• Local Governance
• Decentralisation and Panchayati Raj Institutions
• Public Health and Sanitation
• Process Evaluation and Impact Assessment studies in the context of Rural Development Interventions

Sham is a faculty member with over 15 years of experience in the policy and governance space, largely in the state of Karnataka. He has worked in the areas of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), public health, sanitation and agriculture and has led research projects and evaluation and monitoring studies. He has also briefly served as a Panchayat Development Officer with the Government of Karnataka.

He has a Doctoral degree in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; a dual Master’s degree in Computer Science and Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, United States of America; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NITK).

At Azim Premji University, Sham teaches courses on Policy Analysis and Monitoring Development Interventions. His research looks at challenges of governance at the local level and the interplay between bureaucratic, political and societal actors across state institutions.

His recent projects have attempted to understand the influence of local planning on public participation and service delivery and assessment of the implementation of local government interventions in the areas of sanitation and provision of drinking water in rural Karnataka. Sham is also associated with capacity-building initiatives of elected representatives, SHG federations, and other civil society actors.