Jonayed Rousan Mandal is a researcher specialising in urban geography, segregation, minority studies, the geography of violence, and post-conflict urban transformations. He recently completed his PhD in Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali.

His doctoral research, Minority Matters: A Historical Geography of Ghettoisation in Post-Colonial Calcutta, examines how communal violence, state policies, and everyday socio-spatial practices shape the formation and persistence of Muslim ghettos in the Indian city.

His academic and political propensities revolve around questions of urban marginality, the minority question, and urban informality, with a particular interest in how caste, religion, and labour shape and are shaped by everyday claims to space in contemporary Indian cities. His research interests lie at the intersection of urban political economy, urban transformation, democracy and inequality, and minority citizenship in the Global South.

Methodologically, he uses mixed-methods approaches that combine archival research, ethnography, participant observation, oral histories and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These methods allow him to examine both historical processes and contemporary lived experiences of marginality and inequality across urban space.

Jonayed has published in IESHR. He has presented his work at leading academic platforms, including the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) and different international seminars.