Dr. Parikh won the Provost Education Award in 2018 for her contribution to engineering education particularly for engineering and international development. Dr. Parikh set up the MSc in Engineering for International Development with a view of equipping engineering with the skill sets required to address global challenges and provide appropriate infrastructure solutions in resource challenged settings in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. She also set up and now leads the Engineering for International Development Research Centre (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/construction/research/engineering-international-development-centre).

She has substantial industry experience in India and also a research based in infrastructure planning for cities to cover the areas of financial planning, institutional frameworks and societal impact.  She has substantial in-country experience in South Asia, Africa and UK working with local governments and slum communities and has led multi- sectoral projects at both city and community scale. She is Chair of the Editorial Panel for ICE's Engineering Sustainability Journal and was invited to join the board of Trustees for Happold Foundation and Engineer's Against Poverty. In 2019, she was recognised as an Engineers Without Borders Changemaker.