Public Engagement
I am interested in bringing my research into public discussions on finance, development and the economy. I enjoy engaging with policymakers, public and private institutions, journalists, and wider audiences to exchange ideas and contribute evidence-based perspectives on contemporary financial issues. My goal is to make academic research accessible beyond the university. Two strands of that work are open below.
With FACE (Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment), a study of how AI is reshaping lending decisions, data privacy and accountability across India's fintech market — and what guardrails regulators might need.
Supported by the AI for Majority World Grant and hosted at the University of Bern, I collaborated with FACE (Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment) to research the scale, risks and challenges of AI integration in fintechs in India. India has one of the largest fintech markets in the world, and AI is being swiftly adopted in the sector to cut costs and increase efficiency. But this raises several questions around data privacy, the fairness of AI-made decisions, their explainability, and the avenues customers have for recourse when a decision has been made by AI.
I interviewed fintech leaders in the sector and conducted a survey in collaboration with FACE, covering fintech actors who dominate nearly 90% of the entire fintech lending market in India. This research, with a report forthcoming, is meant to be useful to industry actors and regulators designing governance mechanisms and guardrails for AI adoption in fintech lending.
We presented these findings at the AI for Good Global Summit, discussing responsible and context-specific dimensions of AI.
With WILPF, legal and political-economy methodologies for researching gender-based economic inequality in conflict settings, now used by practitioners across international and national institutions.
At the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), I produced in-depth political economy and legal analyses and methodologies for researching gender-based economic inequalities, particularly during conflict periods. These have been used by practitioners working in international and national institutions operational in conflict zones.
I have also contributed research toward designing better governance frameworks for finance with the UN Business and Human Rights Working Group and the World Economic Forum. I work closely with NGOs to design economic interventions that value women's labour. I am open to collaborations for public outreach and academic–public engagement on questions of finance, hidden forms of labour, jobless growth and the political economy of gender, particularly in the Global South.
Reach me at tanushree.kaushal@unibe.ch to discuss new research and policy threads in these areas.
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