I am a Lecturer in Religion at the School of Humanities at York St John University. I also serve as a Research Consultant with PeaceRep Myanmar at the School of Law, and am a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Prior to this, I was a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh (2022-2025) where my research looked at the role of homemakers and young girls in navigating spaces and activities of ecology and Hindu nationalism in the India-Bangladesh borderlands. Before my postdoctoral fellowship, I worked as a Programme Officer at KAICIID International Dialogue Centre in Vienna, where I facilitated high-level dialogue between religious and political leaders. For my PhD at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, I studied the role of Buddhist nuns in enabling and combating communal violence in Myanmar.
At Edinburgh, I taught undergraduate modules on Religion and Nationalism in the Contemporary World and Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding; and postgraduate modules on Religion and Nationalism: Theory and Performance and The Practice of Field-Work in the Study of Religion. At York St Johns, I am teaching Religion and Genocides (REL6035M) and Religion, Peace and Conflict (REL4020M).
My research is broadly grounded in the intersections of religion, protracted conflicts, nationalism, and gender, tracing how moral and political identities are lived and negotiated within sites of continuing violence. In my work, I challenge and destabilise the normative understanding and experiences of the female religious subjects and examine their interventions at the institutional level, and within the intimate and affective dimensions of everyday life.
I am open to mentoring and supervising students whose interests and curiosities resonate with these subjects.
Fellowships and Awards
2025: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, UK (£282,000)
2025: PeaceRep Fellowship, UK (£15,000)
2024: Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Fellowship, University of Edinburgh, UK (£10,000)
2024: Best Panel award at European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) 2024 conference in Barcelona, Spain
2023: Honorary Fellow of Oxford Interfaith Forum, UK
2023: Rising Leaders Fellowship, UK
2022: Best paper presentation at conference on Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Diversity at Cardiff University's Centre for Law and Religion, UK
2021: Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD thesis by UWTSD, UK (£2000)
2021: Young Leader’s Award by Hindu Council UK for best youth-led interfaith activity, UK
2020: International Student Scholarship for best paper presentation, UK
2020: Spalding Trust scholarship for PhD thesis writing, UK (£2000)
2019: Culham St Gabriel Trust scholarship for interfaith fieldwork studies, UK (£2000)
2018: Doctoral Fellowship for three years by Chin Kung Foundation to pursue PhD at UWTSD, Singapore (£105,000)
2016: Mindanao Peace Institute Fellowship, Philippines
2015: King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Fellowship for Dialogue, Saudi Arabia (£3500)
2015: Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue Masters at Durham University, UK (£32,000)
2014: Delhi University Gold Medal for highest scorer across university, India (£100)
2013: Highest scorer and all-rounder, University of Delhi, India (£50)
