Dr Aniruddha Saha

Dr Aniruddha Saha holds a BA in Journalism and Communication Studies from Manipal University and an MA in International Relations as a Dr Duncan Anderson scholar from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London (KCL). He completed his PhD in War Studies from KCL in 2023 and was elected as a Junior Research Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford. He has worked with the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Observer Research Foundation, and the Centre for Studies in International Relations and Development.

Teaching

Selected:

• MSc in Modern South Asian Studies (dissertation supervisor), postgraduate level at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford (2024 – 2025).
• Paper 210: Politics in South Asia (lectures), undergraduate level at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (Michaelmas Term 2024).
• Paper 297: International Security and Conflict (tutorial), undergraduate level at St. John’s College, University of Oxford (Trinity Term 2024).
• MA in International Relations (external examiner for dissertations), postgraduate level at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London (2024 – 2025).
• Paper 214: International Relations (lectures), undergraduate level at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (2023 – 2024; 2024 – 2025; 2025 – 2026).
• Summer School in International Relations (lectures and seminars), pre-university level at King’s College London – with Dr. Diana Bozhilova (summer 2022).
• Module 5SSW2049: War in International Order (seminars), undergraduate level at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London – with Dr. David Banks (2020 – 2021).
  

Dr Saha was awarded Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom in February 2026 and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom in April 2022.

Dr Aniruddha Saha’s scholarship uses an inter-disciplinary lens in examining identity construction, norms, international hierarchies, and stigmatisation approaches in nuclear governance. More specifically, his research focuses on: i) how states that showcase non-compliant behaviour by breaching/remaining outside the norms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) construct their deviance in nuclear governance, and ii) how these recalcitrant states manage and reason their deviance with dominant powers in the international system, in order to move towards de-facto or an implicit recognition of the former's nuclear programme.

Dr Saha’s PhD thesis examined how India’s deviant identity and nuclear relationship with the United States moved towards gradual normalisation, post the former’s 1974 nuclear test. After obtaining his book contract with Palgrave Macmillan based on his PhD thesis, Dr Saha is working on paper that examines South Sudan's identity dynamics as being a non-signatory to the NPT. He is also in the process of preparing an application for the Economic and Social Research Council Responsive Mode grant as co-investigator on “Comparative Nuclear Pedagogies: Regional Security Cultures and Educational Approaches in the Global Nuclear Order” (with Dr Soul Park at University of East Anglia and Dr Luba Zatsepina at Liverpool John Moores University).

Dr Saha was part of the Beyond Nuclear Deterrence working group, hosted by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, and funded by the MacArthur Foundation. From November 2023 to October 2025, he also co-convened the Global Nuclear Order Working Group for the British International Studies Association.

Recent Publications

Monographs:

• Saha, A. Between Complying and Opting Out: India’s Perpetual Nuclear Crisis with the United States (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan from January 2026 with the final book manuscript delivery date in May 2027)
  

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

• Saha, A. “Towards Social (Non)recognition Through Political Rhetoric: The Stigmatized Cases of India, Germany, and Iran” (accepted and forthcoming as a special issue on “Stigma in World Politics” in Global Studies Quarterly)
• Saha, A. 2025. “Stigmatisation or Victimisation? The Iran-US Nuclear Relationship from 2015-2021,” Journal of Global Security Studies, 10(2): ogaf004. doi:10.1093/jogss/ogaf004.
• Saha, A. 2022. “Nuclear Stigma and Deviance in Global Governance: A New Research Agenda,” International Studies Quarterly, 66(3): sqac055. doi:10.1093/isq/sqac055.
  

Selected Others:

• Saha, A. 2025. “Trump has few good options to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb,” January 20, The Conversation UK. Available at: https://theconversation.com/trump-has-few-good-options-to-prevent-iran-from-building-a-nuclear-bomb-247370.
• Saha, A. 2022. “Interpretivism and Hiring: The Problems of COVID-19 and Its Implications for Academic Research,” March 10, Duck of Minerva. Available at: https://www.duckofminerva.com/2022/03/interpretivism-and-hiring-the-problems-of-covid-19-and-its-implications-for-academic-research%ef%bf%bc.html.

Awards and Distinctions

Selected:

• British International Studies Association Founders Fund (2023)
• The Humanitarian Trust Fund (2022)
• Gilbert Murray United Nations Study Award (2022)
• Royal Historical Society Research Expenses Grant (2021)
• The British Society for the History of Science Research Grant (2021)