Dr. Smita Nayak, placed as Associate Professor and Head, Post Graduate Department of Political Science, Utkal University, is an acclaimed researcher in the areas like Governance, Public Policy Analysis, Poverty and Rural Development, Gender and Tribal Studies, Urbanization, Migration etc. A founder member of School of Women's Studies, Utkal University, Dr. Nayak has authored and edited many books on pertinent themes like Gender Dynamics, Combating Violence against Women, Empowering Women and Working of Women’s Self Help Groups etc. She has successfully supervised 10 Ph. D scholars and presently 06 Ph. D scholars are working under her supervision. She has supervised more than 60 M. Phil dissertations. She has visited many countries around the globe including Australia, USA, Sweden and UAE for chairing sessions, presenting research papers and deliberating in renowned International Seminars. Placed as a Member in the Research Committee 21 of International Political Science Association, Dr. Nayak is a Life Member of International Political Science Association, Indian Political Science Association, Indian Association of Women's Studies and American Study Centre. She has successfully played her role as Convener of many International and National seminars held at Utkal University. She was associated with an International Project sponsored by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) titled “Democracy and Social Capital in Segmented Societies: India, Africa and Sweden”, in 1996-99. Recently, she has completed an ICSSR Major Research Project on 'Poverty and Deprivation of Tribal Women in the State of Odisha'.