Sarbani Belur Sarbani Belur

Dr. Sarbani Banerjee Belur, holds a PhD in Demography from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She is a MA in Sociology from University of Hyderabad. Currently she is a Senior Project Research Scientist in the Gram Marg Rural Broadband project at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, India. Prior to this, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai and Future Ideas, Mumbai. She has also taught courses in Sociology and Development as a guest lecturer at IIT Bombay and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has published in international conferences, contributed book chapters and has authored a book in the areas of demography and social issues. Her current work involves increasing digital outreach to remote and rural areas of India, deployment of new technology alternatives for the middle and last mile internet connectivity, development of a sustainable models supporting Public - Private - Panchayat - Partnership (4-P model), seeding the growth of community networks, developing community technologies and impact assessment studies of connectivity in the lives of people. The impact studies that she focuses on are based on gender, social and economic impacts of connectivity.