Dr. Shreya Ramnath is a social anthropologist and musician based in Ahmedabad. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology from Central European University, Vienna, awarded summa cum laude. Her research explores cultural institutions in contemporary South India, with particular attention to how traditions are negotiated under conditions of social and technological change. Her doctoral research was an ethnographic study of contemporary Carnatic music, examining how digital transformation reshapes performance, musical authority, authenticity, pedagogy, and cultural belonging. More broadly, she works on heritage, memory, performance, and public culture, and is interested in how communities and institutions produce and contest cultural value. At GREMI, she brings these perspectives to the study of the built environment, exploring how place, power, development, and culture shape everyday life.

Alongside her academic work, Dr. Ramnath has extensive experience as a communications strategist, editor, and researcher. She has edited research and policy publications for think tanks, philanthropic organisations, international development agencies, and multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, Ford Foundation, and UN agencies. She has also contributed to research and writing on international news media, labour markets, migration, and rural livelihoods, and has contributed to the Economic and Political Weekly and other public-facing platforms. Most recently, she served as editor of the forthcoming 2026 volume “Naming the Other: Discourse, Marginalisation, and Resistance in Central and Eastern Europe,” supported by the European Union’s CERV programme.

From 2011 to 2016, Dr. Ramnath worked at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, where she led a UNICEF-supported project on children and the media. Here she designed, taught and anchored courses on child rights, the Indian news media, and on reporting on social deprivation; organised seminars and workshops; and mentored student research. 

At GREMI, she is developing courses on the social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of real estate and the built environment. An empanelled artist with All India Radio, Dr. Ramnath is also a performer of light classical and allied musical genres.