is currently Deputy Manager for the Community Engagement Collective at IRD, Pakistan. She holds a Master’s degree in Adult Education for Social Change. Kainat translates research and insights into potential behaviour change communications and innovations. Her work requires her to liaise directly with the communities. Kainat believes in the transformative power of arts. She has developed and implemented arts-based community engagement initiatives to address HIV stigma, vaccine hesitancy, TB myths and mental health concerns for various public health programs.

Mehmood Bhatti

Assistant Manager,  Community Theatre Engagement – IRD Pakistan

Mehmood Bhatti spearheads the arts team for the NIHR-funded PIECEs program at IRD Pakistan. He works at the intersection of art, mental health, and social transformation. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from the University of Karachi, Mehmood embarked on a distinctive journey that harmonises his expertise as a public health professional with his innate creativity as an artist. Accumulating over 25 years of experience, he has orchestrated art-based interventions strategically aimed at instigating meaningful social change in the domains of HIV, mental health, TB, and sexual and reproductive health.

Presently, Mehmood actively curates and implements a diverse range of community involvement initiatives under the PIECEs program. These initiatives encompass Theatre of the Oppressed performances, visual arts, and capacity-building, all meticulously designed to catalyse positive community transformations. Firmly believing in the potential of creative methodologies, under the mental health umbrella, Mehmood is dedicated to enhancing emotional and psychological well-being, while also fostering greater social inclusion and community engagement among individuals grappling with severe mental illnesses

Pakistan Programme Manager – IRD Pakistan

Onaiza Qureshi (BSc, MSc) is mental health researcher based in Pakistan. After completing her MSc in Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King’s College London and King’s College London she worked as a research fellow at the Centre for Global Mental Health where she managed multiple projects under the Mental Health Innovation Network. Onaiza currently works at the Interactive Research and Development Global as the Pakistan Program Manager on the NIHR-funded research project ‘PIECEs’.

Hufsa Sarwar

Senior Research Coordinator – IRD Pakistan

Hufsa has done her undergrad in Psychology, and for over two years have been working on creating awareness on mental health and integration of non-clinical and clinical mental health services at the community level across Pakistan. She is passionate about involving individuals who have been marginalized due to their mental health illness to build the capacity of communities to inform and support their own mental health and wellbeing

Maria Baig

Senior Research Coordinator – IRD Pakistan

Maria Baig (MSc, ADCP), is a Clinical Psychologist by training and mental health researcher, holds a Master’s in Psychology and a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Sargodha (2007-2012). Passionate about mental health, she has worked closely with over 1300 individuals, providing support for various mental health concerns.

 

Maria has practiced in esteemed organizations in Pakistan, including Interactive Research and Development (IRD-Pakistan), Médecins Sans Frontières, SINA Health Education and Welfare Trust, Aga Khan University and Hospital, Médecins De Monde, and several psychiatric facilities, showcasing a commitment to making a positive impact on mental health and well-being.

Co-Investigator

Senior Lecturer Health Economics and Policy‬, Aga Khan University

Ashar Malik is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical College, The Aga Khan University, Karachi. He specialised in Health Economics and worked as a Consultant at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. He also worked as a Research Associate at the Ministry of Health, Pakistan in 2006.

Community Engagement Consultant – Aga Khan University

A member of AKU’s Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS), Dr. Khan has been working closely with Community Health Workers since the late 1980s. As part of CHS’ mandate, an Urban Health Programme was initiated in 1985 in different squatter settlements in Karachi, with Primary Health Care centres catering to between 5,000 to 35,000 people. As part of the programme community members were trained as Community Health Workers, who then formed an integral part of the department’s monitoring and evaluation system.

Maryam Younus

Statistician – IRD Pakistan

Maryam Younus holds an MS in Statistics and Scientific Computing from the Institute of Business Management, Pakistan, and an MSc in Statistics from the University of Karachi. With over six years of experience as a Senior Biostatistician at the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, she has also worked as a Medical Research Facilitator and Consultant Statistician. Currently, she serves as a Medical Research Facilitator to medical professionals and is affiliated with IRD as an Independent Statistician. Maryam has contributed to 20 medical research articles, underscoring her extensive expertise in the field.

 

Partnering Hospitals

Co-Investigator

Country Director, IRD Pakistan

Aneeta Pasha is a Fulbright scholar, with a graduate degree from the Masters of Arts Program in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, with a concentration in anthropology. She is a development professional with over 15 years of programmatic and research experience working in the development sector in Pakistan in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, and mental health. In 2014, Aneeta established IRD’s mental health program that aims to increase access to mental health services at the community level by increasing demand for services through awareness raising and community engagement, capacity building for a task-sharing approach that uses community health workers to deliver mental health interventions and finally, wide scale service delivery in low-income communities and health facilities

Fahad S. Khan

Community Mental Health Integration Specialist – IRD

Fahad is a program specialist with a 10 year track record in delivering scalable public health initiatives in TB, immunizations, emergency care, and mental health. He has executed several major public health programs, including the development and expansion of IRD’s mental health program (Pursukoon Zindagi) in 20 primary care sites across Pakistan, screening over 100,000 individuals for symptoms of anxiety and depression. Fahad offers a broad and highly transferable skill set encompassing program and project management, strategy development, operations management, research and development, relationship management and stakeholder engagement.

Muhammad Waseem

Arts Partner – Director IRC

Waseem is Director of Interactive Resource Centre in Lahore, a non-profit, info media organization striving to promote empowerment and social development among the marginalized members of the society through art based development and media advocacy. He has over 25 years of professional experience in art based activism for the promotion of peace, human and democracy. Waseem initiated Theatre of the oppressed in Pakistan and has trained more than 200 groups in theatrical skills on different social and political issues. Waseem possesses an experience of leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams, mobilizing local resources human and material on various human rights and gender discrimination and development projects throughout the country. In addition to this Waseem’s organization, IRC initiated Pakistan first web TV www.maati.tv in 2011.

Co-Investigator

Programme Manager, IRD Pakistan

Saniya Saleem is a Fulbright and Commonwealth scholar, with a graduate degree from the Masters of Arts program in Psychology at New York University and Masters of Science degree from the Global Mental Health program at the University of Glasgow. She is a public health researcher with a focus in integration of mental health services with routine service delivery, expansion of mental health service delivery through community-based care and health-related quality of life. She is a program manager for the mental health program, her work includes integration of mental health services across disease areas including HIV and Diabetes, designing interventions for community and facility based service delivery.

Pakistan Programme Manager – IRD Pakistan

Onaiza Qureshi (BSc, MSc) is mental health researcher based in Pakistan. After completing her MSc in Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King’s College London and King’s College London she worked as a research fellow at the Centre for Global Mental Health where she managed multiple projects under the Mental Health Innovation Network. Onaiza currently works at the Interactive Research and Development Global as the Pakistan Program Manager on the NIHR-funded research project ‘PIECEs’.

Hufsa Sarwar

Research Coordinator – IRD Pakistan

Hufsa has done her undergrad in Psychology, and for over two years have been working on creating awareness on mental health and integration of non-clinical and clinical mental health services at the community level across Pakistan. She is passionate about involving individuals who have been marginalized due to their mental health illness to build the capacity of communities to inform and support their own mental health and wellbeing

Co-Investigator

Senior Lecturer Health Economics and Policy‬, Aga Khan University

Ashar Malik is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical College, The Aga Khan University, Karachi. He specialised in Health Economics and worked as a Consultant at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. He also worked as a Research Associate at the Ministry of Health, Pakistan in 2006.

Community Engagement Consultant – Aga Khan University

A member of AKU’s Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS), Dr. Khan has been working closely with Community Health Workers since the late 1980s. As part of CHS’ mandate, an Urban Health Programme was initiated in 1985 in different squatter settlements in Karachi, with Primary Health Care centres catering to between 5,000 to 35,000 people. As part of the programme community members were trained as Community Health Workers, who then formed an integral part of the department’s monitoring and evaluation system.

Abeer Jawed

Research Associate – IRD Pakistan

Abeer Jawed is a junior doctor with a passion for psychiatry and public health. She did her bachelors in medicine and surgery from Karachi Medical and Dental College in 2018 and spent time between clinical practice on working in the public health sector to help create equitable mental health care opportunities.

Areeba Shahab

Research Coordinator – IRD Pakistan

Areeba Shahab is a global mental health researcher with a graduate degree in Health Psychology from University College London and a bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Warwick. She is currently working as an Assistant Manager for IRD’s mental health program, aimed at integrating lay mental health services in primary care clinics across Pakistan and working as a Senior Research Coordinator on the PIECES project funded by NIHR to improve outcomes for people with psychosis in Pakistan

Partnering Hospitals

Co-Investigator

Director, Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Padma completed her Postgraduate Psychiatry degree at the University of Bombay, India and since then has been with the Schizophrenia Research Foundation, (SCARF) Chennai, India for over 29 years. She has been involved in several research areas like epidemiological studies, drug trials, untreated schizophrenia, culture and psychoses, metabolic disorders in mental illness. Her key interests have been in socio-cultural aspects of Mental illnesses. She has conducted research in the areas of stigma in mental illness and in physical comorbidities in schizophrenia. With keen interest in psychosocial rehabilitation, she has been responsible for establishing the Department of Psychosocial Rehabilitation at SCARF, which provides  a needs-based psychosocial intervention program for persons accessing SCARF Clinical services for treatment and rehabilitation.

Kasthuri Divya

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Kasthuri joined the PIECEs project as a Research Assistant after obtaining a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from Madras School of Social Work, Chennai. Prior to that, she explored the role of an HR for a couple of years. She enjoys journaling, photography, and visits to the local museum.

Partnering Hospital

Co-Investigator

Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist, Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Lakshmi has been a Consultant Psychiatrist at SCARF since July 2013. She is currently leading studies on cognitive interventions in schizophrenia at SCARF. Her special interest areas are Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Eating Disorders.

Krishna Priya

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Krishna Priya obtained a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Amrita University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. As Research Assistant, she works with a mixed team of Clinicians, Social workers and other audiences. A focused and keen observer in nature helps in her day-to-day activities  which enables her to produce more reliable outcomes both in work and personal life. Apart from the above she is has kept a keen interest in crafting and reading books. The research Assistant position gave the right priorities to pathways that enables her to achieve the career path she has chosen.

Harini Jayaraman

Research Assistant

Harini Jayaraman serves as a Research Assistant for Community Engagement in the PIECEs Project at SCARF. Before joining SCARF, she was the project secretary at a halfway house for women with mental health challenges. Harini holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Madras University, with a strong focus on Community Mental Health and outreach initiatives. She is passionate about hands-on work and enjoys making a difference at the grassroots level. Outside of her professional life, Harini is enthusiastic about gardening, dancing, and cooking.

Syjo Davis

India Programme Manager

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Syjo Davis has completed his Master’s in Social Work under the University of Madras, Chennai and he is active in the field of mental health for the past 8+ years. He also has been a team lead in other organisations and has also coordinated a School Mental Health Program at SCARF earlier from 2015 to 2017.  Counseling is an area which attracted him into Psychiatric Social Work and he also is a practising counselor. His other interests include collecting musical instruments, creating miniatures, singing and gardening.

Manikandan Pari

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Manikandan started his career as a professional social worker. He has completed his M.Phil in Social work in 2016. Currently he works as a research assistant at SCARF India. He has over 6 years of experience working with people with mental illness and their families as an agent of support and guidance. His professional life includes a commitment to serving the needs of persons with mental illness and their families as a social worker.. He has also trained Self Help groups(SHG) and community workers and has conducted various Awareness programmes on HIV, TB, blood donation, and pandemic crisis intervention, apart from mental health. His primary hobbies include poetry writing and bike riding.

Mangala Ramamurti

Community Engagement Manager

Mangala works at Schizophrenia research foundation (SCARF), based in Chennai India, as a manager, Community Engagement Initiative for the PIECEs research

Co-Investigator

Director, Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Padma completed her Postgraduate Psychiatry degree at the University of Bombay, India and since then has been with the Schizophrenia Research Foundation, (SCARF) Chennai, India for over 29 years. She has been involved in several research areas like epidemiological studies, drug trials, untreated schizophrenia, culture and psychoses, metabolic disorders in mental illness. Her key interests have been in socio-cultural aspects of Mental illnesses. She has conducted research in the areas of stigma in mental illness and in physical comorbidities in schizophrenia. With keen interest in psychosocial rehabilitation, she has been responsible for establishing the Department of Psychosocial Rehabilitation at SCARF, which provides  a needs-based psychosocial intervention program for persons accessing SCARF Clinical services for treatment and rehabilitation.

Dhivya Pandian

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Dhivya Pandian joined SCARF as a Research Assistant in the PIECEs Project. Prior to SCARF, she has worked in different NGOs & India Council of Medical Research (ICMR). She completed her MA in social work from Madras School of Social Work (MSSW). Her primary research interests are in the field of community health & psychosocial rehabilitation. She has conducted many Focus Group Discussions for Cancer Survivors. She has also published an article on Awareness and Perception of Cancer among Chennai Public by ASCO (American Society of Cancer Oncology).

Co-Investigator

Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist, Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Lakshmi has been a Consultant Psychiatrist at SCARF since July 2013. She is currently leading studies on cognitive interventions in schizophrenia at SCARF. Her special interest areas are Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Eating Disorders.

Krishna Priya

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Krishna Priya obtained a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Amrita University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. As Research Assistant, she works with a mixed team of Clinicians, Social workers and other audiences. A focused and keen observer in nature helps in her day-to-day activities  which enables her to produce more reliable outcomes both in work and personal life. Apart from the above she is has kept a keen interest in crafting and reading books. The research Assistant position gave the right priorities to pathways that enables her to achieve the career path she has chosen.

Sunil Vishnu K

Arts Partner

Co-Founder, Artistic Director and CEO, Evam and Training Sideways 

Sunil Vishnu K is the co-founder, artistic director and CEO of India’s foremost performing arts organization ‘evam’ (www.evam.in) which started in Chennai, India in 2003 and today operates across the globe.  evam’s mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of 

people through the medium of performing arts especially theatre, by performing live theatre / stand-up comedy, training corporates and empowering children with life-skills using art based methodology..  ‘evam’ which has survived and thrived in India without any government grants or active corporate support and is a model for self sustaining arts entrepreneurship in India. In 2011, along with Karthik Kumar he co-founded “Training Sideways” (www.trainingsideways.in)

Syjo Davis

India Programme Manager

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Syjo Davis has completed his Master’s in Social Work under the University of Madras, Chennai and he is active in the field of mental health for the past 8+ years. He also has been a team lead in other organisations and has also coordinated a School Mental Health Program at SCARF earlier from 2015 to 2017.  Counseling is an area which attracted him into Psychiatric Social Work and he also is a practising counselor. His other interests include collecting musical instruments, creating miniatures, singing and gardening.

Manikandan Pari

Research Assistant

Schizophrenia Research Foundation

Manikandan started his career as a professional social worker. He has completed his M.Phil in Social work in 2016. Currently he works as a research assistant at SCARF India. He has over 6 years of experience working with people with mental illness and their families as an agent of support and guidance. His professional life includes a commitment to serving the needs of persons with mental illness and their families as a social worker.. He has also trained Self Help groups(SHG) and community workers and has conducted various Awareness programmes on HIV, TB, blood donation, and pandemic crisis intervention, apart from mental health. His primary hobbies include poetry writing and bike riding.

Cinthoorika Dinesh

Arts Project Coordinator

Training Sideways/Evam

Cinthoorika is an Art Producer with Evam entertainment & Training Sideways, with a decade of experience in planning, execution & producing multiple art projects on a national and international scale. She also handled the conception & execution of projects for the education division of evam – Introducing performing arts to adults and Creating a safe space for the children via arts education.

Partnering Hospital

International Drama/Arts Consultants

Julian Boal

Boal is a teacher, researcher, and internationally-active and world-renowned practitioner of Theatre of the Oppressed. He has facilitated workshops in more than 25 countries and collaborated on several international theatre festivals in India with Jana Sanskriti, in Spain with Pa’tothom, in Portugal with Óprima, in Croatia with the Istrian National Theater, in France with GTO-Paris, and in Brazil with CTO-Rio. 

Sanjoy Ganguly

Sanjoy Ganguly became active in rural Bengal’s theatre in the early 1980s. His encounter with Augusto Boal and his own passionate commitment to the creation of a just and equal society, led him to found Jana Sanskriti, an independent organization committed to the empowerment of various communities through the use of theatre. With more than thirty active theatre groups, Jana Sanskriti is now the largest organization of its kind in India.

Over the last three decades Jana Sanskriti has addressed issues such as domestic violence, child marriage, girl child trafficking, child abuse, maternal and child health, primary education and health care, illicit liquor, – all through theatre.

Julian Boal

Boal is a teacher, researcher, and internationally-active and world-renowned practitioner of Theatre of the Oppressed. He has facilitated workshops in more than 25 countries and collaborated on several international theatre festivals in India with Jana Sanskriti, in Spain with Pa’tothom, in Portugal with Óprima, in Croatia with the Istrian National Theater, in France with GTO-Paris, and in Brazil with CTO-Rio. 

Sanjoy Ganguly

Sanjoy Ganguly became active in rural Bengal’s theatre in the early 1980s. His encounter with Augusto Boal and his own passionate commitment to the creation of a just and equal society, led him to found Jana Sanskriti, an independent organization committed to the empowerment of various communities through the use of theatre. With more than thirty active theatre groups, Jana Sanskriti is now the largest organization of its kind in India.

Over the last three decades Jana Sanskriti has addressed issues such as domestic violence, child marriage, girl child trafficking, child abuse, maternal and child health, primary education and health care, illicit liquor, – all through theatre.

International Advisory Board

A caregiver of his daughter, his only child for the last 24 years. President of Schizophrenia Awareness Association Pune (India), Collaborator Quality Rights Project Gujarat, Member Institution Committee (Apex Body) and Chairman Hospital Management Committee NIMHANS Bangalore, On Governing Committee of INCENSE (Program for Inclusion and empowerment of people with severe mental disorders), Member Committee of Experts to formulate policy for issuance of license to De-addiction and Rehab Centres/Half Way Homes formed by Directorate of Health Services Maharashtra State.

Dr. Murad is a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychiatry at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. He has served as the President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) from 2016 to 2020, and is a member of the International Academy of Suicide Research (IASR). He is currently on the faculty of the Centre for Bioethics and Culture (CBEC – SIUT).   He holds the membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). His research interests include epidemiology of suicide and deliberate self-harm, mental health of women and the elderly, psychosomatic medicine and organizational ethics.

Dr. Asma Humayun is currently leading a MHPSS initiative as Senior Technical Advisor for Mental Health for the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives in Pakistan. She has worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist for the World Health Organisation on mhGAP guidelines, and was a member of the Guideline Development Group on the treatment of health problems in SMIs. She has also served as a member of the Healthcare Ethics Committee, which is a sub-committee of the National Bioethics Committee in Pakistan. She is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr. Shama Dossa is a community development practitioner, researcher and academic with over fifteen years of experience working in the Asia-Pacific region. She has previously worked as a Research and Advocacy Program officer at ARROW (Asia Pacific Resource and Research Center) and as a Director of Evaluation of the Research and Learning Unit at Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan). She is currently serving as an Assistant Dean at Habib University’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Her multidisciplinary research and teaching interests range from Participatory Action Research, Theatre and Arts Informed Research, to Medical Anthropology, Community Driven Social Change, and Quality of Life.

Professor of Psychiatry and Head, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (India)