Rakesh Ranjan

Programme Manager, South Asia, Migration Programmes, IHRB

Dr Rakesh Ranjan is a sociologist who has spent more than a decade working on the human dimensions of labour migration, from how workers are recruited to how they are treated along the corridors connecting South Asia with the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Much of his work lies at the intersection of business, public policy and worker protection. He works with companies, recruiters, governments and civil society organisations to identify practical ways to eliminate recruitment fees, advance the Employer Pays Principle and strengthen human rights due diligence. This spans both land-based migrant workers and seafarers working aboard the world's ships.

He is increasingly focused on two shifts reshaping labour migration: the questions that climate change raises for mobility and resilience, and the growing role of artificial intelligence and digital technology in how workers are recruited, monitored and protected. Grounded in field research and shaped by close engagement with workers, businesses and public institutions, he brings a practical, corridor-wide perspective to some of the most difficult challenges in responsible recruitment.

Dr Ranjan has extensive experience working with government agencies, academic institutions, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, civil society groups and migrant worker organisations. He has conducted research and fieldwork across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

As Programme Manager, South Asia, Dr Ranjan leads IHRB's South Asia portfolio on labour migration and responsible recruitment. He heads IHRB's regional work on responsible recruitment, with a particular focus on the Employer Pays Principle. He also leads the South Asia component of IHRB's Climate-Resilient Labour Mobility work, focusing on migration corridors connecting South Asia with the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

In the shipping sector, Dr Ranjan supports IHRB's work to eradicate seafarer recruitment fees, focusing particularly on India and engaging crewing agencies, maritime businesses, seafarer welfare organisations, trade unions, civil society actors and government institutions. Across these areas, he works with businesses, recruitment agencies, governments, international organisations, trade unions and civil society actors in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Malaysia and other key countries of origin and destination. 

Before taking up his current role at IHRB, Dr Ranjan was an Associate at the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the Government of India's apex public policy think tank. Previously, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and as a researcher at the India Centre for Migration, a think tank of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. His earlier work covered internal and international migration, labour mobility, diaspora engagement, immigrant entrepreneurship and migration governance. He has led and contributed to research involving migrant workers, returned and deported migrants, recruitment intermediaries, businesses and government institutions.

Dr Ranjan holds a PhD and an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He has received professional and academic training from the European University Institute, the National University of Singapore, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization and the Centre for Development Studies, among other institutions.

Dr Ranjan is currently an Executive Committee member of the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism and a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute of Migration and Development.

Dr Ranjan is the co-author of Indian Diaspora Homeland Engagement: Education and Healthcare Sector, published by Oxford University Press. He has also authored and contributed to research reports, academic publications, policy briefings and practical guidance on migration, responsible recruitment, diaspora engagement and migrant worker protection.