Dr Sriya Iyer (2000, Fellow)

The College is a great institution - it encourages great scholarship and teaching, of course, but I have always thought that its greatest asset was what economists call 'social capital'. The College has very strong networks both within and outside the College right across the world. This strikes me as a key strength of St Catharine's and one which I hope the College will develop more in the future.

What is your favourite memory of St Catharine's?

The beautiful ceremony in chapel in October 2000 when I was inducted as a Fellow, with a new Master and 4 other women academics, which was considered a record for the College at the time.

Who was your greatest positive influence at St Catharine's?

The distinguished historian Professor Sir Chris Bayly, who encouraged me to keep working on India, and who appreciated the challenges of doing both historical and contemporary fieldwork-based development research on religion in the subcontinent. A lot of the research I am doing now is contemporary development economics using the scientific methods of economics, but with a deep regard for Indian economic and social history, which is something Chris and my other historian colleagues in St Catharine's taught me to appreciate.