Meghna was born and raised in the south Indian state of Kerala. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, and an M.Sc. in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics.
Prior to commencing her doctoral degree, Meghna worked with various organisations on research, design, and policy development pertaining to issues of affordable housing in London, Kozhikode, and Bengaluru.
Rental Housing as Sites of 'Othering'
In the absence of public rental housing, the private rental market addresses a key housing need of migrant communities in urban India. However, for Indigenous migrant women from the Northeast Indian borderlands and Himalayan foothills who live in the metropolitan city of Bengaluru, India, their rental houses are spaces where they experience racial harassment, sexual violence, and intrusive surveillance by landlords.
In her doctoral research, Meghna uses qualitative research methods to analyse how power dynamics within landlord-tenant relationships shape rental housing experiences of Indigenous migrant women, and how they navigate and resist their marginalisation in the private rental housing market.
- URST 400 (Seminar in Urban Studies) - Sessional Instructor 2024
- PLAN 221 (City Visuals) - Graduate Teaching Assistant 2023
- PLAN 504 (Urban Design and Visual Representation) - Graduate Teaching Assistant 2022
- Public Scholars Initiative (PSI) Award, 2024
- Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 2023 - 2026
- Institute of Asian Research (UBC) Travel Grant, 2023
- Brahm Weisman Memorial Scholarship, University of British Columbia, 2022 & 2024
- H. Peter Oberlander Scholarship in Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, 2022 & 2023
- Partnership Engage Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), with Dr. Julia Harten, 2022
- President's Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, University of British Columbia, 2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024
- 4 Year Fellowship (4YF), University of British Columbia, 2021 - 2025
- Faculty of Applied Science Graduate Award, University of British Columbia, 2021
- International Tuition Award, 2021 & 2022
- 3rd Prize, Berkeley Essay Writing Competition, University of California, Berkeley, 2015
