Gifts for the researcher or policy person in your life

Researchers, academics, policy analysts, think-tank staff, PhD students and professors are hard people to buy for. Most of them read and write for most of the day, their desks are already crowded, and many hold firm views about pens. A book is a risky choice for someone who owns hundreds and picks their reading with care.

The gifts that suit them are objects that make long hours at a desk a little more pleasant. They should be well made and come with a story the recipient can tell, and they should look as if a person chose them for this particular reader.

The six picks below are grouped by where they will sit, from the desk to the bookshelf, and end with a short list of gifts to avoid.

For the desk

A researcher looks at their desk for most of the working day, so anything placed on it will be seen every day for years.

A folding book stand is something researchers seldom buy for themselves and use constantly once they own one. It holds a reference book open while they type, keeps a heavy volume at a readable angle, and folds flat when it is not needed. This one is sold under the ADA Handicraft brand and is handmade from sheesham wood, which the listing also calls rosewood. The listing says it is made by artisans in Saharanpur and carved with jali work of flowers and leaves. Six versions in 12 inch and 13 inch sizes were in stock on 6 October at ₹379 to ₹630. The smallest measures 26 by 13.5 by 15 cm and weighs 480 g.

A handmade pen stand in place of a plastic pen pot is a small change that its owner notices every time they reach for a pen. iTokri's pen stand section had 74 listings in stock on 6 October, and 71 of them cost between ₹590 and ₹1,450. They include Madhubani designs painted on wood and on papier-mâché, Mandana designs on papier-mâché, natural-dyed Kalamkari and blue pottery. For someone who would prefer metal, the same section lists a Dokra pen stand from Odisha, cast in brass alloy by the lost-wax method, for ₹2,890.

For the writing habit

Many researchers still think and take notes on paper, and people who write by hand notice paper quality more than most. This hardbound notebook is made by Bindaas Unlimited and sold through iTokri. Its cover is cotton fabric block-printed in the Bagru style, and the listing says the paper inside "is made of cotton, paper and other natural fibre waste recycled in an eco-friendly manner without the use of chemicals." It measures 18 by 13 cm, has 60 ruled pages and cost ₹500 on 6 October. Read our full notebooks guide for more options.

Most academics mark their place with torn paper strips and sticky notes, and a well-made bookmark is a small thing they will use every day. iTokri's bookmark section had 226 listings in stock on 6 October, priced from ₹250 to ₹850. A hand-carved sheesham wood bookmark from Bijnor, made by Bindaas Unlimited, costs ₹350, measures 14 by 4 cm and weighs about 10 g. Hand-painted Madhubani bookmarks cost ₹390, and Madhubani designs painted on wood cost ₹690 to ₹850.

For the shelf

Researchers' shelves are mostly books, with room for one or two small objects between them. Those objects should be small enough to fit between spines and interesting enough that a visitor asks about them.

A small Dhokra figure fits between book spines and tends to prompt a question about where it came from, which suits people who enjoy explaining things. Dhokra is cast by the lost-wax method, in which a wax model is replaced by molten metal. The method itself is more than 4,000 years old in the subcontinent. Smarthistory dates the bronze Dancing Girl from Mohenjo-daro, which was made using lost-wax casting, to 2700 to 2100 BCE. iTokri's Dokra decor section listed no horses or elephants on 6 October. It did list small brass alloy figures from Odisha by Ashoka Assemble. A seated woman 7.5 cm tall costs ₹950, and a woman reading a book, 10 cm tall, costs ₹2,790.

A Kondapalli Ambari is a painted wooden elephant carrying a howdah, and in this one a king sits on top. Lepakshi, the shop of the Andhra Pradesh Handicrafts Development Corporation, sells it carved from Tella Poniki softwood for ₹735. It measures 8.5 by 4 by 8 inches and weighs 180 g, which is light and small enough for a desk corner or a gap on a shelf. The NTR district administration dates the craft to "nearly four centuries" ago, and Kondapalli Bommallu are registered as a Geographical Indication (GI application 44). Read more in our Kondapalli guide.

What not to give

• Books, unless you know their interests closely. Their reading is personal, and they already own a great deal of it.
• Motivational desk objects. A "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" paperweight is an odd gift for someone who has spent years on a dissertation.
• Cheap fountain pens. People who use fountain pens already have views on them, and for people who do not, a pen with no introduction is one more thing to maintain. The Pilot Metropolitan is the exception as a first fountain pen. Indian pen shops listed it at about ₹1,700 to ₹2,500 in October 2026.
• Candles, bath bombs and essential oils. They say little about the person, and the picks above are chosen for the way researchers work.