Prof.Choodamani Nandagopal, a reputed Art Historian, with M.A. Sociology, M.A. History and Archaeology, a PhD from the Dept of History and Archaeology, Mysore University under the guidance of Prof. A V Narasimha Murthy. She is awarded four International and two National Research Fellowships, including the first scholar to receive the UK Visiting Nehru Fellowship at Victoria & Albert Museum London, UNESCO Silk Road Fellowship at Paris, UNSW Senior International Fellowship Sydney and Exeter Visiting Professor Research Fellowship UK. Her first National Fellowship was from ICHR for her research on Kalyana Chalukyan Temples.
She served as Academic Head of IGNCA Southern Regional Centre Bangalore during 2003-2007, initiated several projects at that time and one prestigious project among them is ‘Research and Documentation of Temple Traditions of Cheluvanarayanasvami Temple Melukote’. This publication ‘Ritual Enactment’ is under print. At Present she is researching on ‘The Symbolism of Sacred space in Early Dravidian Architecture’ ICHR Research Project. She is an author of 10 International publications and five Kannada publications. Her book ‘Dance and Music in Temple Architecture’, 3 volumes of ‘Temple Treasures’, ‘Arts and Crafts of Indus Civilization’, ‘Classical Dance Heritage of Karnataka’ and the recent one, ‘The Art of Image Making’ are in great demand. She has published 70 research papers to her credit and invited as key-note speaker in International conferences.
Dr.Choodamani is the founding Trustee and Secretary of Dr.S.R.Rao Foundation, Advisory Board Member, Dharmothana Trust for Restoration of Temples, Dharmasthala, Joint Secretary Indian Art History Congress, She was the member of Academic Council National Museum Delhi, the Core Member of UGC Curriculum Committee for, Art history, Museology and Conservation. She was the Syndicate Member of Kannada University Hampi. Recently she is nominated by HRD Ministry as the member for drafting the Language Policy for the country. She is the visiting professor in some of the national and International Universities, and consultant to Museums.
Travelled extensively and associated with number of universities, museums and art institutions which include, Hofstra University, Stony Brook University USA, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Museum, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Exeter University UK, Kelenia University Sri Lanka, UNSW Australia, Musee Guime France, National Museum Institute, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, American Institute of Indian studies New Delhi to name a few. She is dedicated herself to the field of Indian art and cultural heritage. She is involved in several collaborative projects with University of Exeter UK.
Dr.Choodamani is actively associated with National and International Universities, Research Institutes, Museums and Academies. Academician of high repute, she served earlier as head of Academics at Chitrakala Parishath, and Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, the IGNCA, responsible for setting up Art History Department in south India. She is known for interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research has set up the Department of Cultural Studies at Manipal University and later as the Dean Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Jain University Bangalore she set up an Interdisciplinary Research Department of Cultural Studies, where more than 50 PhD and 50 M Phil scholars are pursuing their studies under her mentorship. 15 PhD and 20 M Phil students were able to work under the guidance of Prof. Choodamani Nandagopal, in addition to guiding 5 PhD scholars from Chitrakala Parishath under Bangalore University. Retired from regular service, she is serving the cause of interdisciplinary research in the field of Indian Art History and Cultural Studies.