Lead – TPI North America

Priyanka is a seasoned pracademic with over 15 years of experience in fostering cross-sector partnerships, driving sustainable impact through evidence-based solutions in both academic and practice settings. Specializing in systems thinking, applied research, participatory evaluation methods and multi-stakeholder collaboration, she founded Saath Partners to help organizations catalyze impact through research, collaboration, and innovation.

Currently serving as an associate at The Partnering Initiative (TPI), Priyanka has consulted for CGIAR and The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT on their partnership strategies for research impact, and FAO on their private sector engagement strategy.

Before launching her business, Priyanka served as the Director of Research Development at Purdue University’s Honors College where she established impactful interdisciplinary research programs and taught systems thinking coursework. From 2019 to 2023, she was a research scientist and research manager at the USAID-funded LASER PULSE Consortium, where she co-developed the Embedded Research Translation (ERT) methodology, a systematic approach to co-create research between academia and practice to increase research impact. ERT has been implemented in over 50 projects across 21 countries. Priyanka also led USAID’s research on private sector engagement, developing an evidence-based toolkit to help iNGOs, USAID, and industry partners design and implement impactful partnerships. Additionally, she has served as the MEL specialist for Purdue’s Center for Regional Development and Community Development Extension.

Priyanka is a published author and has contributed to numerous academic papers and books on topics such as academic-practitioner collaborations, partnering for research impact, and cross-sector partnerships. Priyanka has a PhD from Purdue University’s Technology Leadership & Innovation department, with her dissertation focusing on shared leadership models in cross-sector collaborations. She was also an ELISS (Emerging Leaders in Science and Society) Fellow. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, she currently lives in the United States.