Ashoka University’s Professor Seema Alavi elected International Fellow of the British Academy 2026
New Delhi : Ashoka University, India’s leading interdisciplinary and research university, congratulates Professor Seema Alavi, Professor of History and one of India’s leading historians, on being elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy for 2026, one of the highest honours in the humanities and social sciences. She has been elected to the Academy’s section on Early Modern History to 1850 in recognition of her internationally acclaimed scholarship on the social, religious and cultural history of South Asia and the Indian Ocean world during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The British Academy is the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its Fellowship recognises scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in their respective disciplines. This year’s cohort includes distinguished scholars from around the world whose work has significantly advanced knowledge across the humanities and social sciences.
Professor Alavi’s research has transformed the understanding of South Asia’s transition from its Indo-Persian legacy to the colonial era. Her work examines the military, religious and medical cultures of the region, while exploring the intellectual, social and cultural exchanges that shaped South Asia and the wider Indian Ocean world during a period of profound historical change.
Her acclaimed book, Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire, received the Albert Hourani Award Honourable Mention and the Monsoon Book Prize in Political Economy. Her latest book, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire, extends her research to the maritime history of the empire and the Indian Ocean. Her earlier publications include Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India, 1770–1830; A European Experience of the Mughal Orient (co-authored with Muzaffar Alam); Islam and Healing: Loss and Recovery of an Indo-Muslim Medical Tradition, 1600–1900; and Eighteenth Century in Indian History.
Professor Alavi holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and has held several distinguished international academic appointments, including two Fulbright Scholarships, the Smuts Visiting Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, and a visiting scholarship at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and has also been a William Bentinck-Smith Fellow at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute. She also serves on the editorial boards of leading international journals, including Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and Biblio.
Speaking on the recognition, Professor Seema Alavi, Professor of History at Ashoka University, said, ‘I am deeply honoured and humbled to have been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. This recognition is especially meaningful because so few scholars based in India have received this distinction. I accept it with immense gratitude and a renewed commitment to scholarship.’
Congratulating Professor Alavi on this recognition, Professor Somak Raychaudhury, Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University, said, ‘Professor Seema Alavi’s election as an International Fellow of the British Academy is a proud moment for us and marks an important milestone in the continued international recognition of Indian scholars on a global platform. It is important for historians from India and the Global South to take ownership of writing the colonial and post-colonial history of the region. The recognition reinforces our founding vision of advancing research that contributes meaningfully to society and the world. Achievements such as Professor Alavi’s not only reflect this commitment but also inspire young scholars to pursue research with ambition and integrity. On a personal note, I have known Professor Alavi from our days as PhD students at the University of Cambridge, and I am immensely proud of her for this achievement.’
Ashoka University continues to build a vibrant academic ecosystem that champions curiosity-driven research, interdisciplinary collaboration and intellectual excellence while creating opportunities for scholars to contribute to conversations of national and global importance.
