Amb. Vijay Keshav Gokhale is a distinguished retired diplomat and the former 32nd Foreign Secretary of India. A 1981-batch IFS officer, he is widely recognized as one of India's foremost sinologists, having served as Ambassador to China during the critical 2017 Doklam standoff. His rare career path includes diplomatic postings in both mainland China and Taiwan, as well as serving as Ambassador to Germany and High Commissioner to Malaysia. Currently a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Carnegie India, he is a prolific author on bilateral relations, with notable works including The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India and Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest.

Amb. Pankaj Saran is a former diplomat with forty years of experience in foreign, strategic and national security affairs. He has served in key positions within the Government of India in the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs and in several Indian Missions abroad.He has served as India’s Ambassador to Russia and India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, and as Head of the Northern Division in the Ministry of External Affairs dealing with Nepal and Bhutan.He has worked in different capacities with successive Indian Prime Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office contributing to decision making at the highest levels in a diverse range of sectors, including foreign affairs and national security. From 2018 to 2021, he served as the Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Affairs under Prime Minister Narendra Modi dealing with regional and global strategy formulation, including maritime security and Arctic affairs, neighbourhood policy and technology and economic security.Pankaj Saran is presently Convenor of NatStrat, a Delhi-based independent Centre for Research on Strategic and Security Issues. He is a Member of the National Security Advisory Board and a Distinguished Fellow of the National Maritime Foundation. He is a regular commentator and writer on foreign affairs, security and strategic issues.

Dr. Mei-chuan Wei is an Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taiwan. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics (LSE). At NCCU, she has held multiple leadership roles, including Chair of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies.Her research spans Asian democratization, gender and development, political culture, and the social-ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Beyond academia, Dr. Wei serves as an advisor to several governmental bodies, including the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Taipei City Government's Mainland Affairs Committee.

Hasan Mehedi is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) in Bangladesh. With over 25 years of experience, he is a prominent advocate for climate justice, renewable energy, and community-led sustainability. His career spans extensive work on mangrove conservation, forest peoples' rights, and grassroots movements against environmentally destructive projects.Recognized for his impact, he received the 2012 Best Environmental Activist Award from the Asian Marine Conservation Association. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and frequently engages students on environmental justice and rights-based development.

Paul Staniland is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is also a nonresident scholar in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, nonresident senior fellow for Asia Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and co-editor of the Cornell Studies in Security Affairs book series.His research focuses on political violence and international security, with a regional emphasis on South and Southeast Asia. He has published three books: Networks of Rebellion: Explaining Insurgent Cohesion and Collapse (Cornell, 2014), Ordering Violence: Explaining Armed Group-State Relations from Conflict to Cooperation (Cornell, 2021), and, with Aidan Milliff, Indian Public Opinion toward the Major Powers (Cambridge Elements in Indo-Pacific Security, 2026).

Ms. Yolani Fernando is a public policy researcher with interests in Sri Lankan public finance and governance in South Asia . She is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Arutha, a Colombo-based policy think tank focused on economic research and communication with a special interest in public debt and taxation. She previously worked at the Ministry of Finance in Sri Lanka focusing on national budget implementation and reform, tax policy and state-owned enterprises. She holds a Masters in Governance, Development and Public Policy.

Min Zin is the executive director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, an independent, nongovernmental Myanmar think-tank. He is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Min Zin studies comparative politics with a special focus on civil-military relations, democratization, and contentious politics, and has written for the New York Times and Foreign Policy, among others. His writings appear in many edited volumes, Journal of Democracy, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Social Research: An International Quarterly, Contemporary Southeast Asia, and Asian Survey.

Mr. Talal Rafi is an economist and Economic Policy Consultant at the Asian Development Bank, currently serving as a Policy Advisor to Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, he co-chairs their Global Plastic Innovation Network and is a regular columnist for the International Monetary Fund. His extensive background includes senior roles at Deloitte within their Global ESG and Economist networks. Formerly an entrepreneurship specialist for USAID and a World Bank GYCN Ambassador on Climate Change, he has formulated policy recommendations for the G7 and G20. A frequent global speaker and visiting lecturer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, his thought leadership is widely published by Forbes, Chatham House, and the London School of Economics.

Prof. Lailufar Yasmin is a Professor in the Department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka and a highly decorated academic. She is a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright, Chevening, and Australian IPRS scholarships, with advanced studies spanning the USA, Australia, and Bangladesh. She has held fellowships at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS). Her research focuses on Bangladesh’s foreign policy, South Asian affairs, and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. A prolific author, her recent work includes publications on the Rohingya crisis and the development of International Relations in South Asia.

Dr. Jaewoo Choo is a Professor of Chinese foreign policy at Kyung Hee University and Director of the China Studies Center at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. He previously served as President of the Korea-China Social Science Studies Association and as a policy advisor to South Korea’s ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and National Unification. A former visiting professor at the Brookings Institution and Georgia Tech, his research focuses on US-China relations and China-North Korea dynamics. A prolific author, his recent works include Incommunicable Chinese Dream (2024). He holds degrees from Wesleyan University and Peking University.

Dr. Constantino Xavier is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) in New Delhi, where he leads the Foreign Policy and Security Studies program. A leading expert on regional connectivity and India’s relations with South Asian neighbors like Nepal and Bangladesh, he directs the influential Sambandh Initiative. Dr. Xavier is also a Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University. He holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and frequently lectures at India’s premier diplomatic and military training institutions, including the National Defence College.

Dr. Jabin Jacob is an Associate Professor at Shiv Nadar University and a leading expert in Chinese studies. He previously served as Assistant Director at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi, and Associate Editor of the journal China Report. Dr. Jacob’s research is uniquely informed by his extensive travel across India’s disputed borders with China and Pakistan, as well as its frontiers with Myanmar and Bangladesh. A frequent speaker at Indian defense institutions and a supervisor at the Naval War College, Goa, his work bridges academia and strategic affairs. His recent publications include How China Engages South Asia (2023), reflecting his deep expertise in regional security and Chinese foreign policy.

Dr. Pradeep Taneja is a Senior Lecturer in Asian politics and Deputy Associate Dean (International) at the University of Melbourne. He is an Academic Fellow of the Australia India Institute and a member of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies. Having studied at Peking University and worked in China for several years, he brings deep regional expertise to his analysis of the rise of China as a global power. His research focuses on Sino-Indian and Sino-Australian relations, maritime competition in the Indian Ocean, and the relationship between China's business elite and the Communist Party. He is a co-Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming Palgrave Handbook on International Peace and Security.