Professor (Dr.) Roopa Madhav belongs to the first batch of the NLS Bangalore’s B.A. LLB (Hons.) program, the first of its kind in India. Soon after her Bachelors, she worked as a litigating lawyer and was one of the founders of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore. She has an LL.M. from the New York University (NYU. and Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) at University of London. After close to a decade of practice in labor, service, property and commercial law, independent research, and visiting Professor positions, she joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai (TISS) as Associate Professor. She was the Chairperson of the Center for Water Policy, Regulation and Governance which offers two interdisciplinary Master's programmes, one in Regulatory Governance and the other in Water Policy and Governance.

She is currently involved in another capacity building exercise of a joint LL.M programmes on EnvironmentalJustice in South Asia, with SOAS, at NLU Delhi, initially as Professor of Law (Research) and now in the capacity of a Visiting Professor. She has worked with several international organisations such as WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) and IELRC,(International Environmental Law Research Centre) and has served as member of several working groups on water set up by the Planning Commission of India. She has published widely in the areas of environmental law, labour, and human rights. She has wide experience in several dimensions of legal practice, entrepreneurship, leadership, collaboration, internationalization, teaching and research.

Prof. Madhav has been the Managing Editor of JNLUD, and is currently a co-editor of LEAD (Law, Environment and Development), a journal published jointly by SOAS and IELRC Geneva. Her more recent work is a co-edited book along with Dr. Thomas Coggin, University of Witwatersrand) titled Mapping Legalities - Urbanisation, Law and Informal Work (Routledge, 2024) – a collaborative effort between WIEGO (Law Programme) and International Research Group on Law and Urban Space (IRGLUS). Her current research includes an ICSSR project on Domestic workers in India and she is also a co-PI with Prof. Philippe Cullet (SOAS, London) on a research grant from the European Research Council (ERC) focusing on the Muti-scalar Dimensions of Sectoral Water Conflicts in South Asia (2024-2029).

Professional Education

• Ph.D in Law (SOAS, University of London) - 2021

Teaching Courses

• Legal Methods,
• Environmental Law,
• Regulatory Governance

Research Interests

• Regulatory Governance,
• Environmental Law,
• Labour Law and Human Rights

Selected Publications

• Thomas Coggins and Roopa Madhav, Mapping Legalities – Law, Urbanisation and Informal Work, Joint Project of WIEGO/IRGLUS, (Routledge, 2024).
• P. Cullet, A.Gowlland-Gaulteiri, R.Madhav & U.Ramanathan (eds), Water Law for the 21st Century: National and International Aspects of Water Law Reforms in India, (London: Routledge, 2010).
• P. Cullet, ,A.Gowlland-Gaulteiri, R.Madhav & U.Ramanathan (eds), Water Governance in Motion: Towards Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Water Laws (Delhi: CUP, 2010).

• ‘Public Trust Doctrine’ in Philippe Cullet, Lovleen Bhullar & Sujith Koonan, Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Natural Resources Law in India, July 2024.
• ‘Mining and Environment’ (Co-authored with Sarvajeet Kumar Sinha), in Philippe Cullet, Lovleen Bhullar & Sujith Koonan, Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Natural Resources Law in India, July 2024.
• ‘Corporate Codes of Conduct in the Garment Sector in Bangalore’ in J.Fudge, K.Sankaran and S.McCrystal (eds), Blurring Legal Boundaries: Commercialisation and Informalisation of Work (Onati Series, Hart, 2012).
• ‘Context for Water Sector and Water Law Reforms’ in P.Cullet, A.Gowlland- Gaulteiri, R.Madhav & U.Ramanathan (eds), Water Law for the 21st Century: National and International Aspects of Water Law Reforms in India, (London: Routledge, 2010).

Research Projects Undertaken

• Ongoing - Co-PI the research grant from the European Research Council (ERC) focusing on the Muti-scalar Dimensions of Sectoral Water Conflicts in South Asia (2024-2029), along with colleagues in SOAS, JNU and Cambridge.
• July 2022-ongoing Co-PI along with Dr. Sophy Joseph, NLUD, on the ICSSR project studying live-in domestic workers in Delhi and Bangalore.
• British Council grant (NLUD and SOAS) on Climate Justice Summer School and Joint LLM on Environmental Justice.
• British Council Industry-Academia Partnership (SOAS, Exeter, NLUD and Tata Steel Mining Ltd) on Business, Mining and Sustainability.