The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, has conferred the Maya Deb Memorial Lectureship award for the year 2020 on Prof. Meena Hariharan, Professor of Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad.
This award is conferred in recognition of her research contributions through her work on psychological and social problems of downtrodden Indian rural women. Twenty-seven scholars from different fields have been chosen for the award for the year 2020.
Prof. Hariharan worked for making the rural women literate along with her colleague Prof. Ramabrahmam for 15 years. Alongside the evaluation of literacy campaigns in various districts in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, she provided counselling and coping techniques to empower the neo-literate women.
Her research contribution to the psychosocial approach to cardiac health, which is neglected in particular in women, calls for a special mention. She is the founder president of the Association of Health Psychologists, and the Chief Editor of Indian Journal of Health Studies. Prof. Hariharan’s academic contributions include four books, more than 100 articles, about 15 video lectures, and more than 25 projects. The Centre for Health Psychology, one of its kind in the country was started with her initiative.