Dr Abhishek Mohanty

A social anthropologist interested in health and digital, Abhishek’s work draws on his wide, multidisciplinary, and substantive experience spanning ethnographic and design research, entrepreneurship, and management consulting, across regions such as South Asia, the Middle East, and the EU. 

He also has university-level teaching/tutoring experience at SOAS University of London, University College of London, as well as business schools in India and the UAE. At present, he is teaching around anthropology and film at SOAS.

Abhishek’s research interests are located at the intersection of health, digital, design, and entrepreneurship, in the UK and India. His ongoing postdoctoral research is centred in an interdisciplinary and multi-geography collaborative project on mental health metrics. There, he plays a dual role, as an ethnographer of the project, and an anthropologist on it. Outside of the academy, he continues to work on independent engagements rooted in community healthcare in London. 

His AHRC CHASE-funded doctoral research examined how futures are imagined in digital health technologies, with fieldwork in both India and the UK. The design anthropology-based and visual methods he leveraged during his fieldwork was additionally supported via small grants from the Fürer-Haimendorf Fund as well as the SOAS Doctoral School. Earlier, he has also carried out research around telemedicine/teleconsultation (India), governance during COVID19 (UK), lived experiences around prostate cancer awareness (Sweden), and community entrepreneurship in health and life sciences (UK). 

Additionally, Abhishek teaches at SOAS, around anthropology and film. He also lectures on anthropological engagements more widely across disciplines, levels, and universities.