Aruna Chinnappan joined Pondicherry University in 2002 as an Assistant Professor in Sociology. She is currently Professor and also head in-charge of the Centre for Women’s Studies (since August 2018). She was the core faculty of the UGC innovative programme on Sustainable Development (2005-2010) and Coordinator for P.G Diploma in Rural Development (2015-2016). She holds more than 18 years of progressive experience in research and teaching. Apart of the academic activities, she had been part of the administrative bodies of the University such as Court, Executive council and Academic council. She is also a member of Institutional Ethics Committee (Human Studies) for Intervention studies at JIPMER and expert member for gender sensitization programmes of the National Commission for Women. Her area of research interest is in the field of social networks and well-being of women and elderly. Internationally she has attended training programmes on social network analysis and life course perspective. Her recent research projects include ICSSR funded ‘Social Networks of Rural Elderly Women: Implications for Healthcare Services’(2018-19), Azim Premji University Research Grant on ‘Parental Involvement and Peer group Support for Academic Performance’ (2018-2020) and research study on ‘Migrant Women in Unorganized Sector with Special Reference to Puducherry (UT)’ (2019-2020) supported by National Commission for Women.

Social Network Analysis, Social Gerontology and Women’s Studies