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Devika Makkat

Program Associate

Devika Makkat is Program Associate – Operations at CSDR.the Council for Strategic and Defense Research, New Delhi.

Devika is part of the 2023 cohort of the EU-India Young Leaders Exchange. Previously, she worked with Dr. Rudra Chaudhuri on his project, ‘Living on the Line of Control: Mapping Lives, Violence, and Development in India and Pakistan’, which was funded by the British Academy. The project aimed to investigate the impact of cross-border violence on the border populations along the LoC. Prior to this, Devika had worked at the Delhi Policy Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies.

Devika is involved in multiple projects at CSDR, where she works in various capacities. She has contributed to the report ‘India, China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’, and is part of the organizing team for the Chao Track. Devika played a major role in producing the weekly podcast, Indo-Pacific Voices, and the monthly webinars for the Indo-Pacific Circle (IPC) project management team. She also conceptualizes concept notes for CSDR’s roundtables, webinars, and project proposals. Her research interests include Indian foreign policy, India-EU relations, and strategic-political developments. Devika holds a B.A. in International Studies from FLAME University, Pune, and a PG Diploma in Interdisciplinary Research from the same university.

Areas of
Expertise

EU-China Relations

EU-India Relations

Indian Foreign Policy

Operations

Transatlantic Outreach to the Indo-Pacific

FOUNDERS

Dr. Happymon Jacob

Founder & Director

Happymon Jacob is the founder and director of CSDR. He directs CSDR’s research and activities across divisions.

Lt Gen D S Hooda (Retd)

D S Hooda co-founded CSDR and directs projects of its defense and security verticals.

Dr. Gaurav Saini

Gaurav Saini is co-founder of CSDR and leads product design and partnerships.

Team

Araudra Singh

Research Intern

Araudra is a Research Intern at CSDR.

Akanksha Baruah

Research Intern

Akansha is a reserach intern at CSDR.

Afridi Ahmed

Research Intern

Afridi is a research intern at CSDR.

Sukanya Sharma

Research Intern

Sukanya has a Master’s in International History from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland. She has interned at the Nobel-Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Radhey Shyam

Radhey manages the CSDR office and ensures it remains a welcoming and enabling environment for CSDR staff and guests.

Aersh Danish

Lead – Communications and Outreach

Aersh has over nine years of experience in foreign policy and security studies, research, and strategic communications. At CSDR, Aersh leads the production and dissemination of quality content for CSDR’s various stakeholders.

Experts

Prof. Sumit Ganguly

Distinguished Fellow

Prof. Sumit Ganguly is a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening the US-India Relationship at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Rabindranath Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Ajay Bisaria

Ajay Bisaria is a distinguished diplomat, strategic consultant, and commentator on international affairs. With a career spanning 35 years in the Indian Foreign Service, he has played pivotal roles in shaping India’s key economic and security relationships.

Dr. Iqbal Singh Sevea

Distinguished Fellow

Dr. Sevea is an Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). An internationally recognized scholar of contemporary and modern South Asia, his research focuses on South Asian politics and social and political thought.

Dr. Tishya Khillare

Dr. Tishya Khillare is a Fellow at CSDR. She leads CSDR’s work on Non-traditional Security issues in South Asia and the Indo Pacific, specifically on Climate Diplomacy, South-South and Triangular Cooperation, Feminist Foreign Policy, and Gender and Security.

Atul Chandra

Non-Resident Fellow

Atul is a Non-Resident Fellow at CSDR and supports our work on Aerospace and Defense industry.

Dr. Debak Das

Non-Resident Fellow

Debak is a Non-Resident Fellow at CSDR and supports our work on Nuclear security and international security.

IDEAS INSPIRING CHANGE, GLOBAL IMPACT

Our programs encompass an array of critical topics, including climate security, emerging technologies, gender-sensitive foreign policy, non-traditional security, artificial intelligence, Defense and security, Geopolitics, Regionalism, Internet and society, among others.