The OCSI is pleased to invite its Members to a special Fireside Chat with Professor Manali Desai (Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Cambridge and a Professorial Fellow of Newnham College) and Ms. Geeta Luthra (Senior Advocate and President, OCSI) moderated by Mr. Shashank Vira (Entrepreneur, Educator and Social Infrastructure Financier).
Date: 9th April, 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 6:00 PM onwards
(discussion followed by Tea & Refreshments)
Venue: Committee Room, India International Center Annexe, Max Mueller Marg
This is a Free Event – Open to Members and their Partners Only
Register Now to reserve your place: https://www.oxbridgeindia.com/apply-for-event-registration/
About our Special Guests
Professor Desai was Head of the Department of Sociology at Cambridge between 2020 and 2024. She received her BA in Economics from the University of Michigan and PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she specialised in comparative and historical sociology. Her work focuses on social movements, gendered violence, theories of crisis, state formation and post-colonial transformations, with current research examining the persistence and transformation of caste in India in historical perspective.
Professor Desai’s first book, ’State Formation and Radical Democracy in India, 1860-1990’ (2007), was a historical analysis of the emergence of two different welfare regimes in India where social democratic parties have ruled consistently since independence. She has co-edited books titled ’States of Trauma: Gender and Violence in South Asia’ (2009) and ’Building Blocs: How Parties Organize Society’ (2015), as well as the ‘Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society’ (forthcoming 2026) and Living with Violence: Gender and the Everyday in India and South Africa (est. 2028) which is based on her most recent funded ESRC project (£1.7 million titled ‘Gendered Violence and Urban Transformation in India and South Africa.’ Professor Desai’s research has been published in the ‘American Journal of Sociology’, ‘Sociological Theory’, ‘Signs’, ‘Social Forces’, ‘Social Science History’, ‘Comparative Studies in Society and History’, ‘Journal of Historical Sociology’ and ‘Critical Asian Studies’, among others
Ms. Geeta Luthra is a designated Senior Advocate, in the Supreme Court of India. She has an LL.M(Masters in Law) and M. Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, UK. She has been practicing law since 1980, in the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts of India. She is the Vice President of the Indian Council of Arbitration FICCI, member ICC India chapter Core committee, member LawAsia and International Academy of Family Lawyers. She is also a member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA). She has been appointed as a Vice Chair of LAWASIA Women Lawyers Committee in 2022. She has served as a sole arbitrator in many cases of domestic and international arbitration.
Ms. Luthra has been empanelled as an Arbitrator on the India International Arbitration Centre (IIAC) panel of Arbitrators for domestic Arbitration. She is also empanelled as a Sole Arbitrator in Delhi International Arbitration Centre ( DIAC) Delhi and also with the DUBAI International Arbitration Centre (DIAC Court).
Mr. Shashank Vira is an entrepreneur, educator, and social infrastructure financier, with three decades of experience. He has been the CEO of international companies, led private equity investments and debt financing of education, established several high quality international academic institutions, master planned and overseen the development of townships and founded technology-in-education companies.
Prior to the Hearth, Shashank was the Managing Director of the European family office and fund, Copper Beech. Before that, he established a chain of high-quality international schools. He spent several years developing education infrastructure, social-sector financing and technology, including being Sector Head at the Infrastructure Development Finance Company, and being Head of Schoolnet Research. He has a deep involvement with curriculum development and examinations in India, having been Head of Research, Development & Consultancy at the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations. He has taught at the Doon School, Wellington College UK, Lady Shriram College and SOIL, and been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge.