Ajay Chandra has been a faculty member at Chanakya University’s School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences since 2023. His work spans cognitive psychology, public policy and analysis, public health, mental health, school and higher education.

He has contributed to research in the areas of adolescent mental health, gifted education, higher education, public health, urban governance and equitable vaccine strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ajay is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in the domain of neurocognition.

Outside the classroom, Ajay engages with data science applications in behavioural research and is an avid reader of nonfiction literature.

• Doctoral Studies: Pursuing Ph.D., Christ University
• Master of Science Psychology (Spl: Clinical Psychology), Department of Psychology, Bangalore University
• Bachelor of Arts, National College Jayanagar, Bangalore University.

Additional Qualification: Qualified the UGC –NET Lectureship national level exams (July 2018, July 2016, and June 2012)

1. Chandra A, Ramaprasad A and Rangaswamy M (2026) Ethics of brain-computer interface in mental healthcare. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 20:1846283. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2026.1846283
2. Bhat, V.R., Agarwal, H., Chandra, A. (2026). Psycho-Physical Basis of Food Habits: The Need for Revival of Ancient Indian Health Systems. In: Behera, L., Bandyopadhyay, A. (eds) Consciousness, Cognition, and Contemplative Sciences. MBCC 2023 2023. Studies in Rhythm Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-21704-2_5
3. Chandra, A., Ramaprasad, A., & Rangaswamy, M. (2026). Ethics of Technology-Assisted Neurocognitive Rehabilitation. In The Routledge International Handbook of Neurocognitive Rehabilitation (pp. 269-280). Routledge.
4. Chandra, A., Sreeganga, S. D., & Ramaprasad, A. (2024). Mental healthcare systems research during COVID-19: Lessons for shifting the paradigm post COVID-19. Urban Governance. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2664328624000056
5. Chandra, A., Sreeganga, S. D., Rath, N., & Ramaprasad, A. (2023). Healthcare Policies to Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in India: A Roadmap. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(19), 6842. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/19/6842
6. Martínez, V., Crockett, M. A., Chandra, A., Suwasrawala, S. S., Ramaprasad, A., Núñez, A., & Gómez-Rojas, M. (2022). State of Mental Health Research of Adolescents and Youth in Chile: An Ontological Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(16), 9889. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169889
7. Sreeganga, S. D., Chandra, A., & Ramaprasad, A. (2021). Ontological Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll out Strategies: A Comparison of India and the United States of America. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7483. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147483
8. Chandra, A., and Singai, C., (2021) Mental Health in India: Analysing the Gaps in the Mental Health Care Act-2017, Health Laws and Policies in India, pp: 305-316, Edited by Dr Manoj Kumar. Thomson Reuters, ISBN: 978-93-91340-65-0.
9. Singai, C., Kumaraswamy, T. R., & Chandra, A. (2020, June 2). Reforming Higher Education in India: In Pursuit of Excellence. HEAD Proceedings 2020. 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’20), Valencia, Spain. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11237
10. Kurup. A, Chandra. A., and V. V. Binoy (2015) “Little minds dreaming big science – Are we really promoting children gifted in STEM in India?’’ (Current Science, vol. 108, no. 5, 10 March 2015

Technical Reports:

1. Chandra, A., Mitra, S. G., Ramaprasad, A., Rath, N., Sreeganga, S. D., & Thodika, N. K. (2020). Report on the Ramaiah Webinar on Healthcare Policies for Neglected Diseases in India. Unpublished. http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.35005.90086
2. Chandra, A., Ramaprasad, A., & Singai, C. (2020). Mental Health Care During and Post COVID-19 in India_Webinar Report (Technical Report 10.13140/RG.2.2.18995.04640). Ramaiah Public Policy Center.
3. Anilkumar, M., Chandra, A., Ghosh Mitra, S., Ramaprasad, A., Singai, C., & K.Thodika, N. (2020). 4. Urban Governance in India Report. Ramaiah Public Policy Center (RPPC)
4. Ramaprasad, A., Singai, C., Anilkumar, M., Chandra, A., & Dumpala, S. (2020). 4. HE in 21st Century Report. Ramaiah Public Policy Center (RPPC), Bengaluru.
5. Manasa Nagabhushanam, Govindraju and Chandra, A. (2019). Government Schools: Towards Excellence Cases of Government Schools with Unique and Innovative Practices, Centre for Educational and Social Studies, Bengaluru.
6. Kurup, A., Dixit, S., & Chandra, A. (2016). Traits of Gifted Children in India: An Analysis. NIAS Gifted Education Program. NIAS Report: R 16_2018.
7. Kurup, A., Sharma, J., Basu, A., and Chandra, A. (October 2015). Identification and mentoring gifted children (age 3-15 years) NIAS Report: R37_2016.
8. Kurup, A., Basu, A., Chandra, A., and Jayan, P. (March 2013). Teacher training module for identifying gifted children, NIAS Report.
9. Maithreyi.R, Amita Basu, Paravathy Jayan, Chandra, A., and kurup (2013). Case profiles of Gifted Children. NIAS Report: R13-2013.
10. Anitha Kurup, Amita Basu, Chandra, A., and et.al (2013). “An Introductory reading on giftedness in children” NIAS Report: R15-2013.

1. Co-Investigator, Project titled ‘A Study of Pañcakośa-Based Holistic Educational Practices and Their Implementation Frameworks in Schools and Gurukula’, funded by the Dr Ramdas Pai Chair on Education, Chanakya University (2025 to 2026).
2. Co-Investigator, Project titled ‘A Comparison Study of COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Strategies in India, Chile, and the United States of America, funded by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), (April-2022 to September 2022).

1. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Pz3_QL0AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
2. Orcid: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-6085-3107
3. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajay-chandra-5aa7a541/
4. Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ajay-Chandra?ev=hdr_xprf

1. Ajay Chandra (2020). Policy future for India’s Untapped Exceptional Talents. Variations 2e, 4, 8–11.
2. Ajay Chandra and Arkalgud Ramaprasad (2019). A thought for Talent (Ref: The Hindu, 4th August,2019)
3. Ajay Chandra (2014). Understanding the characteristics of gifted children (Ref: Parent circle, vol. 4, issue 2, June 2014)

Conference Presentations:

1. Dixit, G., Singai, C., Ramaprasad, A., & Chandra, A. (2025) India’s National Security System Against Terrorism: A Framework for Resilience presented at the International Political Science Association (IPSA) World Congress 2025 in Seoul, South Korea,
2. Tiwari, A., Chandra, A., & Ramaprasad, A. (2024). Tech support for counselling at workplace: A System’s Approach presented at the International Conference on Mental health at Workplace, Department of Psychology, Bangalore University, 26-27 September 2024, Bengaluru, Karnataka India.
3. Vinayak Rajat Bhat, Harsh Aggarwal, and Chandra, A. (2023). ‘Changing notions of food habits: The need for revival of ancient Indian health knowledge systems’ presented in the Mind, Brain, and Consciousness Conference, 14-16 December 2023 at Indian Knowledge System and Mental Health Applications Centre, IIT Mandi.
4. Singai, C., Kumaraswamy, & Chandra, A. (2020). Reforming Higher Education in India: In Pursuit of Excellence presented at the Sixth International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’20), Valencia, Spain
5. Chandra, A. and Kiran N.C (2020). Gifted Children and Inclusive Education: A Pyramid Model of Enrichment presented at National Conference INSIGHT 2020 ‘Transforming Lives through Inclusiveness’, Kristu Jayanti College, 9th-10th, January 2020, Bengaluru
6. Singai, C., and Chandra, A. (2019). Changing landscape of higher education in India: Emerging directions for India’s foreign policy, presented at national seminar on ‘New Directions in Indian Foreign policy: People, Politics, Places and Economic Power’, M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology,04-05 January Bengaluru
7. Chandra, A., and Kumaraswamy T.R. (2018). Student perceptions on education: Systematic analysis of democratization in undergraduate education in India, presented at the national seminar Rejuvenation of Undergraduate Education in India”, August 10-11, 2018, Bangalore.
8. Nagabhushanam, M., Govindaraju, Anil Kumar, and Chandra, A., (2018). Branding of Government Schools-A Case Study Approach, presented at the National Conference on Branding of Government Schools, March 2018, NCERT, New Delhi.
9. Anitha Kurup, Shalini Dixit and Chandra, A., (2017). Multiple Identification Protocols for the Gifted Children in India presented at the 22nd Biennial World Conference- Global Perspectives in Gifted Education, July 2017 Sydney, Australia
10. Chetan Singai, Thant Syn, Kumaraswamy & Chandra, A., (2017). Harnessing the Deluge and Drought of text data for policy analysis: An ontological approach Presented at 3rd international Conference on Public policy, June 2017 Singapore
11. Anitha Kurup, Amita Basu and Chandra, A., (2013) on “Using Classroom Observations to identify gifted children: Findings and Difficulties”. Beyond Horizons: Giftedness in 21st Century” at JPIP conference, Pune 7-9 February 2013
12. Chandra, A., and Anitha Kurup. (Poster Presentation, 2013) on “Using Classroom Observations to identify the behavior traits of gifted children in the Indian context”. Beyond Horizons: Giftedness in 21st Century” at JPIP conference, Pune 7-9 February 2013.