Athira K. Babu is currently pursuing her doctoral research in Sanskrit Sahitya at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady focusing on how traditional Indian scholars approached abstract algebraic reasoning in texts such as Bījapallava.

Her ASPIRE project on Surd operations in Bījapallava is carried out in collaboration with Pondicherry University and the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) and she is currently affiliated to the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP). She is contributing to the Historical Atlas of metrology in south India by curating the Travancore inscriptions, as well as measuring instruments and their stories in the Malayalam speaking region.