Biography
“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings, but intelligence without kindness is a house without a foundation.”
Anusha Mascarenhas is Ph.D. Researcher and affiliated with the Center for Entrepreneurship, Governance, and Stewardship.
Mascarenhas works on the Interreg project Circular SHIFT, which supports municipalities in their transition toward circular public procurement. In this role, she helps develop tools, frameworks, and practical guidance that enable public organizations to integrate circularity into everyday procurement decisions. She is particularly proud of the way the project team combines academic rigor with hands-on support, ensuring that research contributes directly to practice. Working with a highly dedicated and diverse team, drawing on the broad expertise of Nyenrode colleagues, and being part of a warm and engaged community that values responsibility, innovation, and meaningful impact are important sources of motivation for her. Her research focuses on circular public procurement, value chain collaboration, and decision-making for sustainability.
Mascarenhas is a lawyer licensed to practice in India and has a multidisciplinary background that combines law, business, and sustainability. She earned a B.A. LL.B. (Hons) from the School of Law, CHRIST, where she developed a strong foundation in Indian legal practice and gained broad insight into socio-legal issues. She subsequently obtained an LL.M. in Air and Space Law from Leiden University, deepening her expertise in regulatory frameworks and international rules governing aviation and aerospace. To complement her legal expertise with strategic management and sustainability perspectives, she completed an MBA at the Eberly School of Business, Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Her professional experience bridges private-sector practice and sustainability-oriented organizations. Mascarenhas has worked with private aviation companies, gaining practical experience in industry operations, compliance, and risk management. She also completed an internship within the Corporate Legal, Sustainability, and Strategy departments at Schiphol Airport, where she engaged with real-world sustainability challenges and corporate governance issues. As part of her academic work, she wrote a thesis on product liability and the circular economy in sustainable aviation in collaboration with Airbus Netherlands. This experience enabled her to connect legal liability concepts with circular economy strategies in a high-tech industrial context and helped shape her current research interests in sustainable public procurement and circular transitions.
Through her research, Mascarenhas contributes to Nyenrode’s mission of serving society by shaping responsible leaders. She is committed to conducting practice-oriented research that supports responsible leadership and sustainable development. In projects such as Circular SHIFT, she translates academic insights into practical tools and guidance that help municipalities and other organizations adopt circular and sustainability-driven practices. By emphasizing integrity, stewardship, and long-term impact in her collaborations with colleagues, students, and public partners, she contributes to Nyenrode’s core values. Her personal mission is to grow as a researcher and educator while conducting impactful research that helps organizations and public institutions transition toward more circular and responsible systems.