PERSPECTIVES IN MIND SCIENCES

Amresh Srivastava (MBBS, MD, DPM, MRCPsych, FRCPsych, FRCPC, FAPA) is Professor Emeritus and Director, Mansik Shakti Foundation, with over three decades of academic and clinical experience across India, the UK, and Canada. Trained at Seth G.S. Medical College and K.E.M. Hospital, Mumbai, his expertise spans psychiatry, early psychosis, suicide risk, psychoneuroendocrinology, and digital mental health. He has pioneered stage-based models of suicide risk and developed tools such as SIS-MAP, MASS, and RELIEF. His work integrates research, clinical practice, and scalable digital innovations in student and public mental health systems. In recent years, Prof Srivastava’s work has focused on student and youth mental health through the development of scalable digital screening and staging systems for early identification, resilience, and help-seeking in academic settings. He developed the MASS (Mental Assessment and System for students) psychometric battery and the RELIEF (Risk Evaluation and Life Enhancement Framework) digital platform, enabling large-scale, culturally adaptable screening and longitudinal monitoring. These tools have been implemented across universities and community programs and have been integrated into education, referral, and early intervention pathways. His translational approach emphasises converting research into real-world tools, services, and policies that improve access, equity, and outcomes.

Avinash De Sousa is a Consultant School Psychiatrist, also working as a research associate at the Department of Psychiatry, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai. He is also a Founder Trustee of the Desousa Foundation – a trust that works in the area of mental health awareness across all sectors. He is also working as Associate Professor and secretary in the International Institute of Organizational Psychological Medicine – an organization that works in the field of organizational psychological medicine across 7 countries. He is International faculty for the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics working in over 8 countries for the same. He is Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Mental Health and Annals of Indian Psychiatry, Associate Editor of Industrial Psychiatry Journal, Global Bioethics Enquiry and Assistant Editor of the Indian Journal of Psychiatry. He works with 8 mainstream and special schools in Mumbai as a visiting school psychiatrist, counsellor and school mental health expert. He is also acting as visiting faculty at various teacher training courses across Mumbai. Has over 750 publications in national and international journals and is the author of 12 books in the area of mental health. One of the few psychiatrists who in addition to a psychiatry degree, has a Master's in Counselling & Psychotherapy, an MPhil in Applied Psychology, and an MBA in Human Resource Development. He was awarded a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, in the year 2011.

Manushree Gupta is a Professor of psychiatry at Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, and president of the Delhi Psychiatry Society. A gold medallist in both MBBS and MD, he brings over two decades of expertise spanning mood disorders, addiction psychiatry, neuromodulation, and digital mental health. He serves on national policy bodies, including the Ministry of Health’s Expert Group on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Guidelines and the DGHS Disability Committee. Principal investigator on DBT- and DHR-funded research, he is general secretary of the Indian Association of Biological Psychiatry and a leading voice in academic psychiatry in India.

Dr. Ruchika Varma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at CMP College, University of Allahabad with extensive experience in teaching, research, and academic administration. Her areas of specialization include health psychology, clinical psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, and gender issues. She has published numerous research papers in UGC-listed and Scopus-indexed journals on women’s mental health, social support, gender, and psychosocial well-being. She has also authored books and book chapters on women’s studies and psychology. Dr. Varma actively contributes to curriculum development, faculty development programmes, research training, and institutional committees related to innovation, gender equality, counselling, and student well-being.