IPSC Non-Resident Fellows

Captain Parmar, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and Defence Services Staff College, served in the Indian Navy from 1987 to 2023. A Sea King pilot, he commanded ships and a key helicopter squadron. He represented the Indian Navy at international conferences and was part of the XI Indian Antarctic Summer Expedition in 1991. As Director (Strategy) at IHQ MoD (Navy), he contributed to revising the maritime security strategy. At the Maritime Doctrines and Concepts Centre, he directed strategic maritime assessments and doctrine development. Joining the National Maritime Foundation in 2018, he served as Executive Director and Senior Fellow, focusing on national and maritime security strategies in the Indo-Pacific and international maritime law. Currently a Distinguished Fellow at the United Service Institution of India, he specializes in lawfare and related aspects.

Brandon Tran is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Studies Center and a student at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is an International Affairs and Chinese double major. He has worked extensively on issues relating to China and Indo-Pacific security studies with various US government entities and think-tanks. He has also published several articles in The Diplomat, Air University’s Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, and the Irregular Warfare Initiative. He hopes to commission as a military intelligence officer.

The views expressed are the author’s own, and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.

Michael’s research centers on international security studies, with high-tech policy, Sino-U.S. relations, and Cross-Strait relations being the focal points. While pursuing his master's at Tsinghua University, he concurrently serves as a Young Ambassador at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Carnegie China) and an International Relations Technical-Governance Researcher at the World Institute of Politics, Economics and Technology. Having lived in both China and the U.S. for a dozen years, he has cultivated a profound interest in and understanding of the power dynamics of our century. Michael is a Master's student (in transition to a PhD degree) in International Relations at Tsinghua University.

Ian Katusiime is a Ugandan journalist, researcher, governance consultant, and foreign policy analyst. He is the author of Foreign Policy by Troop Deployment, a paper on how Uganda conducts its foreign policy in the East, Central and Horn of Africa regions that was published by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. He has also written a paper assessing the viability of the troop drawdown in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) published by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Regional Programme Security Dialogue for East Africa. He has contributed a chapter to Monstrous Anger of the Guns, a book sponsored by the UK-based Peace and Justice Project. Ian is a consultant with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he works on executive briefings for diplomats posted to the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions. In 2022, he did a migration fellowship with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Uganda under their Youth for Policy Program, focusing on the role of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in its refugee response in Uganda. In November 2022, he spoke at the 12th IREN Thought Leaders Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on the impact of ongoing global conflicts on Africa’s strategic interests. Ian is the Founding Editor of Leo Africa Review and a Senior Reporter at The Independent, where he covers politics, security and foreign affairs.

Sakshi is an author, geopolitical researcher, and public speaker. Her professional journey spans impactful roles in research, policy development, and international relations across diverse organizations like the National Maritime Foundation and YOUNGO. Her peace and climate change articles are published in the Bharata First Newsletter of Frank Rausan Pereira, the Usanas Foundation, and The Diplomat. Her policy recommendations are listed in Global Youth statements and recognised by ministries. Recently, she was interviewed at Al-Qahera NewsTV–Cairo News Channel on economic offerings, green bonds, and environmental jobs. She works under the Human Rights Working Group and is an organizing team member of the UNFCCC COP28 and SB58 of the UN Climate Change Secretariat Side Event.

Genevieve Donnellon-May is a geopolitical and global strategy advisor interested in regional resource conflict and environmental governance in Asia. Currently, she is the Asia-Pacific analyst at The Red Line and a researcher at the Oxford Global Society. Genevieve is a 2023 CSIS Pacific Young Leader, a 2023 Yenching Global Symposium participant, and has been listed on the 2023 Young Women to Watch International Affairs by Young Australians in International Affairs.

Pratik Purswani is a Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School (Sonipat, India). He completed his LL.B. from Symbiosis Law School (Pune) and LL.M. from Leiden University (the Netherlands). His primary area of interest is public international law, with research focusing on international environmental law, climate change law, and human rights law.

Santram is from the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and is an experienced policy analyst with a passion for carbon dioxide removals. He is skilled in policy development and environmental advocacy with thorough knowledge of the Paris Agreement, the global methane pledge, and UNCLOS.

Maximilian is a PhD student at SciencesPo Paris. His interests lie in maritime security, networked security, and alliances in the Indo-Pacific, as well as the EU’s foreign policy in the region.

Alex is from the University of Nairobi and assists farmers and organizations in adopting digital technologies. He works on transforming farming strategies through the use of technology and data, and evangelizes how people, processes, and technology can improve food security.

Vivek Mishra is a fellow with ORF’s Strategic Studies Programme. His research interests include America in the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific, and Asia-Pacific regions, with a particular focus on the US role in South Asian security, Indo-US defence relations, and the Indian defence sector.

Rogelio Leal is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences and Government, Department of Political Science and International Relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. He holds a joint PhD in Political Science & China Studies from King’s College London and the National University of Singapore. His research interests include Confucianism, Chinese political thought, ethical governance, global affairs, statecraft, security, and public and economic diplomacy.

Kelly Arévalo is a Professor in government and international relations, with an emphasis on political studies and international organizations. She holds a Master's in Management for Development from the Externado de Colombia University. Kelly has experience in market research, academic program coordination, and higher education, with a focus on Asian studies—particularly India and South Asia.

Manuel Carranza is a research assistant for the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies and a non-resident fellow at the Joint Special Operations University. He has undertaken study opportunities at military academies and defense-affiliated institutions in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, and the United States.

Xian Hong is a Master's graduate of International Relations and National Security at Curtin University. He worked with the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and interned as a Research Analyst with Future Directions International in Perth, WA. He recently completed a project with Blue Security Australia on current maritime governance in ASEAN.

Milan is an independent scholar and activist working in the fields of human rights, international relations, and development cooperation. Currently, he is an MPhil/PhD student. He has taught these subjects in the past and has served in the field for the past 23 years.

Neelmani Verma is an independent human rights law consultant and a member of the International Criminal Court Bar Association.

Cherry is a non-resident Vasey Fellowship at Pacific Forum Hawaii, USA, where their research focuses on Sino-American Maritime Governance Models and their implications for the Pacific Islands. They are also a NASC Fellow at Takshashila Institution, India, studying China's discourse power under Xi Jinping through political cartoons.

Kester is an aspiring foreign policy analyst and a recent Global Affairs and Policy graduate from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. He works as a research intern for the ‘UK in the World’ programme at Chatham House, covering key foreign policy challenges facing the UK with a focus on the Indo-Pacific. He is also a nonresident James A. Kelly Korea Fellow at the Pacific Forum.

Abhishek Sharma is a Research Associate at the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), pursuing his Ph.D. from the Department of East Asian Studies at Delhi University. He is also a non-resident Kelly fellow at Pacific Forum and a NASC fellow at Takshashila Institution. His research focuses on the intersection of geopolitics and critical emerging technologies, particularly cyber strategy, cyber capabilities, and critical minerals in the Indo-Pacific region.