Dr Ishan Shahi is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Relations and Peace Studies, Nalanda University. He was awarded PhD from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences IIT-Bombay. He completed his MA from the Centre for Political Studies (CPS) Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. His specialization is in the inter-disciplinary studies where he has reflected a comprehensive understanding on the issues relating to socio-economic changes in the ongoing process of urbanisation with a focus on built space.

Dr Ishan Shahi did his PhD form IIT Bombay in Sociology, and has an MA in political science from Centre for Political Studies in JNU. His PhD work focuses on the relationship between the built environment and the socio-economic activity that takes place within that built space in the city of Banaras.

• Awarded PhD on the topic “Change in Banaras: Space Politics and Culture in Current Times” from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in IIT Bombay in February 2025.

• Shahi, Ishan. 2023. “The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor: Contesting Informality with Monumental Production of Space.” In Economic and Political Weekly (2023) (Vol. 58, Issue 52, pp. 53–58). Economic and Political Weekly.
• Shahi, Ishan. 2025. “PRODUCING THE GHATS OF BANARAS AS WORLD‐CLASS SPACES: The Mobilization of Nishad Boatmen.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 49 (3): 514–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13317

Fellowships & Scholarships

• Qualified UGC-JRF in Political Science 2017

Conference Presentations

• “Tourism, Pilgrimage, and Monumentality: The making of a World-Class Banaras” in the Urban ARC(Annual Research Conference) 12-14 January 2023 Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore.
• ‘Cities and the politics of Heritage in India and China: Comparing Wutai Shan and the Ghats of Banaras’ in 2022 AUA Academic Conference on the Exchange of Asian Civilisations and the Smooth Flow of Trade along the Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, organised by the Tsinghua University, Beijing China on the 28th of August 2022.

Professional Development — Courses, Workshops & Training

• “Write to Publish Workshop” organised by the Urban Studies Journal and Economic and Political Weekly Review of Urban Affairs, 9-14 June 2023.
• ICAS:MP Spring School 2021 for Doctoral Researchers- ‘Thinking the Political’ organised by the M.S. Merian- R.Tagore International Centre for Advanced Studies, Monday 15 March to Wednesday 24 March 2021.
• “The Eighth Annual PhD Workshop at Indian Institute of Human Settlement”, 10-12 January 2022.
• Virtual Doctorate School Organised by Research Committee-21 of the International Sociological Association and the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) March-May 2022.