Dr Shaminder Takhar is a Senior Research Fellow at King's College London. She is currently working on QUALREP - The Quality of Women's Political Representation ERC Synergy Grant Project (UKRI / Horizon Europe), Global Institute for Women's Leadership (GIWL).

Dr Takhar is a Peer Review College member for the AHRC and a member of the AHSS Outer International Assessment Board (Government of Ireland). Her current research interests include grassroots political activism and women’s electoral representation at the intersection of race and gender. She is currently working on women’s political activism in the global South. She has authored and edited books, journal special issues, articles and book chapters focused on race, gender, sexuality, education, and social justice.

Dr Takhar was Professor of Sociology, Co-Director of the Social Justice and Global Responsibility Research Centre, Chair of the School Ethics Panel and Director of Research at London South Bank University until January 2024. Dr Takhar was a member of the Local Government Commission set up by the Fawcett Society and Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) (2016-17) which collected evidence for final recommendations regarding women’s representation at local government level, the barriers to women’s participation and diversity of representation. She was also a member of the Lambeth Equality Commission (2016-18), editorial boards for the journals Sociology and Sociological Research Online, and Editorial Advisory Board for Emerald Group Publishing for the Gender Research Series.

Research Interests

• Political Activism
• Women and Politics
• Social Movements
• Intersectionality
• Global South