Dr. Smruti S. Pattanaik is a Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). She holds a PhD in South Asian Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and specialises in India’s foreign policy, South Asian politics, India’s relations with neighbouring countries, China’s role in South Asia, and regional institutions. Her academic appointments include visiting fellowships at the University of Dhaka, FMSH Paris, the Peace Research Institute Oslo, and the University of Hull. She also served as Visiting Professor under the ICCR India Chair at the University of Colombo and participated in the U.S. State Department and USPACOM’s Symposium on East Asian Security. She has lectured extensively at leading academic, diplomatic, and defence institutions in India and abroad.
Dr. Pattanaik has published more than 100 research articles and contributed over 50 book chapters on civil-military relations, identity politics, regional cooperation, and South Asian affairs. Her books include Elite Perception in Foreign Policy, India’s Neighbourhood Policy: States as Stakeholders, and the monograph Afghanistan and Its Neighbourhood: In Search of a Stable Future. She has edited and co-edited several volumes, including South Asia: Envisioning a Regional Future, Four Decades of India-Bangladesh Relations, Recounting the Memories of Bangladesh’s Liberation War, and Towards Reformed Multilateralism in the Era of Indo-Pacific. She is also a columnist for the Kathmandu Post, contributes regularly to newspapers, and appears as an expert commentator on Indian and international media, including the BBC, RT, and Al Jazeera.
