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Animesh Jain is a Policy Fellow with the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India - Policy Analytics and Insights Unit. He has completed his master's in international security with concentrations in China &: East Asia and Diplomacy from Sciences Po Paris. He has previously worked with organizations including MKAI Kubernein Initiative Tianjin Intertech Corporation AI Policy Labs National Skill Development Corporation and Observers Research Foundation in different capacities.

Anindita Pujari is Advocate-on-Record The Supreme Court of India &: Hony. General Secretary The Bar Association of India.

Anirban Sarma is Director of the Digital Societies Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation. His research explores issues of technology policy, with a focus on the digital economy, platform governance, AI, digital public infrastructure, sectoral applications of ICTs, and the future of work.

Anirban is the co-author of GeoTechnoGraphy: Mapping Power and Identity in the Digital Age (Penguin Viking, 2025). He was a chair of the Think20 task force on digital affairs during the Indian and Brazilian G20 presidencies of 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Anirban was the Chief International Outreach and Communications Officer at the National Digital Library of India. He earlier served at UNESCO, where he led the organization’s initiatives on tech for development across South Asia for nearly a decade.

In 2007, Anirban was awarded the Inlaks Scholarship to pursue a second master’s degree in media and communications at the London School of Economics, from where he graduated with a Distinction. He was previously a double gold medallist at Jadavpur University in Kolkata.

Anirudh Prem is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Diplomacy, Department of Global Health Governance, Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka, India. He is a Post-Graduate in Geopolitics and International Relations from MAHE. His research interests have primarily been Foreign policy, Counter Terrorism, Non - traditional security, and health diplomacy.

Anirudh is the Founder and Managing Partner at Ikigai Law - an award-winning law and public policy firm. An author and Ted speaker, Anirudh was named as Achiever of the Year by BusinessWorld magazine in 2019, Managing Partner of the Year by Idex Legal in 2020 and ranked among leading 50 TMT lawyers in Asia by Asian Legal Business in 2024. In the past, he was a visiting faculty at IIM-Indore and a mentor at the GoodFashion Institute, a global NGO where he mentored startups working on sustainable fashion. He is a Harvard alum and writes and speaks frequently on issues relating to sustainability.

Ankit K is New Delhi-based analyst who specialises in the intersection of Warfare and Strategy. He has formerly worked with a Ministry of Home Affairs institute. Prior to that, he served at a military Think Tank and at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. He is currently a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) fellow for 2023-24 and currently studies at the South Asian University.

Ankit Kumar is presently doctoral scholar at the Department of Security Studies, School of National Security Studies at Central University of Gujarat. He is a recipient of UGC’s NET-JRF fellowship and was awarded Government of Japan’s ‘Monbukagakusho’ Research Fellowship. He has also worked as a Research Associate at the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), New Delhi. He has published research papers in various journals on issues relating to defence and security affairs.

Ankush Banerjee is a research scholar, and a three-time winner of the United Services Institution Gold Medal Essay Competition. He is a serving officer in the Indian Navy.

Dr Anna-Maria Osula is a senior policy officer at Guardtime a software security company that offers solutions for data governance and real-time detection and mitigation of cyberattacks based on blockchain technologies. She also works as senior researcher at Tallinn University of Technology. Previously she served as a legal researcher at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence where her research areas included national cyber security strategies international organisations international criminal cooperation and law. During 2013-2015 she was the lead for the NATO CCD COE Cyber Norms project and the co-editor of the book 'International Cyber Norms: Legal Policy and Industry Perspectives'. She is the founder of the annual ICR workshop in Tallinn Estonia. Anna-Maria has an LLM degree in IT law from Stockholm University and obtained her PhD in law from the University of Tartu.

Anne Jenkins Enterprise Co-ordinator Womens Economic Imperative the UK

Anoushka Varma is a Research Assistant at The Soufan Center, where she focuses on conflict dynamics and instability in sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Global Affairs from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Bristol, UK.

Anshu Mohan Senior Strategic Advisor and Lead for Adolescent Well-being Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH)

Antara Ghosal Singh is a Fellow at the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Her area of research includes China-India relations, China-India-US triangle, China in South Asia, Chinese foreign policy, China’s domestic development among others. She is a graduate from Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management, People’s Republic of China and has been a Chinese language fellow at National Central University, Taiwan. Prior to ORF, she has worked at Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), New Delhi, Delhi Policy Group, National Maritime Foundation, Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (MPIDSA) and has a list of publications in national/international peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers. Before starting her career in academics, she has worked as a journalist with the Times of India and the Deccan Chronicle Group. She is also an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. She speaks Bangla, Hindi, English, and Mandarin Chinese.

Anthony Bartzokas Professorial Fellow UNU-MERIT Maastricht The Netherlands

Antonina Levashenko worked as a researcher in Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy as a lawyer and senior researcher in The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) as a senior researcher in Russian Foreign Trade Academy (RFTA). Now she is a Head of Russia-OECD Center RANEPA and Head of Center of responsible business conduct in RFTA. Antonina has closed cooperation with Government of Russian Federation Ministry for Economic Development VEB.RF DOM.RF etc. Antonina participates on an ongoing basis in the work of the OECDs committees and working groups. Tax investment and responsible business conduct corporate governance financial markets and green finance are the main areas of her interests.

Anukool Nagi is the Assistant General Manager of the Cotton Programme at Solidaridad Asia. He brings over 25 years of experience in plantation management and agriculture-based systems, with expertise in regenerative and sustainable farming, precision agriculture, community development, CSR, and climate adaptation. Anukool has also successfully developed and implemented several sustainable agriculture projects across India and Africa.

Dr. Anulekha Nandi is a Fellow - Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at ORF. Her primary area of research includes digital innovation management and governance focusing on artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and digital infrastructures. Her work explores underlying conditions for policy and regulations, ecosystem management, and building blocks for innovation at scale.

She has previously worked across research, policy and practice in ICT for development and technology policy spanning issues such as data economy, content policy, data governance, accountability and transparency, and emerging technologies in socio-economic development among others.

Dr Anuradha Oinam is an Assistant Professor in Political Science Department at Imphal College, Imphal. She completed her MPhil and PhD from CIPOD, School of International Studies (SIS), JNU- Delhi. Previously, she was associated with the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), a Delhi-based Army think tank for more than two years. Her area of interests cover Security Studies including the Changing Character of Warfare, and Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs); India’s Act East Policy, India’s Foreign Policy, Insurgency, Northeast Region of India, and Myanmar.

Dr Anurag Agrawal is Director of the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology. After completing graduate medical education at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi (1994) he further trained in Internal Medicine Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care at Baylor College of Medicine Houston USA (2003) followed by a PhD in Physiology from Delhi University. His primary research is in respiratory biology and broader interests are in smart deployment of emerging technologies towards healthcare where he serves on national thinktanks co-chairs the Lancet and Financial Times commission on Governing Health Futures and serves on related expert groups at the World Health Organisation and Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence. He received the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize the highest govt scientific award of India in 2014 and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Anusha Kesarkar Gavankar is a Senior Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Economy and Growth. Her research spans urban transformation, spatial planning, habitats, and the dynamics of coastal cities and communities. She investigates how urban planning, innovation, and governance intersect with the lived experiences of diverse city residents, especially during periods of rapid urban change.

This perspective informs her focus on inclusive, participatory, and sustainable development — aimed at shaping more resilient, equitable urban and coastal futures. Her current work also explores the blue economy, with a particular emphasis on inclusive frameworks that integrate coastal communities and indigenous knowledge systems into sustainable maritime development.

Anusha holds an M.A. in Sociology from Mumbai University and a Ph.D. in Urban Sociology and Community Studies from the IIT Bombay–Monash Research Academy. She has published internationally and brings over two decades of experience across academia and the private sector.

Anushka Saxena is a Research Analyst with the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at The Takshashila Institution. She can be reached at [email protected].

Anushka was a Sub-Editor Digital at the Observer Research Foundation, Anushka Shah led strategic initiatives at the intersection of technology policy, international relations, and multilateral dialogue. She played a key role in the flagship platforms such as CyFy, Raisina Dialogue, and the Kigali Global Dialogue, driving agenda design, high-level stakeholder engagement, and global partnerships.

Anushka Wijesinha is an Economist based in Colombo and is a Co-founder of the public policy think tank Centre for a Smart Future. He was previously Advisor to the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade and the Chief Economist of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The author acknowledges the contributions made by Nimaya Dahanayake Research Assistant at CSF for this article.

Anushree Parekh is Associate Director, Social Finance, at the British Asian Trust, leading the organisation’s pioneering outcomes-based finance programs in India. Anushree brings 15 years of experience, working as a social impact consultant across corporate social responsibility, public policy and not-for-profit sectors in India and the UK. 

She previously led impact advisory at Waterfield Advisors and Samhita Social Ventures. Anushree has contributed to shaping India’s outcomes-based finance and CSR ecosystems and has written for leading platforms like Stanford Social Innovation Review and India Development Review. She is committed to harnessing private sector partnerships for sustainable development.

Anushree holds an MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a BA (Hons) in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Anuttama Dasgupta Lead: Urban Practitioners' Programme at IIHS is a built environment professional focussed on the trans-disciplinarity of urban practice and works on developing reflective + reflexive urban practitioners across domains and sectors of the Urban. Anuttama's capacity building and institutional development work is situated at the intersection of several sectors such as Urban Design and Planning Transit Oriented Development WatSan and Urban Disaster Risk Resilience.

Aparna Roy is a Fellow and Lead Climate Change and Energy at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED). Aparna's primary research focus is on the politics of climate change resilience building and environmental governance. Her work aims to generate critical insights on the contested science and risk of climate change impacts on sustainable development goals (SGDs) in the global south, probe the effectiveness of building the resilience of the development sectors and explore the future of resilience in an increasingly climate-constrained world.

Aparna was the Coordinator of G20 India’s Think 20 (T20) Secretariat’s Task Force on Refuelling Growth: Clean Energy and Green Transitions.

Aparna is a guest teacher at the Charité University, Berlin where she teaches an advance module on interactions between climate change and social determinants on health.

She is a Member of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India's Consortium on 'Economic Analysis of Air Pollution Policy and Regulation Unit.' The unit has been set up to design an effective framework to mitigate air pollution and its impact in the country.

Her opinion pieces and columns are extensively published via international and national platforms such as the Financial Express, Times of India, Hindustan Times, and The Hindu. She appears regularly on public debates on issues of climate change and development across various international broadcast channels including, BBC, India Today, Sputnik News and Doordarshan.

Aparna holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science Honours and Masters degrees in Sociology and International Development, respectively. She was a Commonwealth scholar at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.

Apoorva Lalwani was an Associate Fellow with ORFs Geoeconomic Studies Programme. Her research focuses on data localisation multi-modal connectivity and WTO issues and their impact on international trade and world politics.

Aqib Mujtaba is a Research Analyst at the Institute of Economic Growth Delhi. His areas of research include energy economics growth capital flows. He has published in reputed international journals indexed in: Scopus ABDC Science Citation Index (SCI) Science citation index expanded (SCIE) and UGC-CARE listed journals.

Aradhana holds an academic degree in anthropology and specialises in social impact public policy research and stakeholder management. She has worked with both government and non-government organisations including PRS Praja Foundation Indian Road Safety Campaign SOLVE and the Indian School of Democracy.

Aravind Yelery is a Senior Research Fellow at the Peking University Beijing: Visiting Faculty at Fudan University Shanghai and Indian Institute of Management Shillong. At PKU he leads research on China-India/South Asia economic engagements as his particular focus and conducts research on comparative aspects of China-South Asia relations.

Archil Sikharulidze is the founder of the Tbilisi-based research institute, SIKHA Foundation. His research areas are Russian and Islamic studies, the South Caucasus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Mr. Sikharulidze's recent contribution is a book chapter in The 'New' Geopolitics in the Caucasus. What Role for the EU? by Ibidem/Columbia University Press.

Archishman Ray Goswami is a Non-Resident Junior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation.

His work focusses on the intersections between intelligence, multipolarity, and wider international politics, with a particular focus on the means by which intelligence, counterintelligence and covert operations serve as both reflections and determinants of foreign policy.

Presently, Archishman is a DPhil International Relations candidate at the University of Oxford, based at Green Templeton College. His doctoral research examines intelligence diplomacy and its use as a device of modern statecraft. Prior to the DPhil, Archishman completed his MPhil in International Relations at Oxford (2023-2025), as well as the BA in International Relations (2019-2022) and MA in National Security Studies (2022-2023) at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.

Areen Deshmukh is a Research Associate at Nikore Associates. She holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women University of Delhi and wishes to pursue a career further in international and development studies. Her research interest areas are gender-mainstreaming and social protection. She has previously worked as a project manager at Genpact with an industry-leader client in the consumer goods sector

Ariel Conn leads the IEEE-SA Research Group on Issues of Autonomy and AI for Defense Systems, she's the founder of the nonprofit consultancy, Mag10 Consulting, and she was one of the original co-founders of Global Shield. Her work and writing cover a range of issues, including autonomous weapons systems, AI safety, AI policy, nuclear weapons, climate change, and other global catastrophic risks.

Arindrajit Basu is a PhD Candidate at the Leiden University Faculty of Global Governance and Affairs. He is a lawyer by training and holds a BA LLB (Hons) degree from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata and an LLM in public international law from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Aritra Bhowmik has a Masters degree in Energy Management. He leads the Energy Transition and Rural Enterprise Development for WWF-India in the Sundarbans.

Arjun Dubey is a Research Associate at the Institute for Human Development. He did his post-graduation in Development Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi. His areas of interest include Food and Nutrition, WASH, Labour and Employment issues, and Environment. He is currently involved in ESRC's project on Digitalisation of Food Assistance Schemes in India.

Arjun Gargeyasis an IIC-UChicago Fellow and was previously a researcher with the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution.

Arjun Gupta is the Co-Founder and CEO of Smart Joules.

Arjunn Dixit holds a bachelor's degree in tourism studies and has extensive experience within the hospitality and events sector.

Presently, he serves as an Assistant Manager - Forums at ORF Delhi, actively engaging in the planning and seamless coordination of various events, conferences, and seminars.

Armen Kherlopian is a world-class strategy, innovation, and business leader as demonstrated by repeatedly driving new venture growth via gaining value from data. Moreover, his industry experience is cross-sector including Global Fortune 100 Companies as well as government organizations such as the FDA and NASA.

He completed his M.S. and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Algorithms at Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics with a focus on Machine Learning from Cornell University and completed a fellowship in High-Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence at Princeton University.