Congratulations to Michael, Antara, and Ivica for their great work! We look forward to seeing your research develop over the coming months.
Michael Bacon: Analysing the ethical and philosophical issues raised by child psychoanalysis
Grant: Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Abstract: As a child, I was sent to a psychoanalyst four times a week. This was the strangest chapter of my life -- until I discovered that my analyst had published several academic articles about our sessions, revealing her theoretical (and personal) fantasies about our fraught interactions. This project will use my experience as the starting point for a critical study of the ethical and philosophical issues raised by psychoanalysis as a theory and a practice. These issues include the power imbalance between analyst and analysand, whether psychoanalysis should be considered a science, and the role of consent in child therapy.
Antara Datta: Empire on the Move: Refugees, Evacuees and Internees in South Asia, 1939-1952
Grant: Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Abstract: This project examines the origins of the international refugee regime through India’s relationship with refugees between 1939 and 1952. It focuses on Jewish and Polish refugees, evacuees from Malta, Burma, Singapore, and Malaya, and Kazakh and Uyghur from China. Turning away from the usual focus on Partition refugees, it explores the hierarchies of humanitarianism in the rehabilitation and repatriation of these groups. By studying the displaced in South Asia during World War II, the project aims to rewrite global refugee history and reframe India's post- colonial refugee history by highlighting the material and intellectual legacies this exodus left behind.
Ivica Petrikova: Food systems policies and health inequalities – Comparative study of UK and India
Grant: Academy of Medical Sciences Networking Grant
Abstract: The networking project will bring together researchers, policymakers, and civil-society actors from India and the UK to explore how food-system policies in the two countries shape dietary and health inequalities. Whilst India struggles with child undernutrition, the UK faces challenges related to childhood obesity - both reflecting deep socio-economic divides. Through fieldwork and workshops in London and Delhi, the network will compare policy approaches and identify opportunities for mutual learning, such as India’s food subsidies and the UK’s public-health campaigns. The collaboration will lay the groundwork for future research and policy initiatives aimed at promoting healthier diets and reducing nutrition-related health disparities in both countries.
