Dr. Rakesh Ranjan

South Asia Regional Coordinator at Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

Speaker

Dr. Rakesh Ranjan is a labour migration specialist with over a decade of experience addressing worker welfare issues across South Asia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Southeast Asia. He currently serves as the South Asia Regional Coordinator for IHRB’s Shipping and Migrant Workers Programme, where he leads regional strategic engagement with shipping companies, crewing agencies, governments, and civil society to advance responsible recruitment and protect seafarers’ rights.

His work focuses on recruitment costs, debt bondage, and forced labour risks in global supply chains, and he has authored numerous articles, reports, and policy briefs that shape industry standards and inform government policy. His expertise also includes seafarer welfare, internal migration, and the intersection of labour mobility with business and human rights.

Dr. Ranjan holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, and has undertaken advanced research training at the European University Institute, Italy, and the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Indian Diaspora Homeland Engagement: Education and Healthcare Sector (Oxford University Press) and serves as a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism and the International Institute for Migration and Development.