Ursula Rao

Ursula Rao is Director of the Department 'Anthropology of Politics and Governance' at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Adjunct Professor at Leipzig University and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Her research examines the social consequences of digital governance technologies, urban citizenship, and state-citizen interactions in India.

Current projects analyze biometric identification systems, e-governance transformations, journalistic practices, and ritual theory. Her work combines ethnographic methods with theoretical analysis of how digital technologies reshape social relations, bureaucratic practices, and concepts of urban belonging.

Professor Rao serves on the German Science and Humanities Council and is a fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. She directs the International Max Planck Research School 'Global Multiplicity' (IMPRS).