Research Staff

P.K.Anand is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies. He holds a PhD in Chinese Politics from the Centre for East Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Awarded in June 2017, his doctoral thesis is titled 'Market Dynamics and State Responses in China: Social Welfare and Industrial Workers, 1987-2008'. He also completed his M.Phil from the same centre in 2008. He completed his Master's in Politics (with specialization in International Relations) from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2006. 

Veda Vaidyanathan is a Research Associate at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. She completed her Ph.D. from the Centre for African Studies at the University of Mumbai on the Resource Diplomacy Strategies of India and China in Africa. She was initially a doctoral fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and in 2014 received the Institute of Chinese Studies-Harvard Yenching Institute (ICS-HYI) China-India studies fellowship. From 2015-16 she was a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Peking University, China and was a visiting fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute in Harvard University the following year. She has conducted extensive fieldwork interviewing various stakeholders in India, China, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, USA and the UK.  Her paper titled Reimagining Engagement and Realigning Priorities: How India and China are Informing the African Growth Story, won the World Society Foundation Award in Switzerland in April 2019. She is currently leading multi cultural teams working on projects examining Chinese Infrastructure Development in Tanzania and Kenya and another analyzing Chinese investments in Zambia.

Reeja Nair is 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”.

Rajesh is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese studies. At the ICS his current research includes Chinese investments to India, China's new FDI law, Chinese VC and PE presence in India's startup landscape, among others. He is currently creating 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 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 is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies. He is 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.

Uday Khanapurkar is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS). He has completed his B.Sc in Economics (Hons.) from the Symbiosis School of Economics situated in Pune. While his academic endeavor 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. 

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. She has completed her Bachelor's in Computer Applications from Chitkara University. Her area of interests include Indian Foreign Policy, India and the neighborhood, and Role of Technology in shaping the international order.

Anu is 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).