Professor Pritam Singh

Pritam's main areas of teaching interest and expertise are: development economics, environmental economics, comparative economic systems and competing economic paradigms. Pritam has developed new modules in these fields both at UG and PG levels while at Oxford Brookes University. Pritam takes keen interest in pedagogic theory and practice. In particular, he has explored the dimensions of equal opportunities in teaching concerning curriculum, teaching methodologies and assessment of student performance. He won internal funding to undertake two pedagogic research projects during 2006-07. He is on the editorial board of Brookes eJournal of Teaching and Learning and the International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education and has co-edited (with M Pearl) a book on pedagogic research (Equal Opportunities in the Curriculum, Oxford, 1999). He was invited to give the key note address at an international conference on Teaching Methodologies in India and Abroad at Baba Farid University, Bathinda, Punjab in India in January 2010 where he spoke on ‘Teaching methodogies: some lessons from the comparative experience of teaching in India and the UK'. Pritam was an external advisor on the validation panels for economics and business degrees at Coventry University and the City University of Birmingham. He is on the Managing Committee of the Association for Heterodox Economics (UK) which endeavours to promote pluralism and diversity in economics teaching and research in the UK and abroad.

Pritam is actively involved in doctoral student supervision as Director of Studies with having supervised three PhDs to successful completion and currently supervising as Director of Studies seven PhD students including one from Burgundy Business School, Dijon and one by publication route. Pritam's research interests include theoretical and empirical work in the areas of migration, poverty reduction, sustainability and human development. He is also interested in supervising in the areas of rising importance of BRICS economies, federalism and development, and political economy of human rights. He has externally examined PhDs for universities in the UK, Ireland, India and Pakistan. He is also on the supervisory/examination committee of a Phd student at the State University of New Jersey, Rutgers, New Brunswick, USA.

Details of PhD completions:

1. Michael Ochurub, Education and Development in Namibia Post Independence Period, 2001 (as a supervisor).
2. V.K. Mensah, The Impact of Culture and Government Policies on Ghana's Economic Development, 2008 (as the Director of Studies).
3. Lok Nath Bhusal, ‘The Underestimation of Poverty in the Low-income Countries and its Policy Implications for Social and Economic Security (with case study from Nepal)', January 2012 (as the Director of Studies).

Pritam leads the research cluster on Environmental and Development Economics. Pritam's work is currently focussed on two main areas: one, the sustainability implications of the spatial shift taking place in global capitalism, and two, Indian capitalism with emphasis on decentralisation and human rights and with special reference to Punjab. His two recent books Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab economy (London/New York: Routledge, 2008; Special Indian Reprint 2009), and Economy, Culture and Human Rights: Turbulence in Punjab, India and Beyond (Delhi: Three Essays Collective, 2010) have received critical acclaim as path breaking works of scholarship. Both the books are being translated in other languages. His book Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab Economy brings together ground breaking methodological approaches and field level data to add new dimensions to the understanding of federal modes of governance and the development process, particularly in India. As one reviewer (in Economic and Political Weekly) has commented, ‘The book is one of those rare academic publications which have the potential to make history'. His Economy, Culture and Human Rights: Turbulence in Punjab, India and Beyond marshals diverse theory and evidence drawn from economics, political science, moral philosophy, and history to make a case for understanding human rights as intrinsically important rather than simply as a means to achieve a given set of economic and political goals. This book was the subject of over half an hour  TV interview with Pritam on Sky/Sikh Channel. His edited books Punjabi Identity in a Global Context (with S Thandi) (Oxford University Press, 1999, Reprint 2015) and Equal Opportunities in the Curriculum (with M Pearl) (Oxford Brookes University, 1999) were pioneering works in their respective fields. His research articles and reviews have appeared in various journals includingCommonwealth and Comparative Politics, Contemporary South Asia, Economic and Political Weekly, International Journal of Green Economics, International Journal of Punjab Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Peasant Studies, Strategic Change: Briefings in Entrepreneurial Finance and Third World Quarterly.

• Singh, P. (2014) 'How Centre-State Relations Shape Punjab’s Development Pattern'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Rejuvenation of Punjab Economy, Patiala, India, March.
• Singh, P. (2014) 'Changing Social Values and Political Culture in Punjab: with special emphasis on the period since 1966'. Paper presented at the (Re-) Building Punjab: Political Economy, Society and Values, Santa Cruz, March.
• Singh, P. (2013) 'Political economy of centralisation and decentralisation in India'. Paper presented at the Moscow Economic History Group, Moscow, October.
• Singh, P. (2013) 'Spatial shift in the global economy and its consequences for global sustainability: understanding the rise of BRICS economies'. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Development, St Petersburg, September.
• Singh, P. (2013) 'An eco-socialist reading of the rising importance of BRICS in the global capitalist economy'. Paper presented at the 8th Forum of the World Association of Political Economy, Florianopolis, Brazil, May.
• Singh, P. (2013) 'An Eco-socialist perspective on the global crisis'. Paper presented at the New Cultures of the Left conference organised by Historical Materialism, Delhi, April.
• Singh, P. (2012) 'Class, nation and religion: changing nature of Akali Dal politics in Punjab, India'. Paper presented at the The 22nd European Conference on South Asian Studies, Lisbon, July.
• Singh, P. (2012) 'Alternative Theoretical Perspectives on the Spatial Shift in the Global Economy and Their Sustainability Implications'. Paper presented at the Joint conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics, International Initiative on Political Economy, French Association of Political Economy and the World Association of Political Economy, University of Sorbonne, Paris, July.
• Singh, P. (2012) 'Federalism and the Indian mode of accumulation: probing the role of state and nation'. Paper presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the British Association of South Asian Studies, London, April.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Federalism and the Indian mode of accumulation: probing the role of state and nation'. Paper presented at the Eighth Annual Conference of Historical Materialism on ‘Spaces of Capital, Moments of Struggle, London, November.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Federalism and the Indian mode of accumulation: probing the role of state and nation'. Paper presented at the Eighth Annual Conference of Historical Materialism on ‘Spaces of Capital, Moments of Struggle, London, November.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Instrumentalist versus intrinsic worth conception of human rights: the context of India and Punjab'. Paper presented at the Biannual Conference of Punjab Research Group (UK), Oxford, October.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'The Spatial Shift in the Global Economy: Sustainability Implications'. Paper presented at the Oxford Brookes Business School - Burgundy Business School Joint Research Conference, Dijon, May.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Political economy of religion and nationalism in the Sikhs’ engagement with different forms of centralised state power'. Paper presented at the 25th Conference of the British Association of South Asian Studies, Southampton, April.
• Bhusal, L. N. and Singh, P. (2011) 'Exploring the role of external factors in the development process: A study of the role of India and China on Nepal’s development'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Peace, Security and Economic Development at Dept of Defence and Strategic Studies, Patiala, Punjab, India, March.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Alternative economic perspectives on the sustainability implications of the global economic crisis and the spatial shift in the global capitalist economy'. Paper presented at the Left Forum Annual Conference, New York, March.
• Singh, P. (2011) 'Defying development that degrades the environment: applying the Sikh vision of living with nature'. Paper presented at the ESRC Seminar: ‘Environmental Sustainability in Non-Western Contexts: An Inter-disciplinary Event, Salford, March.
• Singh, P. (2010) 'Socialism in India: Theoretical and political perspectives'. Paper presented at the Nanterre University, Paris, September.
• Singh, P. (2010) 'Federalism and the Indian mode of accumulation: Probing the role of the state and nation'. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Political Economy, Rethymnon, Crete, September.
• Singh, P. (2010) 'Shariah and the Euro-centricity of Development Paradigms'. Paper presented at the Conference on Shariah and Human Rights, Oxford Brookes, June.
• Singh, P. (2010) 'Teaching methodologies: some lessons from the comparative experience of teaching in India and the West'. Paper presented at the International conference on Teaching Methodologies, Baba Farid Group of Institutes, Bathinda, January.
• Singh, P. (2009) 'Food crisis as a part of global economic crisis- China- India competition for African land and resources'. Paper presented at the International conference on Global Crisis and Africa organised by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa, November.
• Singh, P. (2009) 'Political Economy of the Cycles of Federal Conflicts in India'. Paper presented at the Conference on 'Humanity, Development and Cultural Diversity' organised by the 16th World Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Kunming, China, July.
• Singh, P. (2009) 'Development as a common issue in ethno-nationalist conflicts'. Paper presented at the The International Workshop on 'A Human Rights and Peace Audit of Partitions as a Method of Conflict Resolution', Nepal, March.
• Singh, P. (2009) 'In defence of organic farming'. Paper presented at the Inaugural Conference of the Institute of Development and Communication, Chandigarh, India, January.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Interrogating Marxian, Neo-classical and Green perspectives on the contradictory implications of Third World/Asian development and poverty for global sustainability'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Development, Punjabi University, Patiala, India, November.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Intrinsic worth versus instrumentalist conception of human rights'. Paper presented at the Conference on 'Understanding impunity: failures and possibilities of rights to truth, justice and reparation' organised jointly by the South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Hong Kong and the International Council for Development Research, Canada, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Chandigarh, India, October.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Indian capitalism in a global context'. Paper presented at the Conference on 'Is Capitalism soon over' at the International Forum on Globalisation, San Francisco, USA, October.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Federalism, policy regimes and regional development: An exploratory study of Punjab and Bihar in the pre-1991 and post-1991 policy regimes'. Paper presented at the 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, University of Manchester, July.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Shifting balance and the current crises of global capitalism'. Paper presented at the Socio-ecological models of the future: Theoretical conceptions and practical programs, organised jointly by Praxis, the Research and Education Centre of the Victor Serge Library in Moscow, and the XXI Century Centre for Ecological Education and the International Socio-Ecological Union, Crimea, Ukraine, July.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Reading Guru Granth Sahib: some observations'. Paper presented at the Bi-annual Conference of the Association of Punjab Studies, Coventry, June.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Federalism and regional conflicts in South Asia - two presentations'. Paper presented at the South Asian Workshop on 'Partition as a mode of conflict resolution and audit of peace accords in South Asia, organised jointly by Canada's International Development Research Council and South Asia's South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Kathmandu, Nepal, March.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'NIC model of development: Some lessons for other developing economies'. Paper presented at the International Institute of Management and Technology, Delhi, India, March.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Will globalisation strengthen or weaken centralisation in India?'. Paper presented at the British Association of South Asian Studies Annual Conference, University of Leicester, March.
• Singh, P. (2008) 'Is Third World poverty conducive or hindrance to global sustainability?'. Paper presented at the Social Aspects of Green Economics Conference, Mansfield College, Oxford, February.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Gandhi vs Bhagat Singh: Two contesting discourses during Inda's freedom struggle'. Paper presented at the Bi-annual Conference of the Punjab Research Group, University of Manchester, October.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Political economy of the conflict between centralisation and decentralisation in India before and after 1991'. Paper presented at the an annual workshop on Post-Exotic India: A New Narrative in Making (Invited paper), Roskilde University, Denmark, September.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Competing nationalisms in the contestation over Sikh role in 1857'. Paper presented at the Mutiny on the Margins International Conference, University of Edinburgh, July.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Imperialism, uneven development and sustainability'. Paper presented at the Conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics, Bristol, July.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Poverty, global inequality and sustainability'. Paper presented at the Global Poverty Research Group and Brooks World Poverty Institute Conference on Poverty and Capital, University of Manchester, July.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Researching international development contributions to intellectual self-satisfaction, curriculum development and external recognition'. Paper presented at the Oxford Brookes University Business School Annual Conference, Oxford, June.
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Contradictory implications of Third World poverty for global sustainability'. Proceedings of the Second International Green Economics Conference, Mansfield College, Oxford, April, pp. , ISBN
• Singh, P. (2007) 'Food self-sufficiency objective of India's green revolution; Context and implications for the Indian state's politics and development strategy in post-independent India'. Paper presented at the Beyond Independence: South Asia, 1947-77, Royal Holloway College, University of London, April.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Global inequality, capitalism and sustainability: Interrogating Marxian and Green theoretical traditions'. Paper presented at the World Philosophy Congress, University of Delhi, India, December.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Implications of global warming for Indian economy with special reference to Punjab'. Paper presented at the Punjabi University, Patiala, India, December.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'North-South inequality global capitalism and sustainability: Some criticisms of the Marxist and Green perspectives'. Paper presented at the Department of Economics and the Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, October.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Delhi's policies on Punjabi economic development: pre-1947 and post-1947 compared'. Paper presented at the South Asia History Seminar Series Programme, Balliol College, University of Oxford, October.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'North-South inequality, global capitalism and sustainability: transcending Marxian and Green perspectives or synthesizing the two?'. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics, London School of Economics, July.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Deepening capitalism in Punjab's rural society: unleashing development, degradation and resistance'. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the South Asian Anthropologists' Group, Goldsmiths College, London, July.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Political economy of the conflict between centrist-nationalism and state-based nationalisms'. Paper presented at the 19th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Leiden, Netherlands, July.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Researching for a 'third way' in Indian political economy: initial inspiration, writing the paper and dilemmas about publishing'. Paper presented at the Annual Business Conference, Oxford Brookes University, June.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'Political economy of the cycles of violence and non-violence in Sikh struggle for identity and political power'. Paper presented at the European Social Science History Conference, Amsterdam, March.
• Singh, P. (2006) 'A discussant note on Barbara Harriss-White's paper 'The market driven politics of renewable energy''. Paper presented at the International Workshop on the Ecological Challenge and its Political Economy, Wolfson College, Oxford, February.
• Singh, P. (2005) 'Political economy of the conflict between centralising and decentralising tendencies in India'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution in South Asia, Chandigarh, India, December.
• Singh, P. (2005) 'Gender bias in curriculum and research in Higher Education: Reflections with special reference to the area of development studies'. Paper presented at the Fourth European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, August.
• Singh, P. (2005) 'Political economy of violence and non-violence in Sikh struggle for identity and political power'. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of Punjab Studies (UK), University of Oxford, June.
• Singh, P. (2005) 'Political economy of centralisation in India: some critical notes from a decentralist perspective'. Paper presented at the Annual Research Conference of the Business School, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, June.
• Singh, P. (2004) 'Cycles of violence and non-violence in the Sikh struggle for identity and political power'. Paper presented at the 50th Anniversary Conference of the British Association for the Study of Religions, Harris Manchester College, The University of Oxford, September.
• Singh, P. (2004) 'River, religion and region: conflict over river water resources between Pubjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and the Centre in India'. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Association for South Asian Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, April.
• Singh, P. (2003) 'Changing contours of Sikh/Akali politics in Punjab'. Paper presented at the Conference on Identity, Rights and Justice, Oxford, June.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'Conceptions of health and illness among Indian Punjabi peasants, refereed a'. Paper presented at the World Conference on Ethnotherapies: Institute of Ethnomedicine, Munich University, October.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'Partnership or competition: what role can Britain play in creating a global economy that works for all?'. Paper presented at the Oxford Union, Oxford Economic Forum, October.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'A critical evaluation of the Marxist theory of needs from an environmental perspective'. Paper presented at the Conference on Markets and the Environment, Oxford, June.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'Capital, state and nation in federalism: the context of India'. Paper presented at the UN Funded Venkatarangaiya Foundation, Hyderabad, India, April.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'Inter-State economic disparities and their implications for Indian federalism'. Paper presented at the Centre for Developing Societies, Delhi, India, April.
• Singh, P. (2002) 'Gender and caste equality in Sikhism: theory and practice'. Paper presented at the Bi-Annual Conference of the Association of Punjab Studies, Coventry University, March.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'The political economy of human rights, with special reference to India and other parts of South Asia'. Paper presented at the Centre for Democracy Studies, Oxford Brookes University, December.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'Regional inequalities in India'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Comparative Development Experiences of India and China, University of Lancaster in the Lake District, October.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'Group rights, secessionism/autonomy and national integrity: interrogating discourses on group and human rights of the Sikhs in post-colonial India'. Paper presented at the International Conference on Rights of Groups and Differentiated Citizenship, University of Stockholm, Sweden, September.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'Costs of nuclearisation in South Asia'. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Pakistan, Wolfson College, Oxford, July.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'Dialectics of regional inequalities and nation-building in India'. Paper presented at the British Association of South Asian Studies, Coventry University, March.
• Singh, P. (2001) 'Capitalist modernisation and religious revivalism in the Punjab'. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Pakistan, University of East Anglia, Norwich, March.

Pritam has a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford (Oriel College) where he was awarded the Edward Boyle/Charles Wallace Scholarship. He took his BA Hons School in Economics and MA Hons School in Economics degrees from Panjab University, Chandigarh (India). He was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission in India to study at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi from where he passed his Mphil with distinction. Before coming to Oxford, he has taught at University of Delhi as a Lecturer in Economics and at Panjab University, Chandigarh as a Reader in Economics. In 2007, he was elected as a Research Associate at the Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, and in 2009, he was a Visiting Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and in 2013 at Moscow State University, Moscow. He leads the research cluster on Environmental and Development Economics in the Department.

Awarded Emeritus Professor at Oxford Brookes University 2018