Ajailiu Niumai  is Professor of Sociology and Head, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy, University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad, and Senior Research Associate, Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (2022-2025). She is Member, Managing Committee of Indian Sociological Society (2020-2025) and has been the Convenor of RC-04 Migration & Diaspora Studies, ISS (2016-2019). She is an active Member of the International Sociological Association. Currently, she is Member, Board of Governors, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, the Executive Council Member, Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh and the Advisory Committee Member of various Universities in India. She is also the Honorary Adjunct Professor, Department of Science and Humanities, National Institute of Technology, Nagaland (2020-2023). Previously, she has served as Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UoH (2000-2009), and she is one of the pioneers of the Centre for Women’s Studies, UoH (2007), and North East India Sociological Association (2022). Her research interests include Gender Studies, Indian Diaspora, North East India Studies, NGOs and Development. UGC awarded her the Raman Postdoctoral Fellowship in USA (2013) and the Collaborative Arts and Research Translation for Humane Advancement, USA, awarded her ‘First Fellow’ grant (2006). She has published several articles/chapters in edited books and journals like EPW, Indian Journal of Gender Studies (Sage), Sociological Bulletin (Sage), The Eastern Anthropologist and the like. She is a Guest Editor of the Special Volume on Gender and Social Exclusion, Journal of Social and Economic Development (2023) by Springer Nature. Her book (with Prof. Abha Chauhan) on “Gender, Law and Social Transformation in India,” was published by Springer Nature (2022). Her forthcoming book is on “Human Trafficking: Untold Stories of Trafficked Survivors from North East India” by Routledge (2023).