Dr. Banhishikha Ghosh

I defended and received my PhD in 2022 at the Department of Social Anthropology (ISEK), University of Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Johannes Quack, Prof. Bandana Purkayastha (University of Connecticut) and Prof. Samita Sen (University of Cambridge).

I have worked as a teaching assistant (2019-2022) and Lecturer (2022- 2024) at ISEK for BA and MA courses. I completed my Post-Doc at the Centre for Cultural Inquiry, University of Konstanz, Germany (2022-2025) where I taught courses in anthropology.

I have an established track record of publications. My research findings have been published in journals like SAMAJ, Citizenship Studies (Taylor and Francis), Contemporary South Asia (Taylor and Francis), Anthropology in Action (Berghahn Journal), Indian Journal of Gender Studies (Sage), OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying (Sage) to list a few.

Here is a detailed list of my publications:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jUL-_2cAAAAJ&hl=en

Anthropology, Sociology and Global Health

Fellowships

• 2022 Visiting Fellowship in Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut [Funded by Graduate Campus and Mittelbau Grants University of Zurich].
• 2020 Fieldwork Travel Award, Graduate Campus, University of Zurich.
• 2019-2022 Swiss Government Excellence PhD Scholarship. [Funded by State Secretariat for Education Research and Innovation, Govt. of Switzerland ].
• 2017 MPhil Junior Research Fellowship, UGC, Govt of India. (1,86,000 INR). 2016 UGC Masters (PGIGS) Fellowship, UGC, Govt of India. (60,000 INR)

Recent workshops and workshop organisation

• 2024 Conference: on Gender Equity and Inclusion at University of Sunderland in London
• 2024 Workshop: Queering Academic Spaces at University of Sunderland in London
• 2023 Conference: Decolonising Gender and Sexuality, University of Zurich
• 2021 South Asia Conference, Lecture, and Workshop Series, University of Zurich
• 2021 PhD workshop: Un-doing Ethnography during a pandemic, University of Zurich

Honours and awards

• 2024 Prof. N, C Choudhury Best Young Scholar Award in the field Young Scholar Award of Social Anthropology and Sociology for 2024. Awarded by The Indian Anthropological Society.
• 2024 M. N. Srinivas Best Sociological /Social Anthropological paper Memorial Prize published in any social science journal/edited volume from January 2022 to December 2023. Awarded by Indian Sociological Society.
• 2018 T.K. Oommen Award Highest CGPA in Masters Batch of 2016 Sociology, CSSS/SSS, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Medal and and Cash Prize.
• 2016 University Gold Medal First rank in Bachelor’s amongst all Arts, Humanities and Social Science courses, Presidency University Conferred by Hon’ble President of India: Shri Pranab Mukherjee
• 2016 Nirode Baran Bakshi Memorial Prize, First Class First in Bachelors amongst all courses, Presidency University
• 2016 Prof. Nirmal Ch. Basu Chaudhuri Memorial Prize, First Class First in Bachelors amongst all courses, Presidency University
• 2016 Prof. Anil Kumar Bhattacharya Memorial Prize,Frist Class First in Faculty of All arts, Presidency University.
• 2016 Bani Bakshi Foundation Endowment, First Position in Faculty of Arts Certificate & Gold Medal and Cash Prize
• 2016 Department of Sociology Foundation Commemoration Prize First Position in Faculty of Arts, Presidency University. Certificate & Book Prize
• 2015 Shyamal Kr. Chattopadhyay Memorial Prize First Class First Bachelors 1st and 2nd year, Presidency University, Certificate & Book Prize
• 2015 Arun Kr Ray Memorial Prize First Class First in Bachelors 1st and 2nd year, Presidency University.
• 2015 Department of Sociology Foundation Commemoration Prize First Position in Bachelors 1st and 2nd year.

Recent invited talks & conferences

• 2025 Panel on Disaster, Labour Justice and Rights, London School of Economics. [https://www.youtube.com/live/_vWVXHYiAnc]
• 2024 Queer Health and Necro politics in South Asia, Invited Lecture: University of Connecticut, Department of Sociology.
• 2024 Digital Ethnography: Invited Lecture in the 5-day Faculty Development Program of Christ Church University Bangalore, in collaboration with Indian Sociological Society. July 4.
• 2024 Ghost Schemes in the Name of Social Welfare: the case of GNCs in India. Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Lucerne. June 2.
• 2024 Blessing not begging: the case of gender nonconforming communities in India. Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Sussex. June 4.
• 2023 In the name of Equality: Ghost Schemes and Specter of Inclusivity in India. Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Lucerne. June 2.
• 2022 Affective Relations and Disruptive Possibilities: Wives, Lovers and Families of Chiyawali Kotis in India, organised by the German Anthropological Association’s working Group: Gender and Sexualities, Queer Anthropology; January 5.
• 2021 Role of Gender nonnormative communities as Monitorial Citizens in strengthening Democracy in India, organised by the American Anthropological Association, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 17-21 November.
• 2021 Shifting patterns of Research Mobility: Anthropological Work during the Pandemic, on (Remote) work and Covid Conference organised by Tallinn Anthropology and EASA Anthropology of Labour network, Tallinn University, 17-18 June.
• 2021 Capsizing the gaze: transgenders as monitorial citizens, at the 18th annual conference of the Centre for the Study of Citizenship, Wayne State University co-organised by the University of Edinburgh and University of Alberta, 1-14 June.
• 2020 Shifting Relationship between State, Civil Society and Gender Variant Communities in India, at Development Days 2020 Conference on Inequality Revisited: In Search of Novel Perspectives on an Enduring Problem organised by Finnish Society for Development Research at Helsinki, Finland, 26-28 February.