Dr. Meenakshi Thapan is a trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation of India and currently the Director of Rishi Valley Education Centre in rural Andhra Pradesh. During her university years, she taught briefly at the Rishi Valley School and later conducted her field research within this school community, resulting in the publication of her first book, Life at School: an ethnographic study (OUP, 1991, 2006). Subsequently, she has been a highly accomplished academician, based at the University of Delhi, both in the Department of Education, and later at the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics. She has travelled widely, teaching, speaking and contributing to university departments all over the world. She is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards, apart from being the author of numerous books, research papers and articles in several prominent publications. She was series editor of a five volume series on Women and Migration in Asia (SAGE, 2005-2008) and is currently series editor of Education and Society in South Asia (Oxford University Press, 2018-ongoing).

Prior to joining Rishi Valley Education Centre in 2019 as its Director, Dr. Thapan held the positions of Professor of Sociology and Director,  Delhi School of Economics as well as Head of the D.S. Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education at the University of Delhi.