Nanda Deebu Sheeja

Profile

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Animal History in the School of History supported by the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH) Studentship, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). I completed my Master’s in History at the University of Hyderabad, where I graduated as the Women Topper in 2024. For my academic excellence, I was honoured with two prestigious gold medals.

In 2025, I worked as a Research Assistant for the British Academy-funded project ‘Planetary Health and Relational Wellbeing: Investigating the Ecological and Health Dimensions of Adivasi Lifeworlds in India’, under the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. In addition to my academic work, I am a passionate vegan and animal rights activist. For the past four years, I have actively engaged in outreach programs, awareness sessions, rescue initiatives, and online campaigns promoting ethical and compassionate living in Kerala, India.

Membership

• Student member of American Society for Environmental History 2026-2027
• Post Graduate member of Royal Historical Society, London

Research interests

My academic interests includes

• Animal Studies
• Environmental History of South Asia
• Human-Animal Entanglements
• Subaltern Histories of India
• Cultural Histories
• Modern Indian History

Publications

- “An Enquiry Into the Question of Animal Agency: A Historical Perspective on Cows in Colonial and Post-Colonial India” in The Academic Journal (2024) , and

- “Commodifying Animal Lives: Revisiting Capitalist Ethics Through Images” in the Journal of Legal Research And Analysis, Volume II, Issue 1, (January-December 2025)

Conferences

- Presented paper titled, ‘Beyond Humanitarianism: Sree Narayana Guru and the Politics of Interspecies Empathy’, at the Empathy in Action 2026 Conference, organised by WRoCAH-UKRI and the University of Leeds, UK

- Presented paper titled, ‘Gendering Empire’s Animals: Colonial Power and the Production of Nonhuman Difference’, at the Asian Histories Graduate Network Conference: Asia in Global Context, organised by University of Edinburgh, UK

Qualifications

• Awarded WRoCAH Studentship by Arts and Humanities Research Council for the doctoral research
• Master of Arts in History from University of Hyderabad, India ( CGPA 8.9)
• Bachelor of Arts in Economics from University of Kerala, India ( CGPA 9.2)