Leading Together is a promising collaboration between undergraduate students at the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne and undergraduate students at four institutions across India comprising Tetso College in Nagaland, Stella Maris College in Chennai (affiliated with the University of Madras), Savitribai Phule Pune University in Pune and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus. Leading Together provides a forum for students in India and Australia to engage in dialogues on the role of young people and leadership across health, technology, education and sustainability.
Schedule
Student Submissions
Indigenous knowledge and sustainability encompass a wide range of wisdom deep-rooted in age-old traditions and practices that have stood the test of time and to a great extent remain embedded across communities around the world. The rich cultural heritage in its outlet utilises modern methods and tools that can best capture and portray the indigenous essence while simultaneously helping to achieve art for life’s sake, and as such a kaleidoscopic view becomes alluring and befitting in the process of creating an archive for future generations.
Student Participants
1) Name: R. Tamizharuvi
Community/Tribe: Aadhithravidar
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
2) Name: Himayaval.S.R
Community/Tribe: Thulluva Vallalar
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
3) Name: Shwetha G
Community/Tribe: Parkavakulam
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
4) Name: Sritanya S.A
Community/Tribe: Parkavakula Moopanar
Hometown: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
1) Name: Arindam Joshi
Community/Tribe: NA
Hometown: Pune
2) Name: Mansi Nerkar
Community/Tribe: NA
Hometown: Mumbai
3) Name: Reeya Desai
Community/Tribe: NA
Hometown: Mumbai
4) Name: Satyam Rathod
Community/Tribe: Banjara
Hometown: Pune
1) Name: Lagung beyong
Community/Tribe: Nyishi
Hometown: East seppa, Arunachal Pradesh
2) Name: Fancy chakma
Community/Tribe: Chakma
Hometown: Lawngtlai district, Mizoram
3) Name: Renesa chakma
Community/Tribe: Chakma
Hometown: Dhalai District, Tripura
4) Name: Pongwang wangjen
Community/Tribe: Wancho
Hometown: Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
5) Name: Annie Nehzaidei Haokip
Community/Tribe: Kuki
Hometown: Lawngtlai District, Mizoram
6) Name: Priyangshree Basumatary
Community/Tribe: Bodo
Hometown: Chirang District, Assam
7) Name: Dipashi chakma
Community/Tribe: Chakma
Hometown: Gomati District, Tripura
8) Name: Neha Borogaon
Community/Tribe: Bodo
Hometown: Alipurduar District, West Bengal
Faculty Conveners
Kirsty McKellar
Kirsty McKellar has been the Program Co-ordinator of the Leading Together Dialogues since 2021. Her Master’s at the University of Melbourne was in Development Studies. As part of her studies, she wrote a dissertation on floods in Bihar, India, looking specifically at how they are envisaged, prepared for and responded to by communities, policymakers and policy implementers. In 2019, she worked with a humanitarian organisation RedR India on their post-flood disaster restoration and recovery project in Maharashtra. In 2022 she organised an art auction fundraiser to support two civil society groups fighting gender-based violence in Dimapur, Nagaland. In 2023, alongside her role in Leading Together, she is working as the co-ordinator of another University of Melbourne initiative on Indigenous Naga repatriation and healing. She is a community worker for an NGO called Kindred, interested in supporting the social determinants of mental health and well-being in communities.
Dr. Hewasa L Khing
Dr. Hewasa L. Khing is the Principal of Tetso College, Dimapur, Nagaland. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and has been teaching in the English Honours programme. She is currently monitoring a research project titled Challenges under Cyberspace: The Explanatory Study of the Ramifications of Cyber Crimes for Women in Nagaland, sponsored by the National Commission for Women, New Delhi. Her research interests include culture and identity, cultural memory and representation, leadership and innovation in the education sector.
Anjan K. Behera
Anjan K. Behera is the Acting Dean of the School of English & Political Studies at Tetso College, Nagaland. As part of his PhD studies, he studies the representation of men in diaspora novels by Indian women. Anjan is also a freelance translator for All India Radio, Kohima. His areas of interest and research include diaspora fiction, televisual culture, gender studies, and postcolonial studies.
Kahor Raleng
Kahor Raleng is currently the Head of the Department of Linguistics and had previously served as the Head of the Department of English and Supervisor of the Higher Secondary Section at Tetso College, Dimapur, Nagaland. For her PhD, she is studying the representation of gender and self in women’s autobiographies. Her areas of interest and research include women’s autobiographical writings, gender and identity.
University of Melbourne
A/Prof Kate MacNeill
Kate MacNeill is the Associate Dean Education and Students in the Faculty of Arts. Her PhD is in Art History and she has been teaching in the Arts and Cultural Management program. A frequent visitor to India in recent years, she co-convened the Women and Leadership Symposium at Stella Maris College Chennai in 2019. Kate is super excited about this project, and looking forward to the opportunity to engage more with the amazing students she has met on these visits.
Dr. Dolly Kikon
Dr. Dolly Kikon is the Deputy Associate Dean (India Strategy) in the Faculty of Arts, and the Senior Research Advisor (SRA-Governance) at the Australia India Institute (Melbourne). She holds a PhD in Anthropology and teaches Anthropology and Development Studies at the School of Social and Political Sciences. Along with Associate Dean Associate Professor Kate MacNeill Dr. Kikon participated at the Women and Leadership Symposium at Stella Maris College in 2019. The vibrant conversations and reflections inspired us to envision the 2021 Leading Together event. It has been a joy to plan and coordinate this event, and I am looking forward to engaging and being inspired by the participants.
Yasmeen Hassan
Yasmeen Hassanis the Project Coordinator for the Arts Teaching Innovation at the University of Melbourne. She supports pedagogical projects delivered by academics under the Education and Students portfolio in the Faculty of Arts. Yasmeen holds a Master of Public Health specialising in evaluation, which involved a research project evaluating the impact of state-collected community health and wellbeing data on public health priorities and polices at a local government level. Yasmeen is delighted to be working on this project and is looking forward to the rich dialogue and important co-creation of knowledge between colleagues in India and Australia.
Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India
Shivani Singh
Shivani Singh is a scholar of History with specialisation in Modern Indian History. Her research interests are women’s educational history which she has been developing through researching women’s life narratives and career histories. Her research work so far has been taken on an interdisciplinary character which has given her ample scope to explore women/ gender studies as well. Oral history seems to be her research area with great potential and opportunities. A new thrust area that she is developing currently is the History of Science and Technology in the Indian context: a) historical and philosophical aspects, b) dynamics of socio-economic and political developments linked to it, and c) Indian and World context. Currently, she is occupied as an Assistant Professor for the Liberal Arts course in the Interdisciplinary School of Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. She is an artist/painter in different traditional Indian art forms.
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus
Joseph Riamei
Joseph Riamei is Assistant Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Community Organisation & Development Practice at the School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus. Dr. Riamei has extensive engagement with Tribes/Indigenous Studies, Governance, Conflict and Social Work Education and Practice. He has published books on Voluntarism in Tribal Society and Asymmetrical Federalism in North East India. He has published numerous articles on Tribes and Governance, District Councils, Conflicts, Diversity and Inclusive Policies, Politics and Tribe, Federalism, Social Work Education, etc. in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He has authored several reports and research projects for Government agencies and non-profit organizations. He is a board member of various universities, research organizations and NGOs. Dr. Riamei’s research interest includes Tribes/Indigenous and Decolonial Studies, Social Work Education and Practice, Governance, Federalism, Ethnicity and Conflict Studies; State, Democracy and Tribes; Youth and Development; Human Rights and Social Justice.
Stella Maris College (Autonomous)
Dr. Sr. Stella Mary FMM
Dr Sr. Stella Mary who took over this year in 2023 as Principal-In-Charge, is an Assistant Professor from the Department of Economics at Stella Maris College (Autonomous), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She has held several responsibilities in College such as that of Vice- Principal and Dean of Student Affairs. Dr. Sr. Stella Mary was the United Board fellow for the year 2021-2022 and was placed in Ateneo Manila University, Manila, Philippines. She is an approachable and open-minded leader who works closely with the students and faculty in order to realise, develop and sustain each individual’s full potential.
Dr. Lakshmi Priya Daniel
Dr. Lakshmi Priya Daniel is an artist-academician who joined the Department of Fine Arts, Stella Maris College (Autonomous), Chennai, India as faculty in 1996. She has served as the IQAC Coordinator and as Dean of Student Affairs in College in the past years. As part of the UBCHEA Fellowship in 2018-19, Lakshmi Priya attended a ‘Leadership Development Program’ at Harvard University and a two-month Fellowship placement at the University of Melbourne. She has a wide range of interests including a love of reading and travelling.
Leading Together 2023
Gallery
Contact Us
Anjan Kumar Behera
Convener
abehera@tetsocollege.org
Kirsty McKellar
Convener
kirsty.mckellar@unimelb.edu.au