Professor Shirin M Rai latest recipient of Distinguished Research Professorship
Following the announcement of the first three SOAS Distinguished Research Professorhips in April 2022, we are proud to announce Professor Shirin M Rai as the latest recipient of the Distinguished Research Professorship in the Department of Politics and International Relations at SOAS.
SOAS previously announced the establishment of five new distinguished research professorships aimed at addressing the global challenges of our time, as framed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The final Distinguished Research Professorship of this round will be announced later this year.
Professor Rai joins SOAS from the University of Warwick. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests in the fields of feminist political economy, gender and politics and performance and politics. Her latest books include the co-edited Oxford Handbook of Politics and Performance (2021) and Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament (with Carole Spary; OUP), 2019. She is currently working on two books Depletion: the human costs of caring and Doing Politics Sideways. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and was awarded the BISA Distinguished Service Award in 2022.
In reaction to her appointment as a Professor of Politics and International Studies and joining SOAS Professor Shirin Rai said:
“SOAS has a vibrant intellectual community and a strong sense of its place in the international academic landscape. I am excited to be joining SOAS in September and meeting colleagues from across the School. I hope to form networks and collaborate with colleagues on research in areas ranging from gender, representation, political institutions and the performance of/and politics. I am also very much looking forward to meeting PhD students and early career researchers from the Politics and International Studies Department to engage with their work.”
Professor Rai will join SOAS from 1 September 2022 as a Professor of Politics and International Studies.
