Shirin M. Rai

Shirin M. Rai is an Honorary Professor at the University of Warwick and a Distinguished Research Professor at SOAS, University of London. She held a long tenure at Warwick from 1989 to 2022, including founding the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID). Her academic roles also include Visiting Professorial Fellow at the London School of Economics and Honorary Adjunct Professorships at Monash University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Rai is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences.

Her interdisciplinary research spans three key areas: feminist international political economy (exploring depletion through social reproduction), gender and political institutions (focusing on parliamentary dynamics in India), and politics and performance (analyzing ceremonial rituals in legislatures). She has directed major research initiatives, including the Leverhulme Trust’s Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament (2007–2011), which examined legislative cultures across India, South Africa, and Westminster.

Rai’s publications include landmark books like Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament (OUP, 2019) and The Grammar of Politics and Performance (Routledge, 2014). Her recent work addresses the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic on elderly populations and explores transformative frameworks in global governance. She serves on editorial boards of leading journals, including Social Politics and Politics and Gender.

Her awards and fellowships reflect her scholarly impact, including the Senior Fellow role at the M.S. Merian & R. Tagore Centre. Rai’s research bridges theoretical rigor with empirical insight, addressing gender justice, institutional transformation, and the intersections of performance and politics.