Successful PhD Defence by Dilshan Fernando

Dilshan Fernando successfully defended his PhD dissertation, "Future Life How? Charting the Destigmatization of Disability in Titan, India," on May 6, 2025. He is graduating from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in the International Development Studies Collaborative Specialization. His research was supervised by Dr. Belinda Leach, with Dr. Sharada Srinivasan, former Director of CIRCLE, serving as co-advisor, and Dr. Ellen MacEachen as a committee member.
 
His dissertation was awarded the 2025 O.P. Dwivedi Graduate Prize for International Development, recognizing outstanding scholarship in the field.
 
Dilshan Fernando has been an active member of CIRCLE since 2021. He has curated several profiles, published an encounter on disability research in India, led the Graduate Conference in 2022 and 2023, and served on the CIRCLE Steering Committee (2023-2025). View Dilshan's CIRCLE webinar to learn more about his work.