Dr. Ila Joshi’s research lies at the intersection of gender, migration, citizenship, and international relations, with a strong regional focus on China and the Indo-Pacific. Her doctoral work at Jawaharlal Nehru University examined women migrant workers and citizenship issues in China, building on her earlier M.Phil. research on NGOs and public health, particularly HIV/AIDS among women. This foundation has shaped her long-term engagement with gendered dimensions of labor, migration, and state policy.

She has contributed significantly to scholarship on comparative gender studies and foreign policy. Her forthcoming article in the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism critically analyses the role of gender in India’s Indo-Pacific foreign policy, particularly through the Act East Policy and the QUAD. She has also examined contemporary security issues, including open-source intelligence networks and their implications for International Humanitarian Law in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Dr. Joshi has published in International Journal of Work Innovation on women, work, and citizenship in China, and her book review in China Report analyzed the emerging underclass of domestic laborers. Her recent chapters, forthcoming with Springer Nature, explore digital diplomacy in border regions, disaster laws in China, and China’s engagement in Africa through the lens of resource nationalism.

Her active participation in international conferences, including Shanghai University and NIICE Nepal, reflects her engagement with global academic discourse. Through her scholarship, Dr. Joshi brings forward critical insights into how gender, migration, and power intersect in shaping contemporary international relations.