National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore alumni Poornima Hatti (2003) and Richa Roy (2005) have been selected to be part of the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for leadership and excellence at the University of Oxford.

Poornima Hatti is one of the co- founders of Samvad Partners and leads the dispute resolution vertical of the firm. Richa Roy is a Partner in the Policy, Finance and Insolvency practice at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

The fellowships are funded by the British Foreign Commonwealth Office that lets foreign students with leadership and qualities study at the University of Oxford. The Chevening Gurukul Fellowship is intended to sustain and nurture the “living bridge” between the UK and India- scholarship and exchange of ideas between mid-career leaders.

Each year, the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship is awarded to 12 leaders in their respect fields, ranging from medicine to the Indian bureaucracy, law enforcement to digital technology to the law.

The program is hosted at the University of Oxford, the Department of Politics and International Relations and the St Cross College. Fellows immerse in themes on global governance, the changing world order and the intractable collective action problems facing us - climate change, public health among others. Fellows also engage with the UK government and are taken on field trips for experiential learning.

With India’s G 20 presidency commencing in 2023, programs such as these will afford Chevening Gurukul Fellows the opportunities to acquire and sharpen tools and frameworks to address the pressing global and domestic challenges through a combination of scholarship and policy engagement.