Priyanka Jha is an academic and researcher specializing in political theory, philosophy, and the intellectual history of ideas. She is particularly interested in gendered intellectual history, focusing on women thinkers and philosophers from modern India and South Asia.
She contributes to teaching and scholarship through her role as Assistant Professor at Banaras Hindu University, India, where she engages students in critical discussions on political theory, ethics, and contemporary social challenges. She traces the rich and expansive feminist traditions of the region, recovering their historical, political, social, and philosophical dimensions. Gender serves as a central analytical lens throughout her research.
Currently, she is a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Oxford, where she is working on her manuscript on New Social and Political Thought in Modern India.
Academic Appointments
- Current Position: Sept 2020 ongoing, Assistant Professor (Senior Grade) in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
- July 2021- Dec 2023: Adjunct Faculty at Women Studies and Development Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences, BHU.
- July 2022-July 2024: Adjunct Faculty at the Gender Studies programme, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, BHU.
- Jan 2021- May 2021: Visiting Professorship at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak, Haryana, India. Course Offered: Political Philosophy and Theory.
- Sept 2016- Feb 2020: Assistant Professor at the School of Undergraduate Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi.
- July 2015-Sept 2016: Assistant Professor in the Department of Political
Science, Venkateshwara College, University of Delhi. - 2015: Academic Counsellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for Master’s Program for two Academic Sessions. Courses offered: Political Theory and Comparative Politics.
- July 2012-Dec 2012: Teaching Assistant at Centre for Political Studies, SSS, JNU, Course offered: Indian Politics I: Political and Social Thought in Modern India.
- Feb 2011-April 2015: Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Atma Ram Santan Dharma (ARSD) College, University of Delhi.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellowship (March 2020-Dec 2020), Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Denmark.
- Ph.D. (2010-2015) Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.
Doctoral Dissertation: ‘The Politics of Culture: A Comparative study of the writings of Coomaraswamy and Dharmapala. - M. Phil. (2008-10) Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Thesis: ‘Politics of Exemplar: The study of the Buddha in the writings of Coomaraswamy.’
- M.A (2006-2008) in Political Science (2006-2008) Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
- B.A. (Hons.) (2003-2006) in Political Science, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, India.
Highlights
- 2025-2026: HUM International Collaboration Grant, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 2021-2026: Board Member, IAPH (International Association of Women Philosophers and Scientists).
- November 2024: Associate Editor, Journal of Disappearance Studies, Bristol University Press.
- August 2024: IGV Travel Grant to attend the World Congress of Philosophy, Rome.
- March 2024: Nominated by the BHU to attend a week-long Leadership Training Programme organised by Partha Ghosh Academy of Leadership, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, and the Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India.
- Jan-Feb 2024: Visiting Lectureship at University of Hildesheim, Department of Philosophy, Germany.
- Jan-Feb 2024: Visiting Fellowship at the Centre for Women Philosophers and Scientists & Department of Philosophy, University of Paderborn, Germany.
- 2023-2025: Institute of Eminence (IOE), Transdisciplinary Research Grant (INR 25,00,000) for ‘Landslides and Disasters, A comparative study of Aizwal and Dehradun’, Banaras Hindu University.
- 2022-2025: Institute of Eminence (IOE), Seed Grant (INR 8,00,000) for ‘Women Rethinking Intellectual History of Ideas in Modern India’, Banaras Hindu University.
- 2022: 20th D.R.D.C Pavate Memorial fellowship at Sidney Sussex College and POLIS, University of Cambridge, England.
- 2021-2023: Research Associate, ‘Global Inequality: An Intellectual History’, Aarhus University, Denmark.
- 2021: Visiting Professor of Political Philosophy and Politics, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak, India.
- 2021: Member, New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy, Centre for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, University of Paderborn, Germany.
- 2020-21: Member of Committee on National Education Policy 2020, Syllabus Restructuring of State Universities and Affiliated Colleges, Department of Higher Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh, India. Subject Expert for Electives in Political Theory and Political Thought. (Implemented in 2021)
- 2020: Post Doc Fellowship in the Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Denmark.
- 2017-2019: Junior Fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany.
- 2017-18: Awarded Seed Grant Fund, Ambedkar University for ‘Buddhist Thinkers of Modern India: Tracing the Genealogy of Egalitarian Selfhood’.
- 2013: Recipient of International Travel Grant, Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR), Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD), Government of India, to undertake field work in Sri Lanka and Nepal, 2013.
- 2011: Awarded Senior Research Fellowship, University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India.
- 2008: Awarded Junior Research Fellowship, University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India.
- 2003: Awarded Certificate of Merit and Excellence by the Central Board of Secondary Education
- (CBSE) for AISSCE 2003 and was awarded the National Scholarship of Merit 2003-2006. Voluntary activities.
Dr. Priyanka Jha 