Alka Raman is an economic and social historian researching technological change in global economic history. She is particularly interested in technological developments in cotton manufacturing in India and Britain. She obtained her PhD from the London School of Economics in 2021 and is currently lecturer (research and teaching) in the Department of History at University College London. Her research interests include import substitution, industrialisation, labour-intensive industrialisation, women and entrepreneurship, as well as the Atlantic economy.