Profiles of Speakers

Dr Dhruva Jaishankar
Director of the US Initiative at ORF

Dr. Dhruva Jaishankar was a fellow in foreign policy studies at Brookings India in New Delhi and the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He is the director of the US Initiative at Observer Research Foundation and is a non-resident fellow with the Lowy Institute in Australia. His research examines India’s role in the international system and the effects of global developments on India’s politics, economics, and society, with a particular focus on India’s relations with the United States, the Indo-Pacific, and Europe. His past positions - Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Brookings India, and He was a Fellow, Brookings Institution (Washington DC), Visiting Fellow, South Asia Programme S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University at Singapore, Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund (Washington DC), Programme Officer for Asia and German Marshall Fund Research Assistant, Brookings Institution, Washington DC Reporter, CNN-IBN, New Delhi. He completed his BA from Macalester College and MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University. Dhruva has been a David Rockefeller Fellow with the Trilateral Commission and an IISS-SAIS Merrill Centre Young Strategist. He contributes regularly to Indian and international media on security and international affairs.

Dr Satoru Nagao
Visiting Fellow at Hudson Institute, US

Dr. Satoru Nagao is a  Research Fellow at Institute for Future Engineering (strategy, Défense policy), Visiting Research Fellow at Research Institute for Oriental Cultures in Gakushuin University, Research Fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, Associate at Society of Security and Diplomatic Policy Studies, Research Fellow at Security and Strategy Research Institute for Japan, Senior Fellow at Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka, Senior Research Fellow of Indian Military Review. He was Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies, in Washington D.C. Furthermore, he was Research Fellow at The Tokyo Foundation and the Ocean Policy Research Foundation in Tokyo, was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research Institute for Oriental Cultures at Gakushuin University, and was teaching at Gakushuin University, Aoyama-Gakuin University and Komazawa University as Lecturer. He was also Security Analyst at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), a First Lieutenant of the Japan Ground Self Défense Forces (Japanese Army). His expertise areas are - South Asia, East Asia & the Pacific, Défense Strategy, Security Alliances, International Relations and Military Procurement and Technology. Mr. Nagao has authored numerous books and articles on security issues, and he also writes for a column “Age of Japan-India ‘Alliance’ at Nikkei Business, the journal of one of Japan’s leading newspapers.

Dr Pankaj Jha
Associate Professor at Jindal School of International Affairs

Dr Pankaj Jha was Director (Research) with Indian Council of World Affairs for more than two and half years. He had worked as Deputy Director with National Security Council Secretariat (2012-2013) and was closely associated with national security apparatus in India. He has been member of high-level delegations to UK, Israel and other countries. He has been the visiting fellow with Centre for International Security Studies, Sydney University (2009) and Institute for South Asian Studies, Singapore (2006). He has also given lectures and participated in high level dialogues in Germany, Belgium, China, New Zealand, and Australia. He has more than 80 articles/academic papers in both refereed and non–refereed journals. He is regularly quoted in International Newspapers/Magazines such as Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, Bangkok Post, Gulf News and International Business Times etc. He has authored two books on India and China in Southeast Asia: Competition or Cooperation (2013) and India and the Oceania: Exploring Vistas of Cooperation (2016).

Dr Pramod Jaiswal
Research Director, NIICE

Dr. Pramod Jaiswal is Research Director at Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement. He has been regular and visiting faculty at different universities of Nepal (Tribhuvan University and Pokhara University) and China (China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing; Fudan University, Shanghai and Tongji University, Shanghai). He is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi. Previously, he has worked with Manohar Parikkar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi and as Delhi Correspondent with the Rising Nepal. He is the Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of International Affairs, Kathmandu; Member of the Academic Committee at the Pangoal Institution, Beijing; Member of International Advisory Committee, Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, Macedonia; and the Member of the Editorial Board, Gandhara Journal of Research in Social Science, Pakistan and member of Subject Committee of International Relations and Diplomacy, Tribhuvan University. He holds Masters, M. Phil and PhD from School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has authored, edited and co-edited around dozens of books on China and South Asia affairs.

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