The Early Career Network (ECN) is a self-organised collaborative effort by early-career IASC members. We support and promote the next generation of scholars and practitioners with interests in institutions, collective action, governance, and the commons.
The Early Career Network is an inclusive community that supports research collaborations and helps members weather challenges faced in this precarious career stage. We envision the Network as a safe space where long-lasting professional and personal connections can flourish.
Shuping Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. Shuping is interested in natural resource management, environmental policy, adaptive governance, and institutional analysis. Specifically, her research investigates how knowledge, formal and informal institutional arrangements influence the public sector when making adaptive policies using quantitative, qualitative, and computational methods. Shuping completed an undergraduate degree in History and Economics at Xiamen University, and a master’s degree in Public Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Mariah is an Anthropology, Gender and Development, Social Science Research specialist working as a lecturer at the National Defence University – Kenya (NDU-K) from 2024. Mariah is also an adjunct Lecturer and Research Affiliate at the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies (IAGAS), University of Nairobi. Mariah holds a doctorate training in Anthropology from the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies (IAGAS), University of Nairobi and has notable capacity for implementation of gender, development and anthropological theory, perspectives and methodological approaches for teaching, training, research and policy. Mariah seeks to apply these anthropological and gender perspectives to the study of commons. Further as the ECN communications officer Mariah will work with the team and network members to enhance linkages, networking, mentorship and capacity building through communication. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5842-5739
Santosh has recently joined as an assistant professor in the Policy and Governance Division, School of Public Health, DY Patil University, Navi Mumbai (India). He defended his PhD thesis in September 2024 from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. For his PhD thesis, he studied the implementation of forest tenure reforms adopting a rights-based approach in India over 13 years using qualitative and quantitative methods. His work contributed to our understanding of village-level conditions and administrative practices that can lead to the creation of rights holding communities. For his empirical site, he studied the implementation of India’s Forest Rights Act. He holds an MSc in Development Practice from TISS Mumbai, an MBA from IIM Bangalore, and a BTech in Chemical Engineering from LITU. His research interests are in the domain of forest tenure reforms, forest management, and mental health at workplaces. He is a first-generation formally educated person and has professional experience in academia, development organizations, and public organizations in India.
Raksha is a PhD candidate in the School of Sustainability. She works on collective action and natural resource governance. She has previously worked with communities in rural India on management of land and water commons. She has used experimental games as a tool to understand commons dilemmas and strengthen shared management of resources. Her focus has also been on natural resource-based livelihoods, especially agriculture and livestock rearing. Her research interests include understanding collective management of groundwater commons in urban and peri-urban spaces. She is part of the Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment at ASU and works with Dr. Marco Janssen, her advisor. Going forward, Raksha hopes to continue working on natural resource management policy and its implications for marginalized populations in Asia and the world.
Council ECN Representative
Associate Professor
BITS-Pilani
Past ECN Representative
Research Associate,
University of Sheffield
Membership Officer
Postdoctoral Researcher
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
ECN Representative
Financial Officer
We are proud of the collaborations that have emerged from our members.
Blog posts by ECN members (field work stories, workshop recaps, concept notes)
Want to get involved? We have monthly meetings on the first Wednesday of the month, collaborate via Slack, and have a workshop each year. Additionally, subsidiary working groups self-organize and meet at times and frequencies that work for them.
