Dr Gunjan Sondhi

Professional biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Geography and Director of the Centre for Global Challenges and Social Justice at The Open University. My expertise lies in gender, migration, and skilled mobility, with research focusing on international student and academic migration in South Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, UK and Europe. I have led several funded projects, contributed to teaching research and engaged in public policy discussions. I am widely published, bridging academic inquiry with societal impact.

Research interests

My research interests focus on the interplay between gender, class, education, and skilled mobility. I reorient gender and migration research by drawing on migrant experiences to understand patriarchy and other structural inequities in the receiving countries. Empirically, this work has stretched across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, North America, the UK and the EU to examine the mobility of international students and highly skilled migrants within academia, the IT sector, and Finance. 

External Grants awarded:

• AHRC (2021-2022): Migrant Business Women in 1911 Census (Co-I)
• British Academy/Leverhulme (2020-2021):  Writing International Student Migration in Africa (PI)

Completed Projects:

• AHRC (2021-2022): Migrant Business Women in 1911 Census (Co-I)
• British Academy/Leverhulme (2020-2021):  Writing International Student Migration in Africa (PI)
• ESRC (2016-18): Gender, Skilled Migration and IT industry: a comparative study of India and the UK (OU, Postdoctoral Research Associate)
• NRF(2015):  Singapore in the Global Talent Race (NTU, Singapore, Research Fellow)
• SSHRC (2014): The Mentoring Partnership Project (York University, Canada, Research Associate)
• PCAL (2014): Reviewing international students in Canada (York University, Canada, Co-I)

PhD supervision

I welcome PhD proposals focusing on gender, migration, work and education.  

Current PhD students

• Xenia Rochelle Jones (Female Overseas Filipino Workers in Manufacturing (Taiwan): a digital ethnography exploring hybridity)
• Coomerene Rodrigo (Dissertation title: Critically Examining the Role of the Critical Thinking Curriculum in Transnational Higher Education: A Case Study in Côte d’Ivoire)

Teaching interests

My teaching interests focus on geography and migration studies, particularly in research methodologies, gender, and mobility. I strive to guide students in exploring the intersections of gender, migration, work and education. By integrating my research expertise into teaching, I aim to offer students a deeper understanding of everyday concerns and develop their critical thinking and analytical skills. I chair a third-year undergraduate module, D325 Researching Everyday Geographies, focusing on Geography research and inspiring students to engage with pressing societal issues through geographical thinking.