Mihika teaches on the MPhil in Development Studies, and is a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. Her research and teaching are situated within themes and issues that concern the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia. She convenes the History and Politics foundation course on the MPhil programme.

Mihika’s research interests include the political economy of land, politics of rural transitions, and the dynamics of food systems. Her current research project traces the evolution of a planned industrial zone in Western India, focusing on the politics of state-led land dispossession and livelihood transition for farmers and landless labourers. The study speaks to broader themes on the role of the contemporary state and the politics of late industrialisation.

Her past research has focused on anti-poverty policies, including an investigation into the effects of India’s Public Distribution System on household food security and child undernutrition in the Koraput district of Odisha, India. She has been a researcher at the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, where she advised the government of Ho Chi Minh City and UNDP Vietnam on developing the city’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure for tracking poverty and implementing anti-poverty policies. Previously, she worked at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab where she supervised randomised control trials (RCTs) on indoor air pollution and health.

Mihika holds a DPhil and MPhil from the University of Oxford.