Dr Saswata Ghosh

Dr Saswata Ghosh was the Sir Ratan Tata Fellow 2014-15 at LSE Asia Research Centre.

Dr Ghosh is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK). He completed his PhD and MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Population Studies in 2006. Prior to that, Dr Ghosh completed the Master of Population Studies (MPS) from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai and Master in Mathematics (MSc) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. While pursuing his PhD, he started his professional research career as Associate Fellow with the Council of Social Development (CSD), New Delhi. Dr Ghosh has also worked with the Population Council, New Delhi as Assistant Programme Officer. Currently he is working on a second demographic transition in Kolkata district of West Bengal, India.

His areas of interest include fertility, family planning, mortality, morbidity, maternal and child health, and nutrition. Other areas of research include field survey methods, demographic estimations and econometric methods. Dr Ghosh teaches demographic estimation, survey methods, and advanced econometric tools at the MPhil level of Development Studies. Four students have obtained MPhil degrees under his supervision. In addition to his contribution to various research projects as Principal Investigator and/or Co-Investigator, he has published a number of research articles in various journals of international repute, which include International Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Biosocial Science, Asian Population Studies, Asia-Pacific Population Journal, Genus and Economic and Political Weekly.

Research Interests

• Fertility and family planning
• Mortality and morbidity
• Maternal and child health
• Nutrition

Selected Publications

• Ghosh, S., Barik, A., Majumder, S. et al. (2014). Profile: Birbhum Population Project (Birbhum HDSS). International Journal of Epidemiology (in press)
• Husain, Z., Ghosh, S. and Dutta, M. (2013). 'Ultramodern contraception' re-examined: Cultural dissent, or son preference? Asian Population Studies, 9(3)
• Ghosh, S and Saha, M. (2013). Health Communication and Behavioural Change: An exploratory study among marginalised communities in rural West Bengal, India. Journal of Health Management, 15(3): 307-327
• Ghosh, S. and Das, B.K. (2011). Exploring Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Utilisation of ICDS Service. Asia Pacific Population Journal, 26(1): 11-38
• Husain, Z. and Ghosh, S. (2011). Is Health Status of Elderly Worsening in India? A comparison of successive rounds of national sample survey data. Journal of Biosocial Science, 43(2): 211-231
• Ghosh, S. and Husain, Z. (2010). Economic Independence, Family Support and Perceived Health Status of the Elderly: Recent evidence from India. Asia Pacific Population Journal, 25(1): 47-77
• Ghosh, S. (2009). Exploring Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities of Anaemia Among Women of Eastern Indian States. Journal of Biosocial Science, 41(6): 763-787
• Ghosh, S. (2005). Does Economic Inequality Matter in Cases of Infectious Childhood Diseases? An analysis for India. Asia Pacific Population Journal, 20(1): 37-62
• Ghosh, S. and Kulkarni, P.M. (2004). Does the pattern of causes of death vary across socioeconomic classes within a population? An exploratory analysis for India. Genus, LX(2): 55-81
• Shekhar, M., Ghosh, S. and Panda, P. (2007). Exploring Safe Sex Awareness and Sexual Experiences of School and College Going Adolescents in Patna City, Bihar. Economic and Political Weekly, 42(48): 56-61
• Rani, S., Ghosh, S. and Sharan, M. (2007). Maternal Healthcare Seeking among Tribal Adolescent Girls in Jharkhand. Economic and Political Weekly, 42(48): 48-55