Three scholars with Indian roots are among nine doctoral candidates worldwide selected by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation for its 2026 cohort of emerging scholars writing on problems of violence in their final-year dissertation.
Each recipient receives a financial award to help them complete their writing and transition into their academic careers.
Established to generate new knowledge on the nature, consequences, and reduction of violence, the foundation has long prioritized research addressing urgent contemporary problems.
This year’s projects span critical global issues, ranging from school safety and prison dynamics to borderland displacement and community aggression.
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Among the selected researchers are three individuals focusing on topics related to India: Karthika Baby Sujatha, Aarushi Shah, and Yash Sharma.
Karthika Baby Sujatha, representing the United Nations University MERIT and Maastricht University, is conducting a field experiment in Kerala, India.
Her research examines how to understand and alter men’s attitudes, tolerance, and behaviors regarding intimate partner violence.
Aarushi Shah, a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, is undertaking an ethnographic study centered on the remedial work of a domestic violence court in New York. Her project explores the intersection of crime and legal replenishment within the judicial system.
Yash Sharma, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati, is focusing his dissertation on majoritarianism and its discontents.
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His work investigates violence, political mobilization, and resistance dynamics within contemporary India.
Foundation officials noted that the awards are designed to support promising doctoral researchers in their final year as they complete projects addressing urgent, contemporary forms of aggression and conflict.
The 2026 cohort reflects the foundation’s focus on supporting research into violence across different social, political and institutional settings.
The scholars’ projects examine violence through field experiments, ethnographic research and other approaches, covering issues in countries including India, the United States, Lebanon, Turkey and those in East Africa.