Palak Rao is an MA student at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo and is currently writing her thesis at PRIO. Palak's master thesis explores nationalist social movements in India and how they frame the discourse on minority rights and identities in Uttar Pradesh, India. For this research, the Fritt Ord Foundation, Norway awarded her the 2018 Fritt Ord Scholarship.

With an interdisciplinary background, Palak holds a BA (Hons) in Media and Sociology from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she researched on human rights violations through space politics in the Arab-Israeli conflict. With a focus on the Separation Wall, her thesis was an exploration of urban architectural battlefields, violence and citizenship in Palestine.

Palak has worked with various organizations in India, Norway and UK on issues of public healthcare, land rights and police reforms. She has collaborated on projects funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norad and the Government of India. In addition, she has executed and organized communications and social media campaigns for non-governmental organizations such as FOKUS, and has presented and contributed to a number of conferences and international media outlets.

Positions:

Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right

Research Assistant, Centre for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, Norway

Masters student at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), University of Oslo, Norway