Prajakti Kalra, Cambridge Central Asia Forum

Prajakti Kalra is a Research Associate with the Cambridge Central Asia Forum. She wasaffiliated lecturer in the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge until October 2023. She was working on the RCUK funded GCRF COMPASS grant as an Events and Communications Officer in the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge until 2021. She currently works in the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge 

She has trained as a historian, political scientist and a psychologist. Her interests are in the areas of the history of the Mongol Empire and Central Asia. She has worked extensively on regional and international organisations (OSCE, OIC, SCO, Eurasian Economic Union and the OBOR). Her focus is building avenues of communication and exchanges based on historical precedents and bringing local narratives into global speak in order to best facilitate interaction and knowledge production.

Her book, ‘The Silk Road and the Political Economy of the Mongol Empire’ came out in 2018 (Routledge). Other publications include ‘Asiatic Roots and the Rootedness of the Eurasian Project’ (in ‘The Eurasian project and Europe: Regional Discontinuities and Geopolitics’, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and ‘Uzbek Relations with the Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in modern and pre-modern times,’ (in Russia and CIS Relations with the Gulf Region Current Trends in Political and Economic Dynamics, Gulf Research Centre, 2009). She is the research, administrative and social coordinator for the Cambridge Central Asia Forum.

Her latest publications are :

"The Case for Science Diplomacy in Mongol Eurasia." Journal of Eurasian Studies 14, no. 1 (2023): 8-18.

 "Globalizing Local Understanding of Fragility in Eurasia." Journal of Eurasian Studies 12, no. 2 (2021): 103-12. Co-authored with Siddharth S Saxena.

"Locating Central Eurasia's Inherent Resilience." Cambridge Review of International Affairs 35, no. 2 (2022): 235-55.

“Pax Mongolica: Trade and Traders in the Mongol Empire.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. Oxford University Press, 2016—. Article published November 19, 2020. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.493.