Quick Facts
Biography
Nirmala Rao (born 1959, Hyderabad, India) is a British academic and the current vice chancellor of Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh from 1 February 2017. She served as Pro-Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London from 2008 to 2016.
Early life
Rao was born in 1959 in Hyderabad, India. She was brought up in a "very traditional South Indian culture at a time when gender roles were unambiguously defined and limits set on women's aspirations".
Academic life
Rao served as a Governor of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.
Awards
In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, Rao was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to scholarship. She was elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in 2003.