• Narrative Analysis
• Inclusive Development
• Right to Food
• Social Inclusion
• Child Rights
• Disability Rights
• Community Conservation
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Organic Certification
• NGO Governance

Manikandan anchors admissions, placements, and alumni functions at the University. He also is associated with the School of Development. He is a development practitioner with extensive work experience in action research, NGO governance, grant management, fundraising, planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME), and operations including finance and human resource management.

He completed his Master’s in Rural Development and Management alongside a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication, both from Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul. 

His research work is on the ​‘right to food’ and social inclusion with a specific focus on urban poverty. He is trained in the use of narrative analysis as a tool to explore beliefs and social institutions. 

He was previously associated with Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory (KGC, Stanford University), Centre for Equity Studies (CES, New Delhi) and the Timbaktu Collective (TC, Anantapur). His association with TC has been the longest, where he was part of their overall operations for more than a decade. He served as its Director (Operations and Administration) at the time of his relieving. 

He has been intrigued by the multitude of elements that lead to societal inequities and is interested in exploring models that thrive to make the world an equitable one. He likes travelling, poetry and listening to people and their stories.