Sociologist by training, Ruchira Das has extensively researched in the areas of sociology of education and urban sociology/mobility studies. Currently her research interests are in the areas of city, marginality, education and urban childhood, identity, schooling. She has taught in the department of Elementary Education, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi for almost 14 years.
Ruchira has been associated with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai as programme officer in the MA Elementary Education programme. She has authored a book on the social context of tribal education which is an ethnographic study of a Santal village in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. She has been offered a book proposal by Springer titled City, Marginality and Education which is again an ethnographic work on the migrant Tribes in Kolkata (ongoing). She has been involved with various research projects funded by SRTT, ICSSR and MHRD.
Ruchira has presented papers in various national and international platforms and has been invited as field expert/resource person in various organisations. She is a recipient of Junior Research Fellowship as well as Senior Research Fellowship from UGC, GOI. She is the Joint Secretary and Research Interest Groups (RIGs) coordinator of Comparative Education Society of India (CESI) affiliated to World Council for Comparative Education Societies.
She is the co-convener of the Research Interest Group (RIG) Education and Marginal groups.
Ruchira is also the external reviewer of the Journal Contemporary Education Dialogue, Sage.