This curriculum vitae sets out, in order, my education, academic positions, awards and grants, languages, service and administrative roles, professional development, and memberships. Read alongside it, the publications page lists journal articles, book chapters, and reviews in full, with abstracts; the talks & presentations page lists conference papers, invited lectures, and roundtables delivered in the United Kingdom and India since 2011; and the research page sets out the doctoral project itself, including its research questions and major intellectual strands.
In outline: I completed a BA, MA, and MPhil in English at the University of Delhi between 2002 and 2010, was placed first in the University in both the BA and MA, and worked briefly as an Assistant Editor at Oxford University Press before beginning full-time teaching in 2010. I have held a permanent Assistant Professorship at ARSD College, University of Delhi, since June 2015. I was awarded an AHRC-funded PhD by the School of English at the University of St Andrews in June 2026, supervised by Professor Sara Lodge and Dr Clare Gill, and I am Research Lead at the digital humanities platform Archēglyph.
I read and write in English and Hindi to native proficiency and in Bengali to professional proficiency, which matters directly for this research: the doctoral project works with Bengali-language primary texts alongside English-language ones, rather than relying solely on existing translations.
Education
PhD in English
Awarded June 2026University of St Andrews, School of English
Thesis: From Brighton to Bombay: Mobility and the Nineteenth-Century Female Detective. Supervised by Professor Sara Lodge and Dr Clare Gill. Funded by a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) doctoral fellowship through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), October 2022 – March 2026.
MPhil in English
2008 – 2010University of Delhi
Thesis: “Dissent in Victorian and Edwardian Fantasies by Women”. First Division with Distinction.
MA English
2005 – 2007Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
First in the University (65.6%). Awarded Principal B.B. Gupta Memorial Medal and Dr N.S. Pradhan Memorial Medal.
BA (Hons) English
2002 – 2005Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
First in the University (64.44%). Awarded Dr Sarup Singh Gold Medal, N.V. Thadani Memorial Prize, and Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyer English Prize.
Academic Positions
Research Lead
April 2022 – presentResearch direction for a digital humanities platform that extracts and analyses text from image-based archival documents.
AHRC-SGSAH Doctoral Fellow
October 2022 – March 2026School of English, University of St Andrews
PhD awarded June 2026. SGSAH Featured Researcher (April 2025).
Assistant Professor (Permanent)
June 2015 – presentDepartment of English, ARSD College, University of Delhi
Member of Internal Quality Assurance Cell. Convenor of Media Cell (2017–2019). Convenor of Film Appreciation Society (2017–2019).
Assistant Professor (Ad-Hoc)
September 2010 – May 2015Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
Faculty Advisor, English Literary Society. Organisation of academic events and workshops.
Assistant Professor (Ad-Hoc)
July – November 2011St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi
Assistant Editor
July 2007 – September 2008Oxford University Press, Academic Division
Awards & Grants
Russell Trust Travel Bursary
Russell Trust
£900 for archival research at the National Archives, New Delhi (July–August 2025).
Conference Funding
British Association for Victorian Studies
With Professor Sara Lodge, £1,000 to organise Undercover Agents: Women, Crime, and Detection in the Global 19th Century, University of St Andrews, August 2025.
SGSAH Featured Researcher
Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
Selected as Featured Researcher for April 2025.
SGSAH Engagement Funding
Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
£900 for archival research in Delhi (August–September 2023).
AHRC Doctoral Fellowship
UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
DTP PhD fellowship at the School of English, University of St Andrews (October 2022 – March 2026).
UGC Junior Research Fellowship
University Grants Commission, India
National fellowship for doctoral research.
Principal B.B. Gupta Memorial Medal
University of Delhi
First in the University, MA English.
Dr N.S. Pradhan Memorial Medal
University of Delhi
MA English.
Dr Sarup Singh Gold Medal
University of Delhi
First in the University, BA (Hons) English.
N.V. Thadani Memorial Prize
University of Delhi
BA (Hons) English.
Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyer English Prize
University of Delhi
BA (Hons) English.
Languages
English
Native proficiency
Hindi
Native proficiency
Bengali
Professional proficiency
Service & Administration
- Co-organiser (with Professor Sara Lodge), Undercover Agents: Women, Crime, and Detection in the Global 19th Century, University of St Andrews, 28–29 August 2025
- Member, Internal Quality Assurance Cell, ARSD College
- Convenor, Media Cell, ARSD College (2017–2019)
- Convenor, Film Appreciation Society, ARSD College (2017–2019)
- Faculty Advisor, English Literary Society, Lady Shri Ram College for Women
Workshops & Professional Development
Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School
University of Oxford, 24–28 August 2026
Refresher Course: “Indian Folk Traditions: A Tapestry of Diversity”
ARSD College and Teaching Learning Centre, Ramanujan College, New Delhi, 25 October – 8 November 2023
Online Faculty Development Programme: “Children’s Literature: Reading, Writing and Publishing”
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT Tiruchirappalli, 17–22 July 2023
Faculty Development Programme: “Indian Knowledge System: A Multidimensional Legacy”
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College for Women and Teaching Learning Centre, Ramanujan College, New Delhi, 13–27 July 2023
Online Interdisciplinary Refresher Course (Bilingual): “Cinema, Society & Education”
ARSD College and Teaching Learning Centre, Ramanujan College, New Delhi, 6–19 April 2021 (A+ grade)
Four-week Orientation Programme
HRDC, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 17 July – 13 August 2018 (A grade)
Faculty Development Programme on Teaching English Communication Skills
Regional English Language Office, American Embassy, and Kamala Nehru College, 16–18 November 2015
Cultural Studies Workshop
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Jaipur, 23–28 January 2011
Memberships
- Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP)
- British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS)
- Victorian Popular Fiction Association (VPFA)
- Modern Language Association (MLA)
- Empires Collective — host of the Empire Sleuths podcast