Past Researchers

Dr Tshering Chonzom Bhutia was a Visiting Associate Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She holds a  PhD from the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her thesis was titled ‘Applying Negotiation Theory to the Sino-Tibetan Talks, 1979-2006’. She has just completed a major research project comparing the Indian and Chinese government’s ethnic minority/nationalities policies. 

Panu Pazo was an Associate Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He worked on 'India-China Collaboration in Third Countries: The feasibility of cooperation in hydro-electricity projects in Nepal.' His areas of interest are energy security, environmental politics and comparing China and India's global energy relations.

Gunjan Singh was a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She also worked as an Associate Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi. Her research interests include Chinese Foreign Policy, the Chinese Communist Party, Minorities in China, Mainland-Taiwan Relations, Chinese media, Chinese civil society Tibet and Space Security. She is the Assistant Editor of the CBW Magazine, published by the IDSA, is co-editor of Space Security and Global Cooperation, and has published in Strategic Analysis, International Affairs Review, Harvard Asia Quarterly, World Affairs: A Journal of International Issues and The Book Review.

Mita Deshpande was a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She worked on comparative health project and explored themes of the experience of tuberculosis programs in India and China; and traditional health systems across both countries. Her areas of interest include social inequalities and health with a specific focus on caste and gender.

Peter Joy Hudson was a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He has an M. Phil in East Asian Studies, specializing in Japanese Studies, from the Department of East Asian Studies, Delhi University. He did his Post Graduation from School of International Studies, Pondicherry University.

Alpana Verma is a PhD scholar in Chinese Studies at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi. She has worked on a project on Higher Education in China organized by the Institute of Chinese Studies in 2015.

Diki Sherpa was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese, Delhi. She completed her M.Phil from the dept. of history, University of Delhi. She worked on ‘The Indo-Tibetan Trade through the Eastern Himalayas in the First Half of the Twentieth Century’  She completed her B.A and M.A  from the department of history, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.  

Aprajita Sarcar was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. Her areas of interest are population, gender, anthropology, comparative public health in China and India.

Jaya Kumari was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She completed her M.Phil from the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. Her areas of interest include development and welfare with special reference to minority cultures and communities.

Jigmey Thinley was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi.  He completed his M.A. in politics (with specialized in international relations) from the School of International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Currently, he is pursuing his M.Phil in political science from the School of Social Science, Delhi University.  His area of research interest includes South Asia, China and its minorities, Tibet etc. 

Kimneijou Rosy Lotjem was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She recently submitted her PhD thesis in Japanese Studies, Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, titled “The Politics of Japan’s Rice Protectionist Policy: 1995-2011”.  

Konchok Paldan was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He worked on India-China border issues, trade and incursions. His areas of interest are India-Pakistan and Sino-India border issues; tribal studies; rural sociology and sociology of environment in the Himalayan regions in Ladakh.

Kush Kumar Gayasen was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He has recently submitted his PhD thesis on ‘Assessing the China Factor in India's Maritime Doctrines: A Study of the India-China Naval Interface in the Indian Ocean Region’ at the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Minakshi Biswas is a PhD Scholar from Centre for Political Studies, JNU. Her PhD topic is ‘Care for the Elderly and Terminally Ill: Issues and Policies in India’. At present she is in the phase of data collection for her PhD. She is also teaching Political Science as an Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, G D Goenka University. She has pursued both her post-graduation and MPhil in Political Science from Centre for Political Studies, JNU. Her areas of research since MPhil have mainly reflected concerns on the issues of right to die, euthanasia and living with dignity debate in India. She has quite a few publications to her credit and has also presented several papers in both international and national conferences. 

Naina Singh was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She is pursuing MPhil in international Organizations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has completed her Masters from South Asian University, New Delhi in International Relations with special focus on the South Asian region. Her research interests include primarily cultural and international relations, regional and sub-regional arrangements (Asia) and multilateral diplomacy.

Namkha Tsering has completed his M.Phil. in Center for East Asian Studies, Chinese Division, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He did his graduation and post-graduation in history from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University respectively before taking up Chinese studies for his M.Phil. His M.Phil. dissertation is titled “Minority Nationalities and the Statist Narrative on Tibet in History Textbooks: A Study of ‘Chinese’ Nationalism during the 2008 Beijing Olympics”. The dissertation discusses how the Chinese state has constructed ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’ through history writing to serve its nation-building project but at the same time leading to a‘historiographical colonization’ of the ‘minorities’through owning their history and limiting their representation space. Namkha is interested in history theory in particular and social science theories in general. Few of his areas of interest are Modern Chinese history, Chinese nationalism, nation-building, identity creation, ethnic-relations in China, history education and nation-building etc.

Nogmaithem Kishorchand Singh was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese studies, Delhi. He completed his M.A in politics (with specialisation in International Relations) from the school of International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He holds an MPhil degree from the centre of West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi where he also submitted his PhD thesis. His area of research interest includes West Asian politics, China and West Asia, North-East India studies etc. His current research focuses on China's Belt and Road initiative (BRI) in West Asia.

Prarthana Basu was a Research Assistant at Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She completed her M.A. in Geopolitics and International Relations from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. As a part of her master's curriculum, she worked on a dissertation titled 'China's Rise in the Emerging Global Order and its Implications'. She completed her B.A.(H) in History from Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has interned under Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli in Jawaharlal Nehru University and written an extensive research paper on the 'Chinese Naval Modernisation and its implications in the Indo-Pacific Region', which is published online. Her research interests are China's role in environmental geopolitics, China's development in S&T, China's military modernization and India's foreign policy towards China.

Prateeksha Tiwari is a recent graduate from the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. She is a guest lecturer of Chinese language at Khalsa College, University of Delhi. Her areas of interest include science and technology development in post-reform China, Chinese domestic politics, and political economy.

Renu Rana was Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She holds an MPhil degree in Chinese Studies from the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi.  Her area of study is Chinese Studies. She completed MA Political Science from Daulat Ram College, DU; MA Sociology from IGNOU and BA (hons) Political Science from Miranda House, DU.  She cleared UGC NET in Political Science in 2012.

Samir Sharma was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. His areas of interest are politics of accommodation, institutional frameworks for minorities and the practice of federalism and citizenship.

Sanglipong Lemtur comes from a truly multi-disciplinary area of research. Having completed his Bachelor’s degree in History from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He had moved on to study Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University for his Master’s. He went on to study Social Medicine and Community Health for his MPhil from JNU where his dissertation reviewed the new and exciting technoscientific field of Synthetic Biology, and its Implications on Public health. He completed his dissertation under the guidance of Prof. Mohan Rao. He is currently a PhD Scholar working under Prof. Rama Baru in the same Centre, researching on Antibacterial Resistance, specifically examining antibiotic drug development and its political economy. 

Saurav Sarkar was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He has completed his MA in International Relations (2016-18) from Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida and done his BA (Honours) in English (2013-16) from the same university. He has received the Best Strategic Thinking Achiever’s Award during his post-graduation from the university. He had interned at Pragyavataran Educational Society, Noida in May-June 2017 as a social work volunteer. His MA dissertation was on “Counter-terrorism policies of the Obama administration in Afghanistan-Pakistan”. His areas of interest are China-Pakistan military and strategic cooperation, the geopolitics of the South China Sea dispute and counter-terrorism.

Seemi Zafar was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. February 2013 to March 2013. She worked on study of the role of diaspora, and influence of multilateral and bilateral organizations in the marketed expansion of healthcare in India and China through a comparative lens. Her areas of interest include commercialization of healthcare and studies in comparative health.

Shilpa Sharma was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She has obtained her undergraduate and masters in History. She completed her M.Phil in Chinese Studies from the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. In 2014, she was awarded the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship to study Chinese at National Taiwan University for a year.

Sooraj Aurora was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He worked on studying the planning commission process in China. His areas of interest are India-China political and military relations, diplomacy and disarmament and conflict management.

Torunika Roy is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies. She is also pursuing PhD in Korean Studies at the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

She holds a BA degree in International Studies, specializing in East Asian Studies and International Law and Diplomacy, which she obtained from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. Furthermore, she received an MA degree in International Relations and Area Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Beyond her proficiency in Hindi, English, and Bangla, she has a working knowledge of Korean. 

Her research pursuits encompass a diverse range of interests, with a particular emphasis on examining gender dynamics, feminist movements in East Asia, the phenomenon of low fertility rates in South Korea, Korea-China relations, denuclearization efforts, and related areas.

Thejalhoukho Casavi was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese, Delhi. He submitted his M.Phil dissertation titled “Naga Customary Law and Multiple Modernities, 1880-1980” from the Dept. of History, University of Delhi. His M.Phil research engages with the complex interaction between the colonial legal system and the customary law of ‘tribes’. He completed his BA Honours in History from St Stephen’s College and MA History from Hindu College.

Reeja Nair was 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”.

Rangoli Mitra is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. She has completed her M.A. in Conflict Analysis and Peacebuilding from Jamia Millia Islamia. Her master's dissertation was titled, 'The Women, Peace and Security Agenda: A Theoretical Analysis of the Absence of a Gender Perspective in Peacebuilding'. She has completed her B.A. from Miranda House in Political Science Honours. Rangoli has previously worked with the Women's Regional Network and interned with the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement and the National Maritime Foundation.

Her research interests include India's foreign policy, Indo-China relations, Security issues in South Asia, analyzing China's engagements in the maritime domain, particularly the Indo- Pacific and assessing the growth of the PLA.

Rajesh was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. At the ICS his research included Chinese investments to India, China's new FDI law, Chinese VC and PE presence in India's startup landscape, among others. He created a dataset of China's FDI to India for 2000-2019 which captures important dimensions of valuation, industry, state etc. He has also created a dataset of China's VC and PE investments into Indian startups. Both these datasets are regularly updated and used as a tracker of Chinese activities. During 2018-2019, Rajesh received a one-year scholarship to study Chinese at the National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei. Before that, he was at the O.P Jindal Global University where he earned an MA (International Relations) and was awarded the silver medal for academic performance. He graduated from the University of Calcutta with a B.Com (Hons in Accountancy and Finance). He graduated first class.

Uddipta Ranjan Boruah was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He is a doctoral fellow in the Department of International Relations at the South Asian University, New Delhi. He has completed his Masters from South Asian University, New Delhi in International Relations with special focus on the role of domestic politics in regional cooperation. His research interests include Regional Integration Processes, Border Studies and issues concerning India's Northeast.

Surbhi Moudgil is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies. Her research work focuses on maritime security and international maritime law in the Indo-Pacific Region. She is working toward a Ph.D. from the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. Her Ph.D. research entails the role of China's foreign policy, maritime security strategy, and Chinese views of sovereignty and international law in shaping China’s rise. She received her Law of the Sea education from Yeosu Academy hosted by the Korea Maritime Institute, South Korea. 

Sugandha Tandon was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies. Her research lies in exploring the relationship between art and politics in Mao’s period (1949-1976). She is also interested in the study of history propaganda in China, museum studies as cultural institutions, and the generation of knowledge systems around exhibitions. Sugandha received her master's in history of art and appreciation from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her master's dissertation, 'Exploration of Chinese Discourse in Aesthetics and Politics,' which explored the social and cultural history of the Mao period, prompted her to undertake studies which are aligned with her research interests. She is currently enrolled in an integrated MPhil-PhD program at Jawaharlal Nehru University, where she has just submitted her M.Phil. dissertation, entitled "Making of Chinese Political Propaganda Posters (1949-76)." She is working on her PhD proposal, which focuses on the visual culture during the Mao period- focusing on art production, and the histories of its collection and exhibition (in Shanghai, Hongkong and the US).

Arijit Banerjee was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies. His research interests stretch from issues such as the role of art in politics and society, Historiography, Modern Chinese History, Modern South Asian History, Histories of Capitalism and Socialism (India-China), Aesthetic Philosophy, trans-national histories of Political theatre tradition, including  (socialist realist literature and film in India and China) Traditional Chinese Philosophy and Feminist Theatre. He is particularly interested in understanding how theatre and the state (cultural commissioners) were constructing  'revolutionary' bodies that were complicating the past structural mediations of agency, gender, and labor through different concepts such as 'fusion' or (Jiaotong 交融) transforming into a “dialectical unity” (Bian zheng tongyi 辯證統一). He is also interested in exploring how the Chinese socialist playwrights influenced the playwrights' opus in India, which in a way, bolstered/made possible the internationalist imagination of a post-colonial global south in building a transnational network of solidarity among the socialist cultural practitioners.

Shantanu Roy-Chaudhury is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies. He is a foreign affairs analyst with an interest in China’s relations with the South Asian region. 

Shantanu is the author of "The China Factor: Beijing's Expanding Engagement with Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, and Myanmar" (Routledge, 2023). The book examines China’s political, economic, and defence relations with the four nations and weighs the dividends of the bilateral relationships to better comprehend the geopolitical subtleties in the region, along with the implications for India. How China’s engagement in the region is also linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wider ambitions of national rejuvenation is also illuminated upon.

Vaishali Singh was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She has completed her BA honours in Political Science from Miranda House and her MA (Political Science) from Hindu College, University of Delhi. She has also completed her M.Phil in East Asian Studies from the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. Currently, she is enrolled in the same department for a PhD programme in East Asian Studies (Specialization-China Studies). In 2013-14, she has been to Shandong, China under the MHRD-China Government Scholarship.

Uday Khanapurkar was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He has completed his B.Sc in Economics (Hons.) from the Symbiosis School of Economics situated in Pune. While his academic endeavour has been in the field of economics, he aims to segue into the fields of International Relations and establish a career in academia therein. His areas of interest are geoeconomics, the nexus between economic interdependence and conflict and great power competition in the maritime domain. He authored an undergraduate dissertation entitled Peace in a Globalised Asia: 'The Relation Between China’s Conflictual Behaviour and Levels of Intra-Industry Trade, 2002-2010'. He is also the author of a book entitled 'The Pursuit of Prosperity: Exploring China’s Economic Dependence on India as a Deterrent to Conflict', written for the Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S) and published by KW Publishers, New Delhi. 

Rashmi Muraleedhar was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She is currently assisting in a project which looks at the political, economic and military implications of US-China strategic engagement for India. She completed her Master’s in Politics (with specialization in International Relations) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2018. Her bachelor’s was in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology – Guwahati (2009-2013). She is also currently pursuing a short research project at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies which looks into whether China is softening its approach towards India in the context of US unilateralism.  Her interest lies in the cross-section of Sino-Indian bilateral relations, Nationalism, Indian Foreign policy, and Great Power politics.   

Muhammed Kunhi was a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He submitted his PhD thesis titled “Memories of War and Construction of the Other: An Analysis of Mainstream Indian English Newspaper Discourse on China and Pakistan” to the Centre for International Politics Organization and Disarmament, in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He completed his MPhil from the same centre in 2013. His research interests include India-China relations, Environmental issues in India and China, and Non-traditional security.

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.

Anu Dhull was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies. She has completed M.A. in ‘Politics with specialization in International Relations’ from School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. As per the academic curriculum, she presented two Research Papers during M.A., one on “Chinese aid in Africa: analysing it as a foreign policy tool” and other on “Chinese military reforms and changing civil-military relations”.  Prior to working at ICS, she has interned with UNES division of Ministry of External Affairs, India where she authored a research paper titled, “India and South-South Co-operation”. Her research interests include China`s bilateral and multilateral relations, India-China relations, Sino-US relations and their implications for India, dynamism in Foreign Policy discourse, and Chinese aid projects (especially in Africa). 

Anandita Thakur is a Research Assistant at ICS. Her master’s dissertation, entitled Karl Marx and the Taiping Rebellion, studied the rhetorical capacities of Marx’s articles on the Taiping Rebellion, and analyzed, through these articles, the state of larger European media surrounding the rebellion, the Chinese body and the Orient in the period between 1849-1860. Her research interests lie in the work of the Chinese-American literary diaspora, post-socialist urban architecture in China, and the influence of British colonialism in China. Prior to ICS, her research experience included a research grant by the Government of Taiwan and the International Institute for Cultural Studies at National Chiao Tung University. As a part of the grant, she worked on Taiwanese New Wave Cinema, focusing in particular on the director Hou Hsiao Hsien and gendered mediations in his film, The Boys from Fengkuei.  She has presented several awarded papers on the use and construction of the Chinese body through the work of author Marguerite Duras and Somerset Maugham for conferences at St. Stephen’s College and Ambedkar University. 

KK Venkatraman was commissioned in the Garhwal Rifles in 1997. An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the officer has extensive operational experience and has served in Jammu and Kashmir, 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. He holds an 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

Aravind Yelery is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. Previously, he was associated with Shanghai Ji-Ou (Sino-European Commerce Ltd.) as a Sr. Corporate Consultant (Research). He is a fluent Chinese speaker and before commencing his research at Fudan University, Shanghai, he completed Mandarin language studies from the esteemed Nanjing Normal University, P R China. He is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he was awarded the Doctorate for his research on China, focusing on the role of energy and economy in China’s transforming foreign policy. Before his PhD, he undertook M.Phil research on China’s SOEs and their re-structuring at the same centre at JNU.

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 a currently a Research Associate at ICS. She holds a PhD on the EU’s China policy from the Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her PhD thesis is titled “The EU-China Strategic Partnership, 2003-2017” and her M.Phil. dissertation was on “Germany-China Economic Relations”. Her research interests include EU-China relations, EU-China in Central Asia, EU-China in Africa, Sino-Russian ties, BRI and the work of the United Front. In the past, she has assisted in a number of research projects including the EU-India think tank twinning initiative. She regularly contributes her research articles to the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. In 2022, she received the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship for learning Mandarin language in Taiwan.

Shruti Jargad is a graduate in Chinese Studies from the Yenching Academy of Peking University. She also has a masters in political science from Jawaharlal University. Her research interests include state theory,  Chinese domestic politics and the CCP.