R. (Ritumbra) Manuvie, Dr

I am an Assistant Professor at University College Groningen (UCG), where I teach interdisciplinary courses that examine how legal systems, civic action, and technology shape contemporary societies. My academic journey has been guided by a deep concern for justice, governance, and the twin transition that we are undergoing. Coming from an Indian middle-class urban family I my teaching and research values are deeply impacted by my experiences, as a woman (growing up in a highly patriarchal state of Haryana), and as an educated urban class (growing up in a family of fiercely secular social-justice warriors).

My current research is situated at the intersection of law, public policy, and digital rights, with a particular focus on democracy and its future. My projects currently look at (a) utilization of AI in healthcare where I interogate the political structures that will impact the just utilization and how human rights frameworks can be our guiding values (arguing in favour of universalism, in a highly fragmented world); (b) political power of platforms, where I investigate the distortion of democracy and information through tactical disinformation. Here, I combine public policy and politics for sense-making and advocating for stronger and meaningful regulatory frameworks.
Before joining the University of Groningen, I was a Commonwealth Doctoral Scholar at the University of Edinburgh(2018). I critically examined the governance architectures responding to climate-related migration in India’s Northeast, engaging with statehood, displacement, and climate justice theories. This line of work later developed into a Springer monograph (2023) that interrogated the nature of citizenship and state care.

Before that, I had collaborated with Professor N.H. Ravindranath at the Indian Institute of Science on a research project examining the feasibility of biofuel production in India. This work investigated the implications of biofuel expansion for land use, food security, and environmental justice, aligning with wider critiques of “green grabs” and sustainable development paradoxes.

Beyond academia, I am the co-founder and director of Stichting The London Story, a nonprofit organisation led by the Indian diaspora, dedicated to exposing and addressing human rights violations. In this capacity, I have engaged with international civil society and high-level policy actors within the EU and India, advocating for accountability and transparency. Much of my advocacy has translated into concrete policy actions within the human rights mandate. It has allowed me the privilege of learning (from experience) that I often bring to my classrooms.

I see my work as an academic and activist as contributing to a growing body of scholarship that interrogates how environmental crisis, digital transformation, and the enduring struggle for human rights are reshaping humanity's future. Whether in the classroom or in my research, I am committed to fostering critical inquiry and cultivating scholarly engagements that are both locally grounded and globally resonant.