Nirali Joshi

Nirali Joshi is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Languages at the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology, Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Her work bridges human geography, urban policy, and infrastructure studies with a strong focus on postcolonial contexts, particularly India.

Educational Background:

• PhD in Human Geography, King's College London (2016–2021)
• Master's in Urban Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
• Bachelor of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Her research centers on legal, political, and health geographies, the social life of infrastructure, precarity, and affective labour. She employs feminist and phenomenological epistemologies to study the everyday state, embodied mobility, and moral politics of care. A major empirical focus is the Indian railway system, where she investigates trauma, governance, and publicness through interdisciplinary lenses.

Her recent publications and ongoing project RAILIMAGE: Twentieth-Century Railway Imaginations (2024–2027) reflect a consistent engagement with railway studies, decolonial approaches, and urban infrastructure. Themes across her work include social exclusion, technology, gender, and the lived experiences of marginalized communities in urban India.

Scientific Contributions and Activities:

• Active contributor to UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly through education and infrastructure equity
• Co-author of a decolonial curriculum report at King’s College London
• Invited speaker on topics such as railway trauma and accident care (2023)

Nirali Joshi is involved in significant research collaboration, currently as a Co-Investigator in an externally funded foundation project. While no formal advisees are listed, her work has clear mentorship and collaborative dimensions. She is an emerging voice in critical infrastructure and mobility studies, with a growing influence in human geography and urban policy.