Current Research Faculty

Reeja Nair is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies. Her research broadly centres on issues related to labour and urbanisation in post-Mao China to present. She is particularly interested in understanding how workers navigate the city spaces in a rapidly urbanizing China, and a comparative assessment of these issues in the Indian context. 

Reeja recently submitted her PhD thesis titled, 'Workers and Urban Spaces in Post-Socialist China: A Study of Community, Leisure and Resistance, 1994-2008', at the Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She completed her MPhil from the same centre. Her MPhil dissertation examined the making of China's labour laws in the post- Mao period. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in History from Miranda House, University of Delhi (specializing in Modern Indian History). In the past, she  has worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, on an ICSSR Project titled, “State  Responses  to  Social  Welfare  in  China  and  India:  A  Comparative  Study  of Workers  in  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises”.

Samanvya Hooda is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi. He has completed a B.A (International Relations) from the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts. As part of his coursework, he has authored a dissertation exploring the factors that led to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of 2015, along with a seminar paper about 'Legal Aspects of Digital Surveillance in India'. Prior to working at ICS, he worked for a year with a New Delhi based advocacy consultancy, and also as a Research Intern for the Nuclear Security Programme at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. His research interests lie in Nuclear Doctrines and Security, South Asian Geopolitics, Border Conflicts, Conventional Deterrence, and Security in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific. 

Adveetya Kachiar is currently working as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. Previously she worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Conflict Management. Her work there mainly focused on creating an Armed Conflict Database in the South Asian region. Her area of interests include Indian Foreign Policy, India and the neighborhood, and Role of Technology in shaping the international order.

KK Venkatraman was commissioned in The Garhwal Rifles in 1997. An alumni of
the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the officer has extensive operational
experience and has served in J&K, Assam and along the Line of Actual Control in
the Eastern Sector. In addition, the officer has served in General Staff appointments
at Northern, Eastern and Central theatres.
The officer is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New
Delhi and is pursuing his MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Punjabi
University, Patiala.
His interest areas are Security Studies and Emerging Technologies.
His email ID is kk.venkatraman@gmail.com

Yash Johri is an alumnus of the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University (2020), he completed his undergraduate education from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a major in China Studies and a minor in Mandarin (2017). You can follow him on twitter @yashjohri6

Preksha Shree Chhetri is currently pursuing her PhD from the Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She completed her MPhil from the same centre. She has completed her MA in International Relations from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and her BA from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Her PhD thesis is titled “The EU-China Strategic Partnership, 2003-2017”.  Apart from her thesis, she has worked on BRI and is particularly keen on studying China’s role in the global climate change negotiations. In the past, she has worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies under the supervision of Dr. Tshering Chonzom Bhutia. 

Shubhda Gurung is a Harvard- Yenching Fellow ’20. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D at the Center for Chinese and South East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.