Dr. Kiran Modi
Founder and Managing Trustee, Udayan Care
Dr. Kiran Modi (MA, PhD) is a social entrepreneur, researcher, and advocate dedicated to advancing child protection and inclusive care. After earning gold medals in her B.A. and M.A. in English and completing her Ph.D. at IIT Delhi, she transitioned from academia and media into community service. In 1994, she founded Udayan Care, a public charitable trust that has become a pioneering voice in alternative care, family strengthening, and youth empowerment across India and is contributing to global and regional discourses on care reform.
Her initiatives include unique family model residential care for children without parental support with restoration and reintegration focus, higher education fellowships for girls, and skill development centers for underserved youth. She has led seminal research on aftercare, trauma-informed care, and resilience, influencing national child protection policies and practices. Dr. Modi has pioneered several initiatives including BICON (Biennial International Conference on Alternative Care for Children in Asia), Asia’s largest platform for care reform; an international journal, ICB (Institutionalized Children Explorations and Beyond) on alternative care.