South Asian guy brewing zeros and ones

nawaar.

Computational Social Science · Applied AI · Public Policy

A little about me

Research
and technology.

Currently, I am studying Computational Social Science at IIT Jodhpur, where my work connects social questions with data and computational methods. My research examines digital inequality and AI governance, and I also apply AI and software development to practical projects. Photography, travel and community organising are important parts of my life.

Explore my work ↓
Research, technology and public-interest work.Explore my work India / Open to collaboration

01 / Research and public-interest work

Technology in
people’s lives.

My current research examines digital inequality in India and the relationship between AI-governance measures and documented harms. Through survey analysis, simulation and policy research, I am interested in how institutional decisions shape people’s experiences of technology, including the support they can access and the protections they can rely on.

A discussion during Mila’s Summer School in Responsible AI and Human Rights.View the programme recap ↗
Mila Summer School / Mexico CityMay 2026

Responsible AI,
in conversation.

I participated in Mila’s Summer School on Responsible AI and Human Rights in Mexico City. Learning alongside people from different disciplines and places brought questions of governance and community into our discussions. I was particularly interested in how responsible-AI frameworks relate to the people whose lives they concern.

Photograph: Mila, via its official recap.
Page 102 of Nawaar’s published Malayalam article AI and Decolonial Thoughts.View the article page ↗
Writing / Thuruthu / Malayalam2024

AI and
Decolonial Thoughts

In this Malayalam article for “Thuruthu,” I explored how AI can reproduce colonial hierarchies of power and knowledge. The article reflects my interest in whose experiences enter technological systems, and how these systems can be questioned from the places and communities they affect.

Research and experience

Current researchDigital inequality, AI governance and student authorshipWork in progress

My digital-inequality manuscript combines national survey analysis with simulation to examine reported skills and possible approaches to support. It considers how the aims of an intervention, who qualifies for it and assumptions about learning affect the comparison between approaches.

Along with this, I am developing my thesis on how different types of AI-governance measures relate to documented incidents. The work also examines how detection and reporting shape the harms that enter the record.

I have also co-authored a study based on seventeen student interviews about authorship and AI use under university detection regimes. A separate essay in progress examines privacy in the age of AI and the limits of individual action when institutional protections are inadequate.

Government of TelanganaAI procurement and public administrationJan–Apr 2025

As a Research Intern in the Emerging Technology Wing of the ITE&C Department, I contributed research and recommendations to the drafting of AI-procurement guidance. The work concerned transparent and responsible adoption in government departments, alongside initiatives involving technology, policing and public administration.

Digital Empowerment FoundationDigital rights and social justiceJan–May 2025

As a part-time researcher, I worked on documenting digital-rights violations and constitutional concerns in India. Through this work, I examined the relationship between social justice and digital justice, particularly the gap between formal protections and people’s experiences of digital systems.

02 / Ideas in development

Projects.

I apply AI and software development to practical problems, including how people navigate long texts and connect with student communities. Each project involves understanding the need, choosing an approach and developing a version that can be reviewed and improved.

01 / Prototype

HyperText Reader Aid

A reading tool for PDF and EPUB files, with EPUB chapter navigation. Its contextual lookup uses Gemini to explain words and phrases in the surrounding text when an API key is configured.

View the repository
02 / MVP in development

Campus Connect

A student-community platform being developed around societies, events and shared interests. It focuses on helping students find and participate in the communities and activities that form part of university life.

03 / Photography and travel

Elsewhere,
with a camera.

I love travelling, exploring new places and experiencing what they have to offer. These photographs bring together moments from those journeys and from everyday life.

More photographs at @nawaaraw ↗
Collection / Mexico

A few days
in Mexico.

One collection from Mexico: a library, the city at night and an evening at the arena.

Keep looking ↓
Suspended shelves and a long central passage in a library, photographed in Mexico.
01 / Among the library shelves
An illuminated domed building and the city at night.
02 / The city at night
A brightly lit wrestling ring surrounded by an audience in a dark arena.
03 / An evening at the arena
Across places and everyday lifeSelected photographs
A river running through a green mountain valley.
River, mountain, sky
A white marble monument framed by a sandstone arch.
Within the arch
Illuminated cinema lettering and hanging lamps at night.
Cinema lights
Boats beside illuminated waterfront buildings, with reflections on dark water.
Lights on the water
View more photographs13 more photographs +
Stepped archaeological structures beneath a broad sky in Mexico.
Across the ruins / Mexico
A person in profile outdoors at night, with the word adios overlaid on the photograph.
A street portrait after dark / Mexico
People beside a church with a red dome, beneath trees and a blue sky in Mexico.
Beside the church / Mexico
A view across rooftops beneath an overcast sky.
Rooftops / Mexico
Framed pictures displayed along a lit wall, with plants below.
Pictures along a lit wall / Mexico
Brightly coloured faces and geometric shapes painted across a wall.
Colour on the walls
A rocky stream running through a green mountain valley beneath clouds.
A stream through the valley
A pale clock tower with a dome beside an arched colonnade.
Clock tower and colonnade
A blue door in a graffiti-covered wall, with the word HOPE painted above it.
A blue doorway
Parallel tracks and lights receding into a dark tunnel.
Tracks into the tunnel
A star-filled night sky above a dark mountain ridge.
Stars above the mountains
A narrow road beside green fields and conifers, leading towards mountains.
A road through the valley
A flock of sheep standing on a snow-covered slope beneath a blue sky.
Sheep on the snow
Nawaar’s LinkedIn profile portrait.

Background

From Thalassery
to Jodhpur.

I am from Thalassery, Kerala, and am currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Computational Social Science at IIT Jodhpur. Before this, I studied Computer Application and Mathematics at the University of Delhi. Through research, software projects and public-policy work, I have developed an interest in both the possibilities of technology and the decisions involved in putting it into practice.

At Delhi University, I helped start “ASAP Students Community” with others and took part in an earthquake-relief initiative that delivered supplies through the Turkish Embassy. I am also a co-founder of “CSS India.” Along with these engagements, photography and taekwondo have remained important parts of my life.

Education, communities and learningOpen +

Education

M.Sc. Computational Social Science
IIT Jodhpur · 2025–present

B.A. Programme, Computer Application and Mathematics
DCAC, University of Delhi · 2021–2024

Selected learning

Mila Summer School on Responsible AI and Human Rights
Mexico City · 2026

Annual Nepal AI School
Kathmandu · 2024–25

Community and other engagements

Student representation and organising at the University of Delhi, alongside involvement in “ASAP Students Community,” “DU Malayali Halqa” and “CSS India.” Relief work during the 2018 Kerala floods and after the 2024 Wayanad landslide. Taekwondo black belt, Kukkiwon Dan 1.

View my professional background on LinkedIn ↗