Staff profile

Ayurshi is currently writing up her PhD dissertation on forced marriages within Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in the UK. She is also working as a Research Associate with Professor Geetanjali Gangoli on an N8 funded project exploring police recording of honour-based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
Prior to her current role, Ayurshi worked alongside Professor Catherine Donovan, Professor Geetanjali Gangoli and Dr Hannah King, supporting research activities into the sexual and gender identities inhabited by young people in the Northeast of England. She joined the Department of Sociology at Durham University as a doctoral candidate after working in the non-profit sector in New Delhi, India. She was involved in participatory action work with Elected Women Representatives and Self-Help Group women in diverse parts of India, such as Rajasthan and Bihar, and Nepal. She has provided inputs to international projects led by The Asia Foundation and Hanns Seidel Foundation on building women’s resilience during natural disasters and water scarcity. She has also worked with UNICEF India and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (Government of India) on their research project on maternal health and nutrition in tribal regions of Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha. Ayurshi holds a postgraduate degree in International Development from the University of Edinburgh, and an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Delhi University.

Follow me on Twitter: .@AyurshiD

Research Area

Ayurshi’s research interests include so-called honour-based abuse/violence (HBA/V), forced marriages, female genital mutilation; policing of HBA/V; gender and sexuality particularly in relation to young people; violence and abuse experienced by racially minoritized and/or migrant women; ethnicity, race and racism; decolonization with a particular focus on colourism; and discursive ideas of romantic love in relation to marriage practices

Research Groups

Member of:

1.) Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA), Durham University

2.) Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Durham University

3.) Honour Abuse Research Matrix (HARM) Network, University of Central Lancashire

4.) The Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh

Research Projects

• Seedcorn Project: State, communities and familial regulation of young people’s sexuality and gender in England (October 2021- October 2022)
• N8 Policing Honour-based Abuse: Organisational processes for data recording of Honour-Based Abuse, Forced Marriages and Female Genital Mutilation (October 2022- present)

Book review

• Dutt, A. (2023). Learning to love: arranged marriages and the British Indian diaspora. Social and Cultural Geography, 24(6), 1082-1084. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2022.2095123

Chapter in book

• Dutt, A. (2019). Seeing the Unseen: Male Victims of Forced Marriages. In T. Abbas, & M. Mazher Idriss (Eds.), Men Masculinities and Honour-Based Violence. Routledge-Cavendish. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429277726

Journal Article

• Gangoli, G., Donovan, C., King, H., & Dutt, A. (2023). Understanding gender and sexuality: The hidden curriculum in English schools. Review of Education, 11(3), Article e3440. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3440
• Dutt, A. (2018). LOCATING PATRIARCHY IN VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA: SOCIAL, LEGAL AND ALTERNATIVE RESPONSES. People : international journal of social sciences, 4(2), https://doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2018.42.212228

Report

• Donovan, C., Clayton, J., Macdonald, S., Long, C., Dutt, A., Jain, V., & Rabe, J. Improving Responses to Hate Relationships Final Report Executive Summary. Durham and Northumbria University

Working Paper

• Donovan, C., Clayton, J., MacDonald, S., Long, C., Dutt, A., Jain, V., & Rabe, J. (2024). Improving Responses to Hate Relationships Final Report