Singh Sidhu has been researching the social history of Punjab. His doctoral thesis ‘Contesting Visions of Sikh Identity’ examined the sub-discipline of ‘Sikh Studies’.

Striving to unravel the Idea of Punjab, Sumail is stitching together the Punjabi radical intellectual tradition. A disciple of the legendary Punjabi author S. Jaswant Singh Kanwal, Sumail is figuring out the ‘agrarian’ aesthetic in Punjabi literature.
His hermeneutic reading of Heer Waris Shah resulted in a celebrated essay in 2018 ‘Heervanne Punjab Di Sirjana…’ , which continues to be at the heart of conversations about Punjabi cultural formation.

Sumail is interested in retrieving the pre-colonial textual traditions; interrogating the colonial constructions and the post-colonial academia while engaging with literary culture of Punjabi.

Currently, he is the Director of ADARA 23 MARCH, a platform engaged in building a sustainable culture of ideas in Punjab. Anchoring substantive issues, he is organising an annual festival of ideas, the Puranmashi Punjabi Jorr Mela at village Dhudike which is now in its fourth year.