Curriculum Vitae
Career │ Research Grants │ Honours and positions │ Teaching
Professional career
2023 –
Adjunct Professor, Philosophical Faculty I, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
2020 –
Director of the Department 'Anthropology of Politics and Governance' at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
2020 –
Adjunct Professor for Social Anthropology, Leipzig University
2012 – 2020
Professor of Anthropology & Head of Department of Anthropology, University of Leipzig
2008 – 2012
Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney
2007 – 2010
Senior Lecturer in Sociology & Anthropology, School of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney
2002 – 2007
Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University Halle
1998 – 2002
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department for Anthropology, University of Heidelberg, in an interdisciplinary project called: “Theatricality as a model in social sciences”, funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation)
Education
2002 – 2006
Post-doc at the Martin Luther Universty Halle-Wittenberg, Habilitation (post-doc degree), title of the thesis: "Journalistic Practices and the Re-making of Leadership Traditions in India"
1994 – 1999
PhD in Anthropology at the University of Heidelberg, title of the thesis: "Negotiating the Divine. Temple Religion and Temple Politics in Contemporary India"
Research grants - a selection
2020 – 2022
Partner Investigator on the Australian Research Council Grant, “Life, living and livelihood in Satellite Cities: New Urban forms in India” (Australian Research Council Grant, DP200101306, AU $ 184.342 (application together with principle investigators Tanya Jakimow and Hari Ramaswami)
2020 – 2022
German Research Council Grant, RA 1003/4-1 “Infrastructure and the re-making of Asia through adopting, orchestrating and cooperating”, € 135,106 (application together with Anja Senz, University of Heidelberg)
2020 – 2023
German Research Council Grant on “The role of digital governance for re-spatializing the Indian nation state”, as part of the Collaborate Research Centre (SFB 1199) “Processes of Specialization under the Global Condition”, € 406,560
Honours and positions
Since 2023
Member of Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW)
Since 2023
Member of the German Science and Humanities Council (WR)
Since 2023
Spokesperson International Max Planck Research School ‘Global Multiplicity: A social Anthropology for the Now’
Since 2023
Co-Spokesperson Halle–Leipzig Research Initiative New Global Dynamics: Worlds in Crisis?
Since 2020
Member of the editorial board Series on 'Integration and Conflict Studies', Berghahn Books
2019 – 2023
Member of the Senat of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
2018 – 2023
Member of the advisory board of the ERC project “Universal Health Coverage and the Public Good in Africa: An Anthropological Study", Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo
2018 – 2023
Member of the advisory board of the ESRC project “Learning from small cities: Governing imagined futures in India’s smart urban age“, Kings College, University of London
Since 2012
Member of the editorial board South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
Since 2010
Member of the editorial board of Religion in Society: Advances in Research
Teaching experience
Since 1999, Ursula Rao has continuously taught lectures, seminar and tutorials at the University of Heidelberg, University of Halle, University of New South Wales and University of Leipzig
Lectures
Introduction to Anthropology / Introduction to Area Studies / Religion, Ritual, Performance / South Asia / Theory in Anthropology / Anthropology of the Senses / Media Anthropology / Visual Anthropology / Globalisation
Seminars
Political Anthropology / Topics in the Anthropology of India / Topics in Anthropological Theory / Methods in Anthropology / Post-Colonialism / History of Anthropology / Anthropology & Museum
Workshops / Colloquia
PhD Colloquium / Writing workshop: writing a journal article / Writing workshop: How to write a fund application / Student field trip to India Bhopal