Dr Oindrila Dutta BA, MA, CT®, PhD

Dr Oindrila Dutta is an Assistant Professor/ Lecturer at the University of Greenwich since 2022. Her PhD, completed in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2020, employed a mixed-methods approach to systematically understand the lived experience of parents of children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and developed an online narrative intervention titled NeW-I (Narrative e-Writing Intervention) to support their quality of life, enhance their sense of well-being and reduce caregiver burden. Her PhD was preceded by a Masters in Counselling and Guidance at the National Institute of Education, Singapore in 2016, and a Bachelors in Psychology from St. Xavier's’ College, Mumbai, India in 2014. She is also a certified Thanatology's by the Association for Death Education and Counselling (ADEC).

Dr Dutta has published research on improving the psycho-emotional well-being of patients and families facing illness, disability, end-of-life, and mortality. Her work also focuses on enhancing dignity in end-of-life care, the role of patient autonomy and decision-making in such care, and the importance of compassion in grief and loss. To further this research, she recently secured a fully funded PhD scholarship for a student to study adult well-being after childhood traumatic loss. She is also interested in pedagogic research and has obtained an Early Career Academic (ECA) Pilot Project Fund to enhance university students’ employability through an internship program focused on connectedness, autonomy, and competence. Previously, she secured funding as a Co-Investigator from national bodies, including the Temasek Foundation Innovates’ Singapore Millennium Foundation Grant and the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Grant. Additionally, Dr. Dutta briefly coordinated the operational, administrative, management, and financial activities of the SHAPES project (Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems), the largest European Commission-funded health research grant ever led by an Irish university. This project is valued at €21 million and involves a consortium of 36 partners across 14 European countries.

In recognition of her work, Dr Dutta has received numerous commendations including the Edie Stark-Shirley Scott Early Career Award (2022) and the Best Cross-Cultural Student Paper Award (2019) by the Association for Death Education and Counselling (ADEC), a Special Mention for the Graduate College Research Excellence Award by Nanyang Technological University (2021), the Dean’s Commendation for Research by the National Institute of Education, Singapore (2017) - to name a few. Dr Dutta’s research has also featured in the media (including Temasek Foundation, Singapore’s Annual Report and Our Better World Singapore’s website) for its novelty and relevance to local contexts.

Posts held previously:

• Mar 2022 - Nov 2022 European Union (EU) Research Project Manager at National University of Ireland Maynooth, Ireland
• Feb 2021 - Mar 2022 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.