Ashoka University Professor of History Seema Alavi has been elected an International Fellow of the British Academy for 2026. She has been recognised in the Academy’s Early Modern History to 1850 section for her research 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 UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its International Fellowship recognises scholars whose research has made significant contributions to their disciplines.

Professor Alavi’s work focuses on South Asia’s transition from the Indo-Persian period to the colonial era, examining military, religious and medical cultures alongside intellectual and cultural exchanges across the Indian Ocean region.

Her publications include Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire, Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India, 1770–1830, 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 and has held academic appointments and fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the University of Cambridge. She also serves on the editorial boards of several international academic journals.

Reacting to the recognition, Professor Alavi said she was honoured to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy and described the distinction as particularly significant because few scholars based in India have received it.

Congratulating her, Ashoka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Somak Raychaudhury said the recognition reflects the growing international standing of Indian scholarship and aligns with the university’s commitment to research and academic excellence.

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