Search

Nihar Kulkarni is an Intern with the Health Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.

Niharika is an Economic Associate at Koan Advisory Group a New Delhi-based consultancy. Her current research focus includes sustainability gender issues international trade and development.

Nikhat Shaikh is the Director of the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Children Programme at the Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action

Nikhil Goveas is Head of Special Projects at Koan Advisory Group a New Delhi-based consultancy. Nikhil leads Koan's work on agriculture and sustainability.

Nikhil Kaura is Chief Manager strategy and corporate affairs at Samsung South West Asia HQ. He has over nine years of experience across quantitative research business development and marketing corporate strategy and public policy. He has to his credit several policy engagements at top government levels which include major initiatives like electronics development policy. Nikhil has previously worked with leading global research groups like GFK and TNS: consumer companies like Dabur and Gionee in the sphere of data driven discussion making strategy formulations and management. His recent focus has been on foreign trade manufacturing data protection and emerging technologies.

Nikhil Pahwa is the Founder Editor and Publisher of MediaNama (www.medianama.com) the leading publication for news and analysis on the evolving digital ecosystemin India. Nikhil is also a TED Fellow as well as a co-founder with SaveTheInternet.inand Internet Freedom Foundation.

Nikhil Raymond Puri is an independent researcher and risk consultant. He obtained his PhD in Politics from the University of Oxford.

Nikhil Sharma Senior Vice President (Engineering) GIST Impact

Nikhila Natarajan is Senior Programme Manager for Media and Digital Content with ORF America. Her work focuses on the future of jobs current research in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence digital innovation and strategy. Nikhila also tracks Americas political faultlines.

Nikit Abhyankar is co-faculty director of the India Energy and Climate Centre  at University of California, Berkeley.

Nikita Jain is an Indian Economic Service officer trainee

Nikita is an advocacy & communication strategist, with over two decades of cross-sectoral expertise committed to driving transformative change. At The Leprosy Mission Trust India, she leads impactful advocacy initiatives, to inform and influence public policy at both national and state level, to increase political, public, and social support for people affected by leprosy, and to facilitate development of change agents.

Email: [email protected] 

Dr Nilanjan Ghosh heads Development Studies at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and serves as the operational and executive head of ORF’s Kolkata Centre. He was the Director of ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy. With over two decades of experience across policy research, corporate, and academia, his career spans senior roles as Senior Fellow at ORF, Senior Vice President & Chief Economist at the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited, and faculty positions at the TERI School of Advanced Studies. Between 2015 and 2020, he played a formative role in shaping WWF India’s Ecological Economics’ analytical and policy orientations.

Nilanjan has held several high-level global and national roles that reflect his standing at the intersection of global economic governance, sustainability, and development finance. These include Member of the Global Future Council on the Future of Nature and Security at the World Economic Forum (2023–24); Co-Chair of Task Force 3 on International Financial Architecture under Think20 during Brazil’s G20 Presidency (2024); Member of the Board of Country Representatives of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2024–25); and Member of the Research Advisory Committee, WWF India (2023–25). He also served as President of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) (2022–24) and as Director of the Think20 India Secretariat during India’s G20 Presidency in 2023, where he helped steer policy deliberations on global economic and development challenges. In 2021, he was appointed to the Expert Committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India for valuing trees.

Nilanjan has taught at leading institutions in India (IIM Calcutta) and Europe (Linnaeus University) and has visited Stanford University (USA) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). Nilanjan has advised a range of international organisations, research councils, UN bodies, and global conservation and development institutions.

Widely recognised for his works in the domains of ecological economics and development finance, Nilanjan holds a PhD in Resource Economics from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. His work seeks to bridge rigorous economic analysis with real-world policy design, foregrounding interdisciplinary thinking, institutional reform, and pragmatic pathways for sustainable and inclusive development.

Nilanjan Gupta is a research fellow in the History Department of Jadavpur University. His research focus is on issues of mobility and the development of science and technology during the colonial period. He has recently concluded his M. Phil research at Jadavpur University.

Nilanjana Das is a Research Intern with the Observer Research Foundation in India.

Nilanthi Samaranayake is Director of the Strategy and Policy Analysis Program at CNA a non-profit research organisation in the Washington area. She studies non-traditional security issues including disaster relief and resilience. The views expressed are solely those of the author and not of any organisation with which she is affiliated.

Nilesh Bane was a research fellow at ORFs Mumbai Centre.

Nilüfer Koç was born on March 10, 1969, in Ardahan, northern Kurdistan (Turkey). She came to Germany in 1976 and studied political science there at the University of Bremen. She is a member of the executive council and spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK). Her primary political focus is the improvement of a national dialogue among political parties and civil society organisations in Kurdistan. From 2013 to 2018, she worked as a KNK representative in the South Kurdistan/Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Ms. Koç is also active internationally to raise awareness for the political and cultural rights of the Kurdish people and all other ethnic and religious groups in Kurdistan. She promotes the active and autonomous participation of women in all fields of society and politics.

Nima Khorrami is Research Associate, Arctic Institute, Centre for Circumpolar Security Studies.

Nimisha Chadha was a Research Assistant with ORF’s Centre for New Economic Diplomacy. She was previously an Associate at PATH (2023) and has a MSc in Policy Economics from Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Ms. Nimisha Pal is a freelance consultant in the area of Traffic and Transport Planning.

Nina Sajić is a Professor at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Banja Luka, where her academic focus encompasses international relations and diplomacy. She has earned a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent and an MA in Strategic Negotiations and Diplomacy from the University of Paris XI (Université Paris-Saclay). Besides her academic roles, she has served in significant diplomatic positions as an ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to several countries and has been a foreign policy advisor to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her research interests include federalism, multilevel governance, and nationalism, among other areas in international relations.

Nirali Bakhla is a Research Associate at Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business Hyderabad. She holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Economics from SRCC University of Delhi and IGIDR Mumbai respectively. She also pursed her M.Phil in Development Studies from IGIDR. Her research interests include food agricultural and natural resource economics and rural livelihoods.

Niranjan Chandrashekhar Oak is a research scholar at the Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi.

Niranjan Sahoo, PhD, is a Senior Fellow with ORF’s Governance and Politics Initiative. With years of expertise in governance and public policy, he now anchors studies and programmes on democracy, human rights, federalism, electoral reforms (particularly issues related to political funding), and cross-cutting issues of exclusion, insurgencies, affirmative action and inclusion. A recipient of the Asia Fellowship (2009) and a former Sir Ratan Tata Fellow, he currently serves as the South Asia member for the Carnegie Rising Democracies Network, where he debates and writes on democracy, foreign policy, human rights and other related issues.

Niranjan has authored two books: Politics of Power Sector Reforms in India (Pentagon Press, 2007) and Reservation Policy and its Implementation across Domains in India: An Analytical Review (Academic Foundation, 2009). His third book Exclusion and Insurgencies in India is in the pipeline. His latest (co-authored) monograph “Funding India’s Democracy” will be published soon. He regularly contributes for academic and current affairs journals, newspapers, think thanks and blogs, and features on television programmes related to his areas of expertise.

Nirmal Ganguly is an economist economic administrator and development professional. He has worked with the Asian Development Bank in various capacities and with the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Nirmalya Choudhury is an Associate Professor with the Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Nisarg Jani is a Doctoral Candidate at Pandit Deendayal Energy University situated in Gujarat, India. The author is also a Senior Research Staff Member at Geostrata, an independent youth-led think tank based in New Delhi where he Heads the Science and Technology Center, and Network for Advanced Studies of Technology Geopolitics (NAST) Fellow 2024-2025 at Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.

Nisha Holla is Visiting Fellow at ORF where she writes on ideas and shifts at the intersection of technology economics and policy. She tracks the impact of technology on democratising access to socio-economic development the importance of building strategic technology moats and policy frameworks required to drive indigenous technology development in India.

As Research Fellow at 3one4 Capital, Nisha has co-produced several first-of-its-kind reports such as India Employment Report 2024, Karnataka Jobs Report 2022-23, Karnataka: A $1 Trillion GDP Vision, Human Capital Development of India, India’s Response to COVID-19, Maharashtra 2025 — Road to USD One Trillion, Karnataka’s Response to COVID-19, Uttar Pradesh 2030 — An Accelerated Economic Vision, and the Bengaluru Innovation Report 2019.

Nisha has worked with the Department of Planning, GoK, to publish valuable collaborations between government and industry experts such as the Economic Survey of Karnataka 2021-22 and $1 Trillion Economy: Karnataka’s Vision.

Nisha has co-authored numerous articles on human capital development in India, comparative studies of Indian states’ economic and demographic growth, multiple facets of India’s technology readiness, and India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her writings have appeared in The Financial Express, The Indian Express, The Sunday Guardian, Moneycontrol, cnbc, Times of India, Mint, Deccan Herald, and YourStory.

As Technology Fellow at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Nisha explores policy and economic strategies in scientific and technological development.

At Biomoneta Research, Nisha worked on designing technology for the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases. Nisha was earlier based in the San Francisco Bay Area working at the cutting edge of hardware product and process development.

Nisha is co-inventor of a US patent designed to optimise semiconductor processing workflows.

A chemical engineer by training, Nisha holds a Master’s of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s of Engineering degree from RV College of Engineering.

Nisha Verma is Librarian with Media and Publications at ORF Delhi. She is responsible with overall development of its library and acquires, organises and disseminates information to the researchers. She also facilitate reference assistance to the Foundation’s scholars as well as the outside scholars for their research.

Nishant Rajeev is a Senior Analyst at the South Asia Program in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University Singapore. He previously worked at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) National University of Singapore and a public affairs firm in India.

Nishant Sirohi is an advocate and a legal researcher specialising in the intersection of human rights and development - particularly issues of health, climate change, and the right to development. He currently holds positions as a Law & Society Fellow at Transitions Research, Goa and a Health & Human Rights Fellow at Geneva Health Files. Nishant holds an M.Phil. in Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Oslo’s Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and a B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) from Aligarh Muslim University.

Nishtha Gautam was Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation where she works on gender issues in policy and governance. She holds an MPhil from the Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi and is a lecturer at one of the institution's affiliated colleges. Her analysis pieces have appeared in various periodicals like Wall Street Journal, Daily Mail (UK), The Caravan, India Today, Hindustan Times, The Pioneer, DNA, Mail Today, Daily O, as well as the web editions of NDTV and CNN-IBN. Her views are frequently solicited by radio and TV broadcasts for discussions on gender issues.

Nistha Kumari Singh is a PhD scholar and Dr TMA Pai Fellow in the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations at the Manipal Institute of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE, Institution of Eminence), Manipal, Karnataka, India. She is also a Network for the Advancement of Technology Geopolitics (NAST) Fellow (2025–2026 cohort) at the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru, India.

Nitin Rao is Asia Lead for Planning & Innovation at Solidaridad Network.

Nitish Priyadarshi is assistant professor of geology at the Ranchi University.

Dr Nitya Mohan Khemka is Director at PATH- a global Health think-tank focussing on health equity. She is also Trustee of the Khemka Foundation, an Indian public charitable trust. Prior to PATH, she was the Head of the UK Liaison Office for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) where she was instrumental in establishing the organization’s presence in the United Kingdom. Nitya is also an Associate Fellow at Homerton College at the University of Cambridge where she researches topics spanning gender inequality, poverty and human development. A Fellow Commoner for Clare Hall College, Nitya advises the college on its academic programmes and fundraising strategy.

Nitya holds a PhD and MPhil in Development Studies from the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge. She holds an MA in Economics and BSc in Mathematics, Economics and Statistics from Bangalore University. She serves on the Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, supporting the Women and Public Policy Program and on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) UK Advisory Board. Dr Khemka has published on a wide range of topics in human development. Her most recent book is titled “Rethinking Philanthropy in the Global South: Public-Private Partnerships in a Post-COVID World” (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Her last books were Pathways to Equality: Advancing Gender Goals (Global Policy Journal, 2023) and Accelerating Global Health Equity in G20 Nations (ORF, 2023).

Nivedhitha. K is a Project Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Nivedita Kapoor is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the International Laboratory on World Order Studies and the New Regionalism Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs National Research University Higher School of Economics Russia. Nivedita was formerly Junior Fellow with ORFs Strategic Studies Programme.

Nivruti Rai is country head Intel India at Intel Corporation. Based in Bengaluru she provides overall engineering and business unit leadership.