Ashoka University’s Seema Alavi Elected International Fellow of the British Academy

The historian has been recognised as an International Fellow of the British Academy for 2026 for her research on South Asian and Indian Ocean history during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Ashoka University has announced that Professor Seema Alavi, Professor of History, has been elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy for 2026, one of the highest academic recognitions in the humanities and social sciences.
Professor Alavi has been elected to the Academy’s Early Modern History to 1850 section in recognition of her contributions to the study of the social, religious and cultural history of South Asia and the Indian Ocean world during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The British Academy serves as the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its Fellowship recognises scholars whose research has made significant contributions to their respective disciplines. The 2026 cohort includes academics from different parts of the world whose work has advanced research across the humanities and social sciences.
Ashoka University described the recognition as an important milestone that reflects Professor Alavi’s contributions to historical scholarship and the growing international recognition of research produced by scholars based in India.

Professor Alavi’s work has examined South Asia’s transition from its Indo Persian heritage to the colonial period. Her research focuses on military, religious and medical cultures while exploring the intellectual, cultural and social exchanges that shaped South Asia and the wider Indian Ocean region during a period of significant historical change.
Her published works include Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire, which 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, explores maritime history and the Indian Ocean. Her earlier publications include Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India, 1770 to 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 to 1900, and Eighteenth Century in Indian History.

Professor Alavi earned her doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge and has held several international academic appointments, including two Fulbright Scholarships, the Smuts Visiting Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, a visiting scholarship at the Harvard Yenching Institute and the William Bentinck Smith Fellowship at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute. She also serves on the editorial boards of several international academic journals.
Responding to the honour, Professor Seema Alavi 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.”

Professor Somak Raychaudhury, Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University, congratulated Professor Alavi on the achievement and 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. The recognition reinforces our founding vision of advancing research that contributes meaningfully to society and the world.”
He added that Professor Alavi’s achievement would inspire young researchers to pursue scholarship with ambition and integrity while contributing to historical research from India and the Global South.
Ashoka University said the recognition reflects its commitment to fostering interdisciplinary research, academic excellence and scholarship that contributes to national and international academic conversations.

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