Mahima Mitra

Mahima's research interests lie in the field of public policy and management, specifically the consequences of government policy on public sector services within healthcare and education.

Mahima Mitra is a Research Fellow within the Organisation Studies group. Her research, funded by the Oxford-Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF), investigates the attitudes, training and support that promotes a diverse research community at Oxford. Previously, Mahima worked as a researcher with Dr Eleanor Murray on understanding how large-scale systems change is implemented in the context of recent UK Government policy shifts towards the integration of health and social care services. She also worked with Professor Sue Dopson on the professional identity development of young general practitioners amidst the emerging GP workforce crisis in England.

Mahima’s professional experience includes a stint as a Qualitative Researcher at the World Bank, a University Lectureship in Human Development & Childhood Studies at the University of Delhi, India, and various Research Assistant positions within the University of Oxford including at the Oxford Learning Institute (higher education policy) and the European Studies Centre (healthcare reforms and its implications for accountability).

Mahima completed her MPhil and DPhil in Social Policy from the Department of Social Policy & Intervention at the University of Oxford and was funded through the Kokil Pathak Scholarship at Exeter College. Her doctoral research won the Best Student Paper Award at the 22nd EECERA Conference (the largest early years’ research conference in Europe) in 2012. She also holds a BSc (Distinction, University of Delhi Award) and MSc (Distinction, University of Delhi Gold Medal) in Human Development & Childhood Studies from the University of Delhi, India.

Alongside her role at Saïd Business School, Mahima is also an Academic Associate at Brasenose College.

Research

Mahima's research work has been wide-ranging.

Her doctoral work looked at the impact (operationalised as ‘take-up’ and ‘utilization’) of two public sector initiatives in the field of early childhood development in India on low-income working mothers – the multi-sectoral Integrated Child Development Services scheme, and the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche scheme.

Mahima’s work on this largely neglected subject in the Indian context indicated that the key to increasing utilization of the country’s public-sector programmes lies in enhancing quality, investing in resources, and strengthening the legal-policy context within which these initiatives are implemented.

When working at the European Studies Centre (St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford), Mahima studied how recent welfare reforms reshape the balance between traditional and new forms of public accountability within healthcare in England and Germany.

During her time at the Oxford Learning Institute (University of Oxford), she worked on a study mapping the academic trajectories and identity development of early career researchers in the STEM, Humanities and Social Scientists, and key implications for Higher Education Policy.