Professor Amit Shovon Ray has taken over the charge as the Director of Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram on 19 December 2013. Dr.Amit Shovon Ray was professor of economics, at the Centre for International Trade and Development (CITD) of the School of International Studies in JNU, Delhi. He did his D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford in 1988. Ray was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, London, in 2007 and is a member of the Independent Commission on Development and Health in India since 2008. He is a native of West Bengal.
During his 26 years of academic career, Professor Ray has held teaching and research positions at premier Universities and Institutions in India and abroad, including Oxford University Institute of Economics and Statistics, International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington DC), Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), University of Calcutta (Kolkata) and Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi). He has been a Consultant to various national and international bodies, including the Planning Commission (Government of India), The World Bank, and UNCTAD.
Professor Ray’s research has primarily focussed on issues of Technology and R&D, Intellectual Property Rights, Economics of Health, Pharmaceutical Industry, WTO-TRIPS, Foreign Direct Investment and a wide range of policy issues pertaining to India’s development experience. He has over 60 research publications, including 28 refereed articles in reputed international journals and edited volumes, 5 books and short monographs and 32 working (discussion) papers/research reports. He has been actively engaged in research collaborations involving multi-country partners and has been invited to deliver lectures and present his research at seminars and conferences across the world spanning 18 countries over five continents.