Bhakti is a doctoral candidate at the School of Management, University of St Andrews, UK, researching the limits and possibilities of contemporary philanthropy. Prior to her turn to the academy, she spent eight years working with nonprofits in India in roles spanning organisational development, fundraising, strategic partnerships, and grant management. She has led fundraising efforts at the Centre for Civil Society and served as fundraising consultant with organisations like the Trayas Foundation and Adhyayan, among other fundraising advisory engagements. She has also been a Guest Faculty/Mentor with the Indian School of Public Policy and with the Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability (GPODS) Fellowship, coaching students and young professionals in fundraising and grant management.

Bhakti has been CSIP Philanthropy Research Fellow, Ashoka University (India),  a DAAD Research Fellow (Germany) and a graduate of the Asia Institute of Political Economy (The Fund for American Studies/George Mason University, USA). She holds a Master’s and M.Phil degree in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.