Vita
Sonia Sarkar has been a PhD Research Fellow in the research area Societal Peace and Internal Security since October 2026. She is pursuing her PhD research on transnational ties between the far-right in the Global North and Global South, supported by a doctoral scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Before joining the IFSH, she worked as a journalist for over two decades. Sonia reported on Hindutva extremism and its global spread, online radicalization, terrorism, identity conflict, and gender-based violence across Asia. She reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Province in Sri Lanka, Indian-administered Kashmir, and other conflict zones. Sonia holds a European Master's in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Global Campus of Human Rights, an MPhil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Trinity College Dublin, and a Master's in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Calcutta.
Research profile
- Far-right extremism, Hindutva extremism in South Asia
- Transnational links between far-right in Global North and Global South
- Diaspora politics and transnational ties of diaspora with extremists in homeland
- Authoritarian tendencies in South Asian democracies
