Ankitha Cheerakathil
(Founder & Director, InnovaPolis)
Ankitha Cheerakathil is a public policy specialist. She began her career leading the Czech think tank Institute H21's initiatives on collective intelligence and participatory democracy in India. Previously, she was a Research Consultant at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania. Her expertise includes public engagement, municipal administration and education policy. She is an alumna of McGill University, Sciences Po and St. Stephen's College (Delhi University).
Anirudh Dinesh
(Research Fellow, The GovLab) Advisory Board
Anirudh Dinesh is a Research Fellow at the Governance Lab. He is a member of the team designing and piloting experiments for new models of public engagement - what the GovLab calls people-led innovation - to improve the legitimacy and the effectiveness of policy making and to resolve urgent problems. Anirudh is a member of the CrowdLaw research team which examines how governments around the world are using technology to involve the public in legislative drafting and decision-making. He has authored multiple case studies documenting how institutions are using online crowdsourcing methods to improve their lawmaking processes through better community engagement. He has led multiple online coaching programs for the GovLab Academy, including the Open Seventeen Challenge and workshops on Problem Definition. He holds a Master's in Computer Engineering from NYU.
Matthew D. Glasser
(Ex-World Bank) Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Matthew Glasser is the Director for Municipal Law and Finance at the Centre for Urban Law and Finance in Africa (CULFA). He has worked with the National Treasury of South Africa for over 20 years, advising on policy issues related to local government finances, especially borrowing and financial emergencies. He was formerly Lead Urban Specialist in the World Bank where he managed urban strategic and research efforts in Eastern and Southern Africa. In this role, he led and contributed to a broad portfolio of urban operations including performance-based intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems, upgrading for informal settlements and strategic programmes focused on secondary cities. He provided technical assistance and advice to governments in India, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda. Currently he serves as a member of the International Advisory Committee at the Centre for Land Governance in the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. He is also an Extraordinary Research Fellow of the South African Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability at the North-West University Faculty of Law.
Ankitha Cheerakathil
(Founder & Director, InnovaPolis)
Ankitha Cheerakathil is a public policy specialist. She began her career leading the Czech think tank Institute H21’s initiatives on collective intelligence and participatory democracy in India. Previously, she was a Research Consultant at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania. Her expertise includes public engagement, municipal administration and education policy. She is an alumna of McGill University, Sciences Po and St. Stephen’s College (Delhi University).
Anirudh Dinesh
(Research Fellow, The GovLab) Advisory Board
Anirudh Dinesh is a Research Fellow at the Governance Lab. He is a member of the team designing and piloting experiments for new models of public engagement – what the GovLab calls people-led innovation – to improve the legitimacy and the effectiveness of policy making and to resolve urgent problems. Anirudh is a member of the CrowdLaw research team which examines how governments around the world are using technology to involve the public in legislative drafting and decision-making. He has authored multiple case studies documenting how institutions are using online crowdsourcing methods to improve their lawmaking processes through better community engagement. He has led multiple online coaching programs for the GovLab Academy, including the Open Seventeen Challenge and workshops on Problem Definition. He holds a Master’s in Computer Engineering from NYU.
Matthew D. Glasser
(Ex-World Bank) Advisory BoardAdvisory Board
Matthew Glasser is the Director for Municipal Law and Finance at the Centre for Urban Law and Finance in Africa (CULFA). He has worked with the National Treasury of South Africa for over 20 years, advising on policy issues related to local government finances, especially borrowing and financial emergencies. He was formerly Lead Urban Specialist in the World Bank where he managed urban strategic and research efforts in Eastern and Southern Africa. In this role, he led and contributed to a broad portfolio of urban operations including performance-based intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems, upgrading for informal settlements and strategic programmes focused on secondary cities. He provided technical assistance and advice to governments in India, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda. Currently he serves as a member of the International Advisory Committee at the Centre for Land Governance in the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. He is also an Extraordinary Research Fellow of the South African Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability at the North-West University Faculty of Law.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an important component of all of InnovaPolis’s youth engagement initiatives.
Originally founded at NYU, the GovLab is now affiliated to Northeastern University. InnovaPolis collaborates with the GovLab on research and initiatives in collective intelligence for democratic governance.
InnovaPolis was originally founded as the sister entity of the Czech thinktank Institute H21. Currently, the two organizations enjoy a knowledge partnership around increasing public participation in policy.
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