Sharmila Murthy

Ms. Sharmila Murthy
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 14
Harvard University
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Office: 117 Rubenstein Building
Tel: (1) 617-495-8096
Email: sharmila_murthy@hks.harvard.edu
Group affiliation: Research Fellow

Sharmila Murthy is a joint Research Fellow in the Sustainability Science Program and the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Program at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Her research focuses on the intersection of human rights, poverty, and the environment. Sharmila’s work explores the theoretical relationship between human rights doctrine and sustainable development theory. Sharmila is contributing to collaborative work with Initiative on Innovation and Access to Technologies for Sustainable Development led by William Clark. She practiced law with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights, first as a Skadden Fellow with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, and then as an associate at Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, LLP. She clerked for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (2003-2004). She also worked for an environmental consulting firm and in India in public health and in microfinance. She was a Fulbright Scholar in India (1998). Sharmila received her JD from Harvard Law School (2003), her Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School (2003), and Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from Cornell University (1997). She is a recipient of the New Advocate of the Year award by the Tennessee Alliance of Legal Services (2006), and has served in leadership roles with numerous civic and non-profit organizations. She was a Fellow in the Impact Center's Women's Leadership Program (2011) and is currently a member of the Emerging Leaders in Environmental and Energy Policy Network, which is a joint project of the Atlantic Council and the Ecologic Institute. Her faculty hosts are William Clark and Mathias Risse.

Innovation for sustainable and equitable water management
This research examines the factors that influence institutional and technological innovation in the water sector. It focuses on all aspects of the water sector, including agricultural, industrial and domestic uses, with the goal of understanding how to foster more equitable and sustainable water resource management and delivery strategies.

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