Nandita is a Senior Policy Officer at the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) in New South Wales (NSW) government. In DPE she is leading a Public Value Measurement Framework. She has previously worked in areas of strategic policy development and advisory, outcome evaluation, across diverse portfolios including NSW’s Net Zero Plan, NSW Premier’s priority of Greening Our City and Affordable & Diverse Housing.
Prior to joining DPE, Nandita was an academic with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Western Sydney University (WSU) where she taught Environment and Development, Climate Change Politics and Ecology, Economy, Society and Globalism, Race, Ethnicity and Identity Politics in Australia, Organisation Behaviour.
Nandita has over 10 years’ experience in international development in India and worked with BBC Media Action and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI); across a range of issues including urban infrastructure development, natural-resource management, poverty alleviation and HIV/AIDS behaviour change communication.
Nandita has a PhD in Climate Change Governance (recipient of Australian Post-Graduate award). She is an alumni of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India.
Nandita’s lived experience of growing up in deprivation and domestic violence and coupled with her grass-root work with marginalized communities in India have shaped her perspectives on power and justice.