Biography

Dr. Garima Sarkar is an Indian-Canadian political scientist, Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA), O.P. Jindal Global University, and Assistant Dean of International Collaborations. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from McMaster University, Canada, where her doctoral research examined gendered barriers in candidate selection and the role of informal party institutions in shaping women's political representation in India.

Her research lies at the intersection of comparative politics, political parties, elections, gender and politics, democratic representation, and South Asian politics. Her work focuses on candidate selection, informal political institutions, women's political representation, electoral integrity, party organization, political behaviour, and comparative democratic processes in South and Southeast Asia. More recently, her research has expanded to include political communication, electoral technologies, artificial intelligence and elections, political violence, immigration, and democratic resilience.

She is currently revising her doctoral dissertation into an academic monograph, which is under editorial development with an international academic publisher and is progressing through the publisher's review process. She is also engaged in collaborative research projects examining candidate selection, electoral behaviour, party politics, democratic institutions, political violence, immigration, and public attitudes in South Asia and Canada through interdisciplinary and comparative approaches.

Dr. Sarkar’s work has appeared in policy and public affairs outlets such as Australian Outlook and the New Delhi Post, where she writes on contemporary issues in comparative politics, elections, democratic governance, and public policy. Her research has been presented at major international conferences across North America, Europe, and Asia and has informed scholarly and policy debates on democratic representation, electoral, and party politics.

At O.P. Jindal Global University, Dr. Sarkar teaches courses in comparative politics, political parties, elections, democratization, globalization, research methods, gender and politics, and political communication. She currently teaches Research Design and Methods for the Ph.D. programme at JSIA, Comparative Political Systems and Identity and Elections: Comparative Perspectives in the M.A. in Electoral Analysis and Management jointly offered by the Jindal School of International Affairs and the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, and Parties, Politics and Stakeholders in the M.A. in Political Communication offered by the Jindal School of Journalism and Communication. She is actively involved in curriculum development, online programme design, and interdisciplinary pedagogy, with a strong emphasis on bridging academic research and public policy.

In addition to her teaching, Dr. Sarkar supervises Master's theses in the M.A. in International Relations, Security and Strategy programme, mentoring students on their research design, comparative politics, and public policy. She also mentors international exchange students supporting their academic research and cross-cultural learning experiences at JGU. 

As an Assistant Dean of International Collaborations representing her school, Dr. Sarkar plays a key role in advancing JSIA's global engagement strategy by fostering international academic partnerships, research collaborations, faculty exchanges, student mobility programmes, and institutional agreements with universities and research organizations across North America, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific. She has also coordinated international conferences, faculty development programmes, and collaborative initiatives aimed at strengthening the University's global academic partnerships.

Dr. Sarkar's current research examines how formal and informal political institutions, party organizations, electoral systems, and political communication shape democratic representation, governance, and public trust in diverse societies. Through her scholarship, teaching, and international collaborations, she seeks to contribute to comparative political science while informing contemporary debates on democracy, representation, and inclusive governance.