Kerala: Karthu Anil Chandran Geethambili, a native of Alappuzha, has been awarded the prestigious Clarendon Scholarship at the University of Oxford, worth approximately ₹1.8 crore. The Clarendon Fund is one of the most competitive fully funded graduate scholarship programmes at Oxford, with around 200 scholarships awarded globally each year.

Karthu, who is pursuing Anthropology at Oxford, completed her early schooling in Dubai and earned a Bachelor's in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Tuljapur. She described her time at TISS as transformative. "TISS helped me reassert the scholar within," she said. She later completed a Master's degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on a partial scholarship.

At Oxford, she is working under Professor Alpa Shah, whose research on indigenous rights has influenced her academic direction. Karthu has chosen Wayanad and nearby regions for her research, citing their historical significance in understanding indigenous life and displacement in South India.

"In a world where women, Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities continue to face discrimination, we must learn to question and rethink many inherited ideas," she said. Her advice to students is to focus on a strong research proposal and stay in touch with professors for guidance.

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