Dr. Sanchi Rai is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of International Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi. She holds a Ph.D. in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, specialising in the early origins of Indian foreign policy, with extensive archival research experience in both the United Kingdom and India. She has been awarded research grants from the Charles Wallace India Trust (2015 and 2024) and the Indian Council of Social Science Research. In 2025, she was selected for the second cohort of the Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship for Indian History, awarded by the Foundation for Indian Historical and Cultural Research (FIHCR).
Her work has been presented at leading international
conferences in Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
and published in reputed journals, including Millennium:
Journal of International Studies. In 2015, she was invited as
a Visiting Scholar at the SOAS South Asia Institute, University of London.
Drawing on her expertise in archival research, she also served as Principal
Research Assistant on the “Ideas of India” project
at New York University, Abu Dhabi. She has previously taught at FLAME
University Pune, Ambedkar University, New Delhi and RV University, Bengaluru.
PhD
Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament
School of International Studies (2012- 2017, PhD Awarded in 2019)
Jawaharlal Nehru University-New Delhi
Thesis supervisor- Prof. Rajesh Rajagopalan
Thesis Title: Empire, Nationalism and Independence in foreign Policy: Testing Neorealism in the Indian Case, 1919 – 1964.
M.Phil. (International Politics)
Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament
School of International Studies (2010- 2012)
Jawaharlal Nehru University-New Delhi
M.Phil Title: Enduring Rivalries and Possibilities of Peace: A
Comparative Study of the Egypt-Israel Peace Process of 1977-78 and the Kashmir
Negotiations of 1962- 64.
FGPA- 7.62/9, Division- I
M.A. (Politics and International Relations)
School of International Studies (2008-2010)
Jawaharlal Nehru University-New Delhi
FGPA- 7.37/9, Division – I
B.A. Programme (Philosophy and Psychology)
Jesus and Mary College (2005-2008)
Delhi University
Percentage: 70.91, Division- I (College Rank III and
University Rank X)
Rai, Sanchi (2024), ‘Resolving the Theseus paradox at the Cusp of Independence: The Battle to Become the Legal Successor of British India’ in Millennium: Journal of International Studies (Q1, SCOPUS Indexed), online first, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03058298231215308, Volume 52 and Issue Number 1.
Rai, Sanchi (2021), ‘Cold War: Different Phases’ in Perspectives on International Relations and World History, textbook for the course offered by School of Social Science at Indira Gandhi National Open University, March 2021, https://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/71861.
Rai, Sanchi (2021),’Anti Colonial Movements and Decolonisation’ in Perspectives on International Relations and World History, textbook for the course offered by School of Social Science at Indira Gandhi National Open University, March 2021, https://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/71864.
Rai, Sanchi (2016), ‘Alternative Conceptualizations in International Relations: Exploring the Concept of Non-Cruelty’ in International Studies, Volume 50, Number 3, pp 209-225, (Online ISSN: 0973-0702; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020881716654409).
Rai, Sanchi (2015), ‘Amidst Turmoil, Indian Foreign Policy Walks a Tightrope’ in Global Dialogue Review, April/May/June, Volume 3, Number 2, pp 98-105
Rai, Sanchi (2014), ’India’s Nuclear Doctrine may be Revised, Raising
Concerns’ in Global Dialogue Review, May-June, Volume 2, Number 3, pp 47
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