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Congratulations to the South Asia pilot funding opportunity awardees
2025
Join us in congratulating the awardees for the South Asia Pilot Funding Opportunity: Vigneswari Aravindalochanan, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai, India and Akina Shrestha, Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Nepal. Both have been awarded one-year projects focused on air pollution and health in South Asia.
This pilot funding opportunity through HEI’s Global Initiatives is intended to support activities that allow new and early-career investigators to conduct pilot research and strengthen their capacities. The call for the funding was open to early-career researchers who participated in the South Asia Early Career Training Workshop hosted by HEI in Kathmandu in August 2024. A range of competitive applications were submitted for this opportunity. These two pilot studies will take place between October 2025 and October 2026 and culminate in peer-reviewed publications. The awardees will be mentored by members of the HEI Global Inititaives Oversight Committee.
Dr. Vigneswari Aravindalochanan will study the impact of PM₂.₅ exposure during the first 1000 days on childhood stunting in rural South India. As part of the project, a hybrid exposure model will be developed to estimate long-term (pre- and post-natal) PM₂.₅ exposures for children in the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) cohort and assess the association with stunting at age two. The project will also identify critical windows of vulnerability for early childhood development, using linear growth as a marker.
Dr. Akina Shrestha will deploy a low-cost sensor network to monitor air quality in six locations across suburban and rural Nepal. The sensors will be installed in rural outreach centers of Dhulikhel Hospital and schools. Real-time PM₂.₅ data will be generated, and hourly averaged PM₂.₅ mass concentrations will be made openly accessible to the public.
This initiative is supported by Coefficient Giving.
