Laila Rajani

Laila Rajani is a Research Fellow and PhD candidate at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. She is affiliated with the Centre of Biomedicine, Self and Society (Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh) and a visiting fellow at the Health Matters working group, University of Vienna. Her Wellcome Trust-funded research examines the unintended consequences of development programs on mental health, focusing on neoliberal logics in psychiatric care in Tharparkar, Sindh, Pakistan.

Research Interests: Global health policy, mental health equity, anthropology of development, and critical studies of science and medicine in South Asia. Her work explores how mental health actors (e.g., psychiatrists, policymakers, NGOs) broker psy-discourses amid ecological and political shifts linked to coal extraction in Tharparkar.

Presentations/Engagements: Key talks include 'Psychiatry in a time of flux' (Vienna Anthropology Days, 2024), 'Evidencing a health crisis' (SAAG, UCL, 2024), and 'Inaccessible: telepsychiatry in Pakistan' (EASA, 2024). She also delivered guest lectures on development and mental health inequities at institutions in Karachi and Jamshoro (2023–2024).

Background: Previously worked on pandemic-era family dynamics in Karachi (UCL), Islamophobia in NYC’s art industry (Brooklyn Arts Council), and post-conflict rehabilitation in Swat (CSSR). She has held roles as a reporter for Dawn’s Herald, high school teacher, and development practitioner at UNESCO/World Bank.