Seema Sharma
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Public Health
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Mental Health
- Women and Health
- Disability and Marginalised Communities
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Human Rights and Evidence-Based Approach to Research
Biography
Seema is a public health researcher working in the areas of sexual and reproductive health and the rights of the marginalised communities in India. She teaches a course on mental health at the University.
Prior to joining the University, Seema was a research consultant at the Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action (SNEHA), Mumbai, where she led a mixed-methods research that aimed to address the mental health concerns of the underprivileged adolescents inhabiting the informal settlements of Dharavi and Kalwa in Mumbai by building community-based models for psychosocial support and treatment.
She has also worked with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) as an Academic Intern and Research Associate.
Seema studied BA (Hons) Economics and MA (Economics) at the University of Delhi and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune respectively. She holds an integrated MPhil-PhD degree in Health Systems Management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, where she was a junior and senior research fellow.
Her doctoral research inquired into the sexual and reproductive health concerns of women with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in India. Seema was a Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) fellow (2020−2022). She has contributed to SRHM, Disability and Rehabilitation, Journal of Biosocial Science.
She takes a keen interest in contributing to the discourse on sexuality and disability, especially concerning women with spinal cord injury in India.
Courses
Health economics and financing
Students will learn the theories of health financing, various existing methods of health financing, the evolution of health insurance, and the existing health insurance options and their stakeholders.
Social Research Methods in health: Generating qualitative evidence in health
Understand the relevance of qualitative evidence for making informed public health actions.
Evidence for public health
What constitutes evidence in Public health? What are pros and cons of such "Evidence"?
Critical Perspectives on Mental Health
Explore the notions of mental health and well-being.
Methods for Social Research and Action
Learn how to define a problem, design research, collect data and present findings.
Publications
Journal Articles
- Sharma, S., & Sivakami, M. (2022). “God will decide her fate”: The trajectories of women with traumatic spinal cord injury in India. Disability and Rehabilitation, (AOP). https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2083245
- Sharma, S., (2022). Sexuality and relationship experiences of women with spinal cord injury: Reflections from an Indian context. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 29(2), 1 – 18. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2022.2057652
- Sharma, S., & Sivakami, M. (2019). Sexual and reproductive health concerns of persons with disability in India: An issue of deep-rooted silence. Journal of Biosocial Science, 51(2), 225 – 243. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932018000081
Chapter in Edited Book
- Sharma, S., & Sivakami, M. (2021). Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents with Disability: A Synthesis of Global Evidence. In T. Rugoho, F. Maphosa, (Eds.), Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents with Disabilities (pp. 61 – 84). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 981-15 – 7914-1_4