Prof. U. Vindhya, PhD was formerly with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad campus as Professor of Psychology and Deputy Director. She is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including the South Asian Visiting Scholarship (Oxford University); Fulbright Visiting Lecturership (USA); Visiting Professorships in Hungary and Sweden; and the Distinguished Publication Award (USA) for her co-edited book Handbook of International Feminisms: Perspectives on Psychology, Women, Culture and Rights (Springer, New York).

Her research interests are located in the interface of psychology and feminism and have focused on gender and mental health, violence against women, trafficking of women, feminist counselling, and the psychological dynamics of women's political activism.

She has led several research projects sponsored by the World Bank, Gates Foundation, Plan India, ICRW, UGC and the ICSSR, amongst others, and has published widely in national and international journals and edited volumes. She was the Project Director of the Sakhi One Stop Centres for gender-based violence, a project for which TISS Hyderabad is a knowledge partner with the Department of Women Development and Child Welfare, Govt of Telangana.

In addition to teaching and research, she has been involved in conducting training and capacity building programmes on gender sensitization, stress management and basic counselling skills for educational institutions, police and the paramilitary, industry and corporate organizations, media and publishing houses. She is an external member of Internal Committee in educational institutions, corporate, government, and non-governmental organizations.