Harshita Pandey

Harshita Pandey is a DPhil candidate at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the intersection of law, community identity, and gender, with a particular emphasis on socialisation in communities engaged in intergenerational sex work.

She has spent nearly five years working with marginalised communities in rural India, engaging directly in gender justice initiatives, community-driven interventions, and field-based programme implementation. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she worked extensively on the ground, designing and delivering programmes addressing gender-based violence, access to education, and social protection. She has also contributed to research projects on caste-based sex trafficking, substance use, and policy evaluation, with a focus on their gendered dimensions.

Harshita holds a Master of Arts in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Humanities and Social Sciences from the University of Delhi.