Shankar is a historian of science and technology, and a historian of colonial India. He joined King’s College London as an MA student in the History Department in 2019 on a Hans Rausing studentship, which also covered his PhD. His dissertation was a comparative study of cotton ginning and tobacco manufacturing industries in late colonial India, drawing together histories of production and histories of technology and empire. He is also co-convenor of the Centre for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHoSTM) event series. 

Research interests and PhD supervision

• History of Science and Technology
• History of Modern India
• History of Global Production
• Economic History

My work revolves around comparative and transnational aspects of technological innovation and use, modern science, and production. I am particularly interested in questions of global convergence and divergence in the use of techniques, production systems, and forms of work in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Expertise and public engagement

Shankar is interested in dominant understandings of science and technology, particularly as it relates to policy and political life. He has made editorial contributions in newspapers like The Hindu on renewable energy policy and has reviewed academic and popular histories.