Manan Ahmed is an Associate Professor of History at Columbia University, specializing in South Asian intellectual history and the philosophy of history. His work focuses on how historical narratives shape ideas of place and identity, particularly in the medieval and early modern periods. He is the author of A Book of Conquest, The Loss of Hindustan, and Disrupted City, a walking history of Lahore.

At the Data Science Institute, Ahmed contributes to digital history initiatives that integrate spatial and textual analysis. He co-founded the Group for Experimental Methods in the Humanities and collaborates on projects that use computational tools to uncover overlooked narratives and archives.