Aditi Gupta is a PhD candidate in French Studies. Her forthcoming thesis will shine a light on the life and work of Jean-Baptiste Gentil (1726-1799), a French East India Company officer who spent twenty-five years in different parts of India, where he constituted his collection of manuscripts, art albums, maps, and material culture from the subcontinent. 

This project is fully funded by the AHRC Oxford-Open-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership and the Clarendon Fund. 

Prior to beginning doctoral study at Oxford, she obtained a BA in French Language and Civilisation and an MA in French Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her research interests include travel writing, life writing, history of collections, history of the book, and material culture.