Shalini Randeria is an American-born[1] Indian anthropologist specializing in European colonialism and its aftermath.
[4][5] She is tenured as a professor of anthropology and sociology at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland and appointed as the rector of the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM) in Vienna, Austria.
Randeria succeeded Michael Ignatieff and became the first woman to serve as president of the university.
[8] In November 2024 Randeria resigned as a rector before the end of her term.
The official reason given was 'to spend more time with research[9]', however, according to media reports, she was pushed out by the board after intense internal criticism of her leadership including failing to find a campus for the university, ongoing financial troubles [10] and closing an award-winning education program for refugees, which led to a year of protests at the university.