King's India Institute

#MeetTheJury Prof. Niraja Gopal Jayal, Jury Member of the Infosys Prize 2026 in Humanities and Social Sciences. Prof. Jayal is the Avantha Chair at the King’s India Institute, King’s College London. She previously taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University and was Centennial Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at the London School of Economics from 2019 to 2023. Much of Prof. Jayal’s research has centered on citizenship, democracy, and welfare in India. Her work also looks at representation, public institutions, and questions of governance. She is the author of several books, including 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦: 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢, 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢: 𝘌𝘵𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘵𝘴 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥: 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺. 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘵𝘴 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 won the 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞 of the Association of Asian Studies in 2015. Prof. Jayal has also delivered the Radhakrishnan Memorial Lectures at All Souls College, Oxford, served as Vice-President of the American Political Science Association, and held visiting appointments at institutions including Princeton University and EHESS in Paris. Prof. Jayal joins the Infosys Prize 2026 jury after a distinguished career in political science and we are pleased to welcome her back. Read more about Prof. Jayal's work: infosysprize.org/jury/2026/n… @KingsCollegeLon @LSEEcon @JNU_official_50 @Princeton @KingsIndiaInst @EHESS_fr #infosysprize #humanities #socialsciences #politicalscience #citizenship #democracy #indianpolitics #academia