Vedavati Patwardhan

Vedavati Patwardhan is a Ph.D. graduate in Public Policy and Management, with concentrations in Demography and Economics. Vedavati is a quantitative researcher interested in examining the factors and policy levers that affect the well-being of women and children in low and middle-income countries. One line of her research focuses on the drivers of women’s economic empowerment, particularly, the role of social norms and women's agency in shaping economic inclusion, including work force participation and control over household finances. Other strands of her work examine the intersection of gender and health, in particular female-male differences in health over the life course, and the evaluation of public policies such as cash transfers on child nutrition. In her dissertation research, Vedavati used nationally representative survey data to examine the relationship between maternal cash transfers and child nutrition in India, and women's decision-making over household income, specifically the role of climate shocks, income source, and family structure in Malawi. Vedavati has a Master of Arts in Global & International Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fergusson College, University of Pune, India. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Demographic Methods from the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology at the University of Washington. In 2019, she received a Certificate from the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research at Syracuse University (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs).