Nikita Aggarwal, MSW, is a doctoral candidate interested in social determinants of health, psychosocial workplace stressors, and immigration. She is expected to defend her dissertation in the Fall of 2025. Previous education MSW, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India BA, Economics and Political Science, Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, India
Significant Accomplishments
Nikita Aggarwal, MSW, is a recipient of the highly competitive Global Scholar Award, a prestigious fellowship at UMB recognizing doctoral students engaged in a critical analysis of, and an engagement with, complex, interdependent global systems and their implications for people’s lives. She has co-authored five peer-reviewed manuscripts published in journals such as the Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, The British Journal of Social Work, and the Journal of Graduate Education Research. She has three additional manuscripts currently under review.
During her time in UMSSW’s Ph.D. program, Nikita has also co-authored reports for the National Institute of Justice and has presented her research at several national and international conferences, including the American Public Health Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Society for Social Work Research.
Nikita has played a key leadership role in student organizations, including serving as President of the International Student Association (ISA) and Graduate Council Representative in the Graduate Student Association (GSA). In these roles, she has organized academic and professional development initiatives, writing groups, cultural events, and advocacy efforts for international students. Additionally, she serves as the Senior Volunteer Coordinator and on the Mentoring Committee for the Society for Social Work and Research, where she supports curating mentorship opportunities for emerging scholars and supports conference organizations.
Research Experience
Nikita has contributed to several federally funded projects, including studies on child labor trafficking and immigration abuse among IPV survivors. She has also been a research team member on multiple community-based projects, such as a photovoice project exploring Latino immigrant men's behavioral health during the COVID-19 pandemic and behavioral health interventions for Afghan refugees. Her methodological expertise spans advanced quantitative analyses, thematic qualitative analysis, survey designs, interviews, focus groups, community partnerships, and mixed-methods research design.
Nikita's dissertation examines workplace victimization, immigration stress, and behavioral health among South Asian immigrant restaurant workers in the U.S. Conducted in partnership with the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), this mixed-method study integrates ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and survey data analysis to assess the intersection of workplace conditions, mental health, and coping mechanisms. Her research is supported by the Center for Global Engagement Global Scholar Program at the University of Maryland.
Practice Experience
Nikita has extensive experience in India, where she served as Program Coordinator at the Azad Foundation in New Delhi, supporting and working with resource-poor resettled families to access essential services like healthcare, employment, education, and securing citizenship documents. She led feminist leadership training, coordinated outreach initiatives focused on women’s economic empowerment, and conducted in-depth qualitative research on gender-based violence. Nikita also collaborated with non-profits in Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh on reproductive health interventions and organized programs in partnership with community stakeholders to promote safer jobs and financial stability within low-income communities.
In the U.S., she was selected for the prestigious Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP), AFL-CIO, where she conducted community-participatory mixed-method research on workplace violence among transit workers in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia regions. She collaborated with labor unions to develop surveys on workplace violence, conducted interviews and focus groups, and contributed to recommendations for grievance handling and safety policy improvements
Teaching and Mentorship
Nikita served as a Teaching Assistant for Dr. Caroline Long in the MSW course Human Behavior and the Social Environment. She has also been invited as a Guest Lecturer at the University of Maryland and George Washington University, where she has delivered lectures on topics including group work, human behavior, and professional relationships in human services.
Long-Term Goals
Using a structural-environmental framework, Nikita aims to advance research on behavioral health disparities among low-income communities, labor rights, workplace stress, and preand post-migration risk/protective factors. She is particularly focused on interventions that improve marginalized workers' working and living conditions. Through interdisciplinary, community-driven research, Nikita seeks to inform policies that promote economic and health equity.
Selected Publications
Aggarwal, N. & Smith. E. (2024). Acculturative stress and psychological distress during COVID-19 among racial-ethnic minority immigrants in the US. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2024.2335899
Harmon-Darrow, C., Aggarwal, N., & Finigan-Carr, N. (2024). Law enforcement training on child trafficking: Engaging all stakeholders. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 18. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae077