Dr. Peter Hefele is the Policy Director at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, with expertise in economic policy, international development, and energy/climate policy. He earned his PhD in Economics and Economic History from the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 1997. A seasoned policy expert, he has held leadership roles at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), including Director of its China Office (Shanghai), Regional Energy and Climate Project (Hong Kong), and Department for Asia and the Pacific (Berlin). His main fields of expertise are economic policy, international development cooperation and energy/climate policy. He is an expert on political, economic and social developments in Asia and China.

Chirayu Thakkar serves as a Dean’s Fellow at the National University of Singapore. He holds graduate degrees in Modern South Asian Studies from the University of Oxford and in Political Science from the Central European University. He was also a Fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC. His research focuses on Indian foreign policy, Indo-Pacific security, and multilateral diplomacy. A regular commentator, he writes for platforms such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India, ThePrint, South Asian Voices, and Foreign Policy magazine. He also brings extensive experience as a policy practitioner, having worked with a range of public institutions and private organizations on strategic, governance, and policy-related issues.

Ruhee Neog is Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi. Her work focuses on Indian foreign policy, crisis decision-making, and nuclear weapons policy. She is a member of the International Expert Group advising the Office of the President of Ukraine on war settlement frameworks. She also serves as Board Member of the International Nuclear Security Forum (Stimson Center), Non-Resident Fellow at BASIC (UK), and Fellow with Sandia National Laboratories (U.S. NNSA). Her past roles include fellowships at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, Stimson Center, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. She is an alumna of the LSE and St. Stephen’s College, and a graduate of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Transnational Security Cooperation Course.

Dr. Tanvi Kulkarni is a Policy Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), where she works on nuclear politics, including doctrines, diplomacy, arms control, and confidence-building measures, with a focus on South Asia. She holds an MPhil and PhD in Diplomacy and Disarmament from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her doctoral research explores why states in a nuclear dyad negotiate nuclear confidence-building measures (NCBMs). She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and South Asia Advisor at International Students/Young Pugwash (ISYP). Dr. Kulkarni has taught at Savitribai Phule Pune University and co-coordinated the India-Pakistan Chaophraya Track II Dialogue. She regularly contributes to South Asian Voices on strategic and nuclear issues.

Apurv Kumar Mishra currently serves as a Consultant with the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Government of India. He was a Policy Leader Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and formerly a Senior Research Fellow at India Foundation, where he led foreign policy initiatives. Apurv has taught law at Ashoka University, GNLU, and Plaksha University, and is Editor-in-Chief of India Law Journal. He is a founding member of the Robin Hood Army, a volunteer-driven food distribution network active in 12 countries, and the founder of the Anubhav Lecture Series at the University of Chicago’s India Centre. He has also worked with Albright Stonebridge Group’s India office and the corporate law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas.

Dr. Manoj Gonuguntla is the Engineering Head for Materials & Corrosion at Shell Technology Centre, Bengaluru, with close to two decades of expertise in the oil and gas industry. He leads work on material selection, corrosion modeling, integrity management, and failure analysis for subsea and onshore pipelines and facilities. He holds a PhD from IIT Kanpur and an MTech in Chemical Engineering from Anna University. In recognition of his leadership, he was appointed to the Board of Governors at IIT Kanpur in 2021. Dr. Gonuguntla actively contributes to global technical forums, including the AMPP Annual Conference, and collaborates with academic institutions like IIT Kanpur to advance research in materials and robotics.

Dr. Chetan Singai is Dean, School of Law, Governance and Public Policy at Chanakya University, Bengaluru, and Chief Consultant to the National Steering Committee-NCF, Ministry of Education, Government of India. A PhD from NIAS, IISc Campus, he also holds degrees from JNU and an Erasmus Mundus Master’s from the UK, Denmark, and Spain. He has served as Assistant Professor at NLSIU and as DAAD Visiting Faculty in Germany. A recipient of the Social Justice Medal (2007), he has advised the European Commission and several government bodies. He played a key role in drafting India’s National Education Policy (2017–2020), contributing to reforms in higher education governance and regulation.