Dr. Umer Jan

Dr. Umer Jan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the School of Liberal Arts, Alliance University. His research sits at the intersection of politics, technology, and society, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies shape political processes in the Global South. He brings to the classroom a combination of rigorous academic training and extensive experience as a teacher and policy researcher across the United Kingdom, Europe, and India.

Prior to joining Alliance University, Dr. Jan worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Digital Engineering, University of Potsdam, where he contributed to the Path to Power: 2024 project. He has taught Politics, International Relations, and Media Studies at the University of Westminster and the University of East London.

Dr. Jan's peer-reviewed work has appeared in journals published by Berghahn and Sage, and in volumes by Routledge and the University of Westminster Press. He has also written for publications including Jacobin, Aeon, the LA Review of Books, South China Morning Post, ABC Australia, The New Arab, and the Pulitzer Center.

Areas of Specialisation

Political and Social Effects of Technology ·  Popular Politics and Critical Theory · South Asia · Social Theory

Education

• D. in Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster, London, Fully funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund
• A. in International Relations and Conflict Studies, Islamic University of Science and Technology
• A. (Hons.) in Political Science, Aligarh Muslim University

Selected Grants & Awards (Selected)

UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund PhD Studentship (2019); Pulitzer Center Grant for Multimedia Reporting in India (2021); UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund Training and Fieldwork Grant (2021); University of Chicago, Conference Travel Grant (2019).

Fellowships

Associate Fellow, UK Higher Education Academy (2022)

Selected Conference Presentations

• Democracy in the Age of Disruption, Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam, Germany (2025)
• European Consortium for Political Research General Conference, Innsbruck, Austria (2022)
• Academy of Global Humanities and Critical Theory school, University of Bologna and Duke University, Bologna, Italy (2021)
• 15th European Sociological Association Conference, Barcelona (2021)
• Oxford Conference in Political Theory, University of Oxford (2021)
• Sixteenth South Asia Graduate Student Conference, University of Chicago (2019)
• New Postcolonial Concerns: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Workshop, University of Cambridge (2019)

Service

• Member, American Political Science Association
• Member, European Consortium for Political Research
• Member, ESRC (UK) Peer-Review College