Lina Kashyap - Professor (Mrs.) Lina D. Kashyap, Ph.D. retired as the Deputy Director (Pro-Vice Chancellor) from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in 2013. Post retirement, Prof. Kashyap was associated with the Institute as an Emeritus Professor of Social Work. She has a Master’s Degree and Ph.D. Degree in Social work from TISS.

After a decade of direct field experience as a professional social worker, Prof. Kashyap joined the Institute’s faculty in 1984. From 1994 to 2006, she has been the Head of the Department of Family and Child Welfare at the Institute. 

Dr. Kashyap initiated the Centre for Disability Studies and Action in the School of Social Work at TISS and has been the Chairperson of the Centre from 2006 till 2008. From 2008 to 2013 she served as the Deputy Director (Pro-Vice Chancellor) of the Institute.

Prof. Kashyap has also led a team of teachers from TISS to develop an on line two years M.A. in Social Work in Child’s Rights for practitioners in the field who would like to upgrade their qualifications and skills of working with children using the rights framework. This program was also launched in September 2013.

For the last 30 years, she has been training professional social workers, paraprofessional workers and volunteers in the field of family and child welfare and disability Studies. She has taught courses related to social work practice with children, families and people with disabilities and Counselling: Theory and Practice. She has been instrumental in developing a Master’s Degree Program in Disability Studies and Action at TISS which has been recognized by the Research Council of India.

She has organized several state, national and international level conferences in the area of child and family practice and disability rehabilitation. Dr. Kashyap has undertaken research in the areas related to institutional and non-institutional services for children. She has been a team member on two large international research projects on children and youth, their problems and coping strategies. Dr. Kashyap has evaluated services for children under Government of India schemes. She has served on a number of international, national and state level committees in the areas of Child Welfare and Development, and Disability Rehabilitation, and was the Vice President of the International Association for Counselling for six years till April 2004.

She has been on the Advisory Committee of the Editorial Board of “The Indian Journal of Social Work”, the “International Journal for Advancement of Counselling” and “International Social Work” for a couple of years. 

Her current interest is doing a deeper study of and practicing the principles of Chanakya’s Arthashastra and Indian Knowledge Systems. Her other interests are reading, travelling, and gardening.