Nilanjana is currently a doctoral researcher at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She has is a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s of Philosophy (M.Phil) in Educational Planning and Administration. She was a Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellow (PMRDF) for the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India in Jharkhand, one of the left-wing extremism-affected state in India. She has also worked at ‘Udyogini’ a civil-society organization which caters to entrepreneurship development training for women entrepreneurs. At present, she is supporting the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India for a newly launched scheme, Pradhaan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojna.
Her special interests lie in working with marginalized and ethnic populations. She is a believer of the indigenous community’s wisdom and looks at sustainability issues through the lens of traditional knowledge systems. Her doctoral work is at the intersection of tribal agency and higher education. Her research examines the nature of the agency of tribals situated in different hierarchies (non-teaching and administrative staff) to determine their influence upon the system of higher educational governance and vice-a-versa. She has won global writing contests, presented and published nationally and internationally in the domain of education, tribal development and sustainable development.