Professor Sharath Srinivasan

Sharath Srinivasan, CGHR’s inaugural Director (2009-17), is David and Elaine Potter Associate Professor in Governance and Human Rights in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and a Fellow of King’s College. His longstanding research interests are in contentious politics, civic action and normative political theory. These themes animate his areas of research: communication technology, publics and citizen voice; foreign intervention and civil politics in armed conflict; peaceful assembly and civic action. He conducts research primarily in eastern Africa and Sudan and South Sudan. He has been Principal Investigator on multiple major collaborative projects, many with strong practitioner and impact elements. From research at CGHR, he co-founded the non-profit Africa’s Voices, based in Kenya, and went on to co-found Lark Social Impact, builders of innovative communications software Katikati. Sharath’s leadership of CGHR draws on his multidisciplinary training, including an MPhil & DPhil from Oxford University in International Development and undergraduate degrees in Law (human rights, public international) and Economics, as well professional experience coordinating Sudan aid programmes and working in headquarters for the International Rescue Committee, advising governments and implementing agencies on peacebuilding and civic technologies, and previous work in strategy consulting. Sharath is a Trustee of the British Institute in Eastern Africa and a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. He was previously a Trustee of Africa’s Voices Foundation and served on the executive committee for the Society for the Study of the Sudans in the UK.