Counsel · bespoke, by enquiry
Leadership, education and private advisory
Beside the evidence practice, Dr. Ramprasad takes a small number of bespoke engagements each year: counsel for leaders and founders, admissions and publishing strategy for students and scholars, a private office for families planning across countries and years, the Mentorial for students of thirteen to eighteen, and scholar-led journeys. No guarantees of admission, funding or acceptance; no ghostwriting; no commissions from universities. Fees in private, in writing, after your enquiry.
For leaders, founders and their teams
Leadership
Performance counsel tested against 10+ years spent with farmers, foresters and the states that govern them; the discipline to decide well when the stakes are real.
Leadership Clarity Session
Sixty minutes on one decision, one conflict or one stalled plan; a written note afterwards.
Six-Month Counsel
Twelve sessions and message access between them; built around the goals you set in the first.
Founder and CEO Retainer
Two sessions a month and on call for the hard weeks.
Keynote
On governing what no one owns: commons, climate, chemicals, and the people at the tail end. In person or virtual.
Executive workshop
Half a day with a CSR, sustainability or sourcing team.
Board and council retainer
Sustainability councils, agri-input and agritech firms: four hours a month and on call.
Investor and expert calls
Indian pesticide regulation, input markets, CSR and ESG compliance, restoration, EU residue and deforestation rules.
For students, professionals and researchers
Students & scholars
Admissions and career strategy from someone who reads applications from the committee side, across the US, the UK and Europe, for undergraduate, graduate and professional study. Publishing counsel from a referee for the journals you are aiming at.
No guarantees of admission, funding or acceptance; no ghostwriting; no commissions from universities.
If you cannot afford the fee, say so in the enquiry. Five students a year receive two full sessions each, at no cost. We ask by email for a plain account of need and evidence of promise; nothing is collected on the form, and there is no fee for asking.
Admissions and careers
Undergraduate Clarity Session
Sixty minutes for families, grades 10 to 12: fit, country, financial aid and what to do this year.
Strategy Consult
Sixty minutes for graduate, professional or career questions; a written summary.
Statement Review
Statement of purpose, personal statement or research proposal; two rounds.
PhD Funded-Offer Programme
Up to eight programmes; advisor outreach; statement, CV and writing sample over two rounds; interview preparation.
Master's and Professional Programme
MPP, MPA, MPH, MBA, LLM or MS; up to six applications, reviewed end to end.
Fellowships and Scholarships
Major international scholarships: strategy, statements and mock interview panels.
Career Sprint
Sustainability, policy and development careers: three sessions and a CV and LinkedIn rewrite.
Research and publishing
Manuscript Diagnostic
A referee-grade report within ten days: argument, contribution, methods, fit.
Manuscript Development
Two rounds, cover letter and response to reviewers.
University writing workshop
One day for doctoral students and faculty.
By invitation · six families, six scholars and six leaders a year
Private Office
A single strategist and a direct line for families and scholars planning across countries and years. Same-week response, full discretion, and one person who holds the whole picture.
Every engagement begins with a paid sixty-minute scoping session, credited in full against the retainer. Referrals from existing clients are prioritised.
Family Education Office
From grade 9 to graduate school: schools and universities across countries, summer research placements, applications, pre-departure and the first year abroad, and the parents' first visit.
Philanthropy Office
For family foundations and promoter-led CSR: strategy, grantee due diligence, field visits and independent evaluation of what the money reached.
Scholar's Office
For senior academics and researchers: moves across India, the US and Europe, grant strategy, book proposals, publishing and a public voice.
Leader's Office
Year-round counsel for a founder or chief executive and the leadership team.
Scoping session
Sixty minutes; credited against any retainer.
For families building the next generation
The Mentorial
The Mentorial is our online program for students of thirteen to eighteen: six to eight of them, one teacher, a year at a time, in the spirit of the Oxford and Cambridge tutorial and Indian philosophy on teaching and mentoring for critical thinking and wholesome wellbeing, carried here by video and by work that leaves the screen; the content is texts, evidence, fieldwork and the discipline of defending a position under challenge.
This is not tutoring, and it promises no admission anywhere. It builds a student who can read a hard text, read a table of numbers, talk to a stranger twice their age, and hold an argument when a room disagrees.
The year
Texts and argument
Ostrom and Sen for how people govern what they share, alongside the classic texts on judgement and duty. Read closely, argued weekly.
Evidence and numbers
How to read a dataset, a budget and a government report; how to tell a real number from a decorated one; how to check a claim before repeating it.
Field and the commons
Each student runs one small field study near their own city, with people whose lives are unlike theirs: a market, a lake, a waste line, a farm. Consent, courtesy and notes are taught before anyone goes out.
Voice
Writing that survives editing, speaking without slides, and a final public defence of their own project before an outside panel.
Character
Duty, restraint and service, examined through the texts and through what the student actually does with a free Saturday.
How it runs
Mentorial Year
Twenty-four live seminars of ninety minutes, six one-to-one tutorials, a residential field week, a portfolio project and a public defence. Six to eight students a cohort.
Mentorial Term
Twelve weeks, twelve seminars and two tutorials: the way most families start.
Tutorial series
Eight one-to-one sessions on a single project, for a student already carrying one.
Family orientation
Ninety minutes with parents and student before joining, to see whether the fit is real.
Fees are shared privately after the enquiry. A student under eighteen joins through a parent or guardian, who receives all correspondence and is welcome at any session.
Scholar-led travel · 2027 departures in planning
Journeys
Small groups travelling with the scholar who did the fieldwork. Licensed tour partners run the logistics; we lead the ideas, the conversations and the access.
Register interest through Enquire; you will hear first when dates are fixed.
The Himalayan Commons
Himachal Pradesh, nine days, twelve guests at most: village forests, pastoralists, orchards and hydropower, seen from the people who hold them.
Andes: Water, Potatoes and Power
Peru and Bolivia, twelve days: irrigation commons, highland agriculture and the politics of climate.
Private itineraries
For families and teams, on either route or built to order.
Parents' America Companion
For parents visiting children in the US: a sixty-minute planning call, an itinerary and a health and insurance checklist. No visa advice.