Scholars of Peace Fellowships

The Scholar of Peace Fellowships catalyse innovative, multi-disciplinary, theoretical engagement and research on issues that emerge at the intersection of the discourses on gender, security and conflict transformation. 

Academic Research

“There are three elements of the WISCOMP experience I distinctly value and recollect.

First, its normative orientation to exploring serious alternatives to the mainstream discourse from the perspective of the marginalized…
Second, it gave me an opportunity to embark on field work to develop the real feel for the texture of politics. Third, WISCOMP became another receptive home for critical theorizing.”

– Professor Siddharth Mallavarapu
HOD, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University

Media Fellowships 

“The WISCOMP award translated to reality my vision of media – and peace literate youth as agents of change.  I have been able to take the first step in establishing a youth media bureau in South Asia…
The interaction with young peacebuilders from around the world was a valuable learning experience, one that has helped me to establish an enduring forum for discussion and education on peace and conflict issues.”

– Anupama Sekher
Director, Policy and Engagement, International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies

Special Projects

“Through this (Her Voice) performance, I transcended the usual parameters of classical dance from being merely decorative to becoming a powerful tool of communication. The performance altered the artistes in many ways. It led us into a collaboration that we had not thought was possible – classical dance meeting puppetry on equal terms. It also helped us to analyze why the traditional arts in India have always enshrined war and conflict as heroic and pro-masculine.”

– Padma Shri Geeta Chandran 
Eminent Artist and Founder-President of Natya-Vriksha

Scholars of Peace

Giving Voices to the Valley: The Women of Kashmir
– Sudha Ramachandran, India

The Language of Conflict and Women in Assam
– Amita Joshi, India

Empowerment of Women: Answers from Tibet
– Alladi Jayasri, India

Women’s Voices from Kashmir
– Sonia Jabbar, India

Her Voice
– Geeta Chandran, India

Across the Experience: Sri Lankan and Naga Women in Dialogue
– Paula Banerjee, India

Women’s Uprising in Manipur – A Legacy Continued
– Bhabananda Takhellambam, India

Images of Muslim Women: A Study of the Representation of Muslim Women in the Indian Media (1985-2001)
– Sabina Kidwai, India

Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Its Impact on Violence Against Women in Nagaland
– Khatoli Khala, India

Impact of Violence on Media: Print Media in Kashmir
– Bashir Manzar, India

Language of Peace in a World of Violence: Strength of Women Survivors of Armed Conflict in Kashmir
– Manimala, India

Women Under-trials in Tihar Jail
– Smita Bharti, India

Gender Sensitive and Culture-specific Models of Alternative Dispute Resolution
– Chitra Balakrishnan

The Taming of a River: Gender, Displacement and Resistance in Anti-Dam Movements
– Bina Srinivasan, India

Soldiers, Prisoners, Princes and Prostitutes: Violence and Sexuality in the Iconography of the Nation
– Mangalika de Silva, Sri Lanka

Feminist litigation Patterns in Pakistan
– Jeff Redding, Pakistan

Representation of Post-Chagai Alternative Security Discourse in the Media
– Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan

In the Line of Fire: Women in the Armed Forces
– Capt. Deepanjali Bakshi, India

Women Cadres of the PWG: Conflict Mongers or Managers?
– Shruba Mukherjee, India

Refugees in Their Own Land : Coping and Sustenance Strategies of Women – Case Studies in Kerala
– Anita S., India

Afghan Women: The Burden Bearers of the Twenty Year War
– Dr. Mossarat Qadeem, Pakistan

Analysis of Education in Armed Conflict Situations: A Case Study of Nagaland
– Dolly Kikon, India

South Asian Women’s Internet Resources Alliance [SAWIRA]
– Aradhana Gupta, India

Taliban’s War on Women: Lived Experiences of Afghan Women in Transit
– Minakshi Das, India

Women Scientists’ Perception of the Nuclear Issue
– Dr. A. Subramaniyam Raju, India

Justice, Reconciliation and Constitution-Making: Making Sure the Future Constitution Works for Sri Lankan Women
– Kishali Pinto Jayawardene, Sri Lanka

Women-in-Exile: Tibetan Women’s Experiences as Refugees and their Role in Tibet’s Nonviolent Struggle for Survival and Freedom
– Eranpeni Ezung, India

Tibetan Question: Towards Conflict Resolution
– Jyoti Malhotra, India

The Troubled Waters of Karachi
– Ammara Durrani, Pakistan

Impact of Religious Extremism on Women in Pakistan
– Shireen Saleem, Pakistan

Youth Writing Peace: Alternative Media, Alternative Perspectives
– Anupama Sekher, India

Women’s Bodies and Communal Violence: Locating Sexual Violence in Hindutva and Patriarchy
– Bindu Nair, India

Refugee Women of the Afghan and Burmese Communities in Delhi
– Kamini Karlekar, India

Decentralized Governance in Schedule V Areas and Empowerment of Women: Resolution through Law
– Suparna Jain, India

Manipuri Women’s Role in Crisis Management during ‘Ceasefire Extension without Territorial Limits’
– Khelena Gurumayum, India

The Plight of Women Prisoners in Jail Custody
– Kanchan Gubba, India

Impact of Conflict on Marital Practices in Kashmir
– Sayed Fayaz Bukhari, India

International Relations Theory and Non-Traditional Approaches to Security
– Dr. Siddharth Mallavarapu, India

Guns and Books at Odds: The Impact of Militancy on Education in Jammu and Kashmir
– Aarti Tikkoo, India

Impact of Violence on Women’s Education in Kashmir
– Kavita Suri, India

Multi-track Peace Initiatives in India’s Northeast
– Seema Hussain, India

New Glory: Peace as Patriotism
– Dilip D’Souza, India

Engendering Persecution: Safeguarding South Asian Women’s Rights under International Refugee Law
– Oishik Sircar, India

Women and Children in Armed Conflict: The Maoist Conflict in Nepal
– Anjana Shakya, Nepal

Telling Tales: Negotiating Religious Identity in Classrooms
– Taran Nishat Khan, India

Women and War: A Study on Stranded Bihari Women and Girls in Bangladesh
– Zakia Haque, Bangladesh

Violent Spaces, Violated Persons: Rethinking the Camp and the Refugee in South Asia
– Dr. Ananya Vajpeyi, India

Between Two Worlds: Long-term Effects of Communal Violence on a Multi-religious, Marginalized Community (Pranamis): A Cultural Psychological Analysis
– Dr. Chavi Bhargava Sharma, India

Social Changes among Muslims of Ahmedabad since 1990
– Raheel Dhattiwala, India

Homemakers without the Men: Women-Headed Households in Violence-wracked Assam
– Wasbir Hussain, India

Women of Indian Origin Surviving and Thriving in Pakistan: An Unlikely Success Story?
– Dr. Rinku Dutta and Vanita Sharma, India

Healing Through Dialogues’ – Theatre of the Oppressed and Beyond
– Jaimala Iyer, India

Storytelling and Puppetry as Tools of Conflict Resolution: Experiences from Kashmir
– Anurupa Roy, India

Transitional Justice for Ex-women Combatants
– Nirekha de Silva, Sri Lanka

Predicaments and Challenges of the Buffer Zone: Women in Conflict Ridden Manipur
– Dr. Bimol Akoijam, India

Earth and Stone, Debris and Ash: Public Space and Violence in the Sri Lankan Conflict
– Dilrukshi Fonseka, Sri Lanka

Pilot Case Study on Women of Conflict Affected Areas of Nepal: Their Present and Future
– Babita Basnet, Nepal

Kashmir: Layers of Nationality, Identity and Ethnicity
– Alpana Kishore, India

Memory and Migration: Bhutanese Refugee Women and Oral Histories of Self and Nation
– Malavika Vartak, India

Creating “Robin Hoods”: Popular Print Media as Mouthpiece of Insurgent Organisations: Reading Through the Discourse of Assamese Newspapers in the Early Period of Insurgency in Assam.
– Uddipan Dutta, India

Women’s Role in Micro-Disarmament in India’s Northeast
– Binalakshmi Nepram, India

Decisions over Differences: Understanding Dispute Resolution in Shared Sacred Spaces
– Geetanjali Srikantan, India

Boy and the Soldier
– Sehjo Singh and Meera Khanna, India

Exploring the Reality across the Line of Control
– Luv Puri, India

Women Can’t Swim: Tsunami, Survival and the Gender Dimension
– S. Gautham, India

Divided Families in the Kargil Region: Impact on Women
– Seema Shekhawat and Debidatta Mahapatra, India

Heroes and Victims: Exploring Disability and Human Security in Sri Lanka’s Conflict and Its Impact on Social and Economic Opportunities for the Disabled.
– Sarala Emmanuel and Radhika Hettiarachchi, Sri Lanka

The Political Representation of Women in Afghanistan
– Swapna Kona, India

Regional Cooperation against Human Trafficking
– Sarasu Thomas, India

Feminization of Communalism in Kerala in the Context of Communal Violence in Maradu
– K.K. Shahina, India

Rajiv Mehrotra has been a student of His Holiness for forty years. He travelled with His Holiness for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and helped establish the Foundation with the prize money. He serves as its Secretary & Trustee.

He was educated at St Stephen’s College and the Universities of Oxford and Columbia. He has authored nine books that have been published in more than 50 editions and languages. These include Mind of The Guru, Thakur-a Biography of Sri Ramakrishna and The Essential Dalai Lama. As an independent documentary filmmaker, commissioning editor and producer, Rajiv Mehrotra has won 32 National Awards in 34 years from the President of India. He serves as the Managing Trustee of The Public Service Broadcasting Trust, winning more than 300 awards worldwide from over 1,700 film festival selections.

For decades, he was a familiar face as an anchor on public television in India. He was nominated a Global Leader for Tomorrow by The World Economic Forum at Davos where he twice addressed plenary sessions. He is frequently invited to talk about His Holiness, on Buddhism, inter-faith harmony and issues related to the media. Rajiv Mehrotra has served on numerous Committees and Boards. He was a Judge for the Templeton Prize for Religion.

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Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath is the Founder and Director of WISCOMP. She is Chair, Board of Governors, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), and Principal Emerita of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, where she served as Principal for 26 years (1988-2014). She has been a member of the Advisory Board on the Planning Commission of India and the University Grants Commission. Dr. Gopinath was the first woman to be nominated to the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India. She is a member of multi-track peace initiatives and people-to-people dialogues in South Asia. She serves on numerous Boards including the United Nations Peace University in Costa Rica, the Geneva-based Nonviolent Peaceforce, Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, among others.

Dr. Gopinath has written and lectured across the world on issues of Conflict Transformation, Peacebuilding, Women’s Leadership, Education for Peace, International Relations and Diplomacy. She serves on the governing boards of prominent research institutes, NGOs and educational institutions and has developed programs and curricula on educating for peace in several universities, colleges and schools. In recognition of her contribution to the field of women’s education and empowerment, she has received several awards including the Padma Shri Award from the President of India; Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Award; Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education; among others. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree by La Trobe University, Australia; the Distinguished Alumna Award by Lady Shri Ram College for Women, for meritorious contribution in the field of Education; and the Nirbhaya Puraskar 2017 by OYSS Women (Odisa Yuva Sanskrutik Sansad) for exemplary courage and accomplishment in the field of Education.

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Seema Kakran is Deputy Director at WISCOMP with over two decades of experience of designing gender trainings and conducting research on issues of inclusion and diversity. A specialist in public policy analysis, political theory and evaluation methodologies, she holds a Graduate Certificate in Public Policy Analysis from University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She has also attended courses in Evaluation Methodology at INCORE, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and Gender Evaluation Methodology and Participatory Evaluation Training of Community of Evaluators (A South Asia Network). Seema has previously taught Political Science at the University of Delhi and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA. She has completed pre-doctoral work at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and holds M.Phil and Masters’ degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Delhi. Her research focuses on gender equality and socio-political conflicts in India.

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Manjri Sewak is Assistant Director of WISCOMP, currently on sabbatical pursuing a PhD in Education for Peace at the Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She has been associated with WISCOMP since its inception in 1999. A writer and trainer in the field of peacebuilding, Manjri holds expertise in conflict transformation and curriculum development. In 2004–5, she was part of a team that designed a Diploma Program in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding at Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, where she later served as a Visiting Faculty. Manjri has conducted peacebuilding workshops for university and school students across the country. She is the author of Multi-Track Diplomacy between India and Pakistan: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Security (2005), Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation (2014), and co-author of Transcending Conflict: A Resource Book on Conflict Transformation (2003).

Manjri is a recipient of the RCSS-NTI Research Award and the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Scholarship. She holds a Masters’ degree in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, USA, and a Bachelors’ degree in Journalism from Lady Shri Ram College for Women.

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Sumona DasGupta is a Political Scientist, independent Researcher and a Senior Visiting Fellow with Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA). She is a Member of Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata, and the Chair of International Advisory Group at International Conflict Research Institute, University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. She has written extensively on conflict transformation, critical security studies, governance and politics in South Asia, particularly on Jammu and Kashmir and gender issues as a cross-cutting theme.

Dr. DasGupta was a Visiting Fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2014 and Lead Researcher for PRIA on the European Union Research Project on Cultures of Governance and Conflict Resolution in Europe and India. Previously, she served as Assistant Director at WISCOMP.

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Dr. Mallika Joseph is a Senior Fellow at WISCOMP. She serves as Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Sciences (NIAS), Bangalore and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. Until recently, she served as Policy Adviser and Regional Coordinator for the Asia Pacific at The Hague-based Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). Before that, she was a Professor and Head at the Department of National Security Studies, Central University of Jammu. Earlier, she was the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Sri Lanka, and the Director of the New Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS).

She is part of many global and regional networks working on sustainable development goals, gender, security sector, human security, conflict prevention, regional architectures, and global governance. She has a Ph.D. in international relations and has worked on various issues relating to South Asian security. Some of her recent books/edited volumes include – Rise of China and India: Implications for the Asia Pacific; India’s Economic growth: Opportunities and Challenges for the Region; Demography in South Asia: Implications for the Regional and Global Political Narratives; and Reintroducing Human Security in South Asia. Her latest book is South Asian Perspectives on Sustainable Development and Gender Equality (2021). She is currently working on an edited volume on “Framing Democracy: Civil Society Perspectives from South Asia.”

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Nilova Roy Chaudhury is a senior journalist with over three decades of experience working as a Reporter, Writer, Analyst and Editor with some of the world’s leading print news publications, including The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Hindustan Times, the Statesman and the Associated Press, among others. She founded The Indian Review of Global Affairs, an online foreign policy news magazine, and was its Chief Editor for five years. Part of that tenure was with the Symbiosis International University’s School of International Studies, to whom the web magazine was co-opted, as a special resource for its students. She helped set up the SSIS, and has taught and mentored students in some aspects of foreign policy. She is a Senior Visiting Fellow at WISCOMP and has actively engaged in initiatives on Journalism and Peace-Building.

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Shilpi Shabdita is Program Officer at WISCOMP where she handles programs on Conflict Transformation, Gender Justice and Education for Peace. She has a Masters’ degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, USA, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding from Lady Shri Ram College, India. Previously, she worked at Heartland Alliance, USA on migration issues, and consulted with Afghan’s for Progressive Thinking, Afghanistan on project design and grant writing for youth-led dialogue initiatives. Shilpi has also worked in Uganda at the Justice and Reconciliation Project, where she collated a ‘Community Memory Book’ documenting war memories and justice needs of former combatants and survivors of war; led campaigns for families of disappeared persons; and authored USAID reports on regional reconciliation.

Previously, Shilpi served as a Consultant at WISCOMP working on the ‘Education for Peace’ initiative with youth leaders and educators from New Delhi and Kashmir, which focused on inter-regional dialogue, conflict transformation skill building, and collaborative peace projects.

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Diksha Poddar has been working with WISCOMP on its programs on youth and peacebuilding, youth countering violence, and engendering higher education spaces. Currently, she is working towards the third edition of WISCOMP Saahas Awards on women building peace at the grassroots in South Asia. Diksha is also a Research Scholar at the Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where she is studying the contours of youth, arts and peacebuilding in conflict areas for her doctoral thesis. Her interest lies within the intersecting themes of gender, youth, creative arts and peacebuilding. Her recent publications include a review article titled 'Youth and Arts: Experiments, Synergies and Critiques' in Journal of Applied Youth Studies (2024); a chapter on 'Youth and Peacebuilding' in Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict (3rd ed., 2022); and a co-authored book chapter titled 'Piecing up Peace in Kashmir: Feminist Perspectives on Education for Peace' in Feminist Solutions to Ending War (ed.), Pluto Publications: London (2021), among others. She has presented her research at several national and international conferences organized by German Association for Conflict and Peace Studies; Nordic Youth Research Symposium at Tampere University, Finland; International Feminist Journal of Politics; and others. Diksha holds an MPhil from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; a Masters in Development Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi and has completed her graduation in Economics and Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi. In addition, she has completed post-graduate diplomas in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding from University of Delhi and International Law, Institutions and Diplomacy from Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi.

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Kiran Koshy is Administrative officer at WISCOMP. He has over a decade of experience in Healthcare, Pharma and Digital Media. He has worked with Caritas India for an Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction Project at Rukem Peo, Himachal Pradesh and with the Association of Sisters of Destitute at Jivodaya Hospital, Delhi. Kiran has a Masters’ degree in Business Administration from Sikkim Manipal University and a Bachelors’ degree in Commerce from Mahatma Gandhi University.

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Sree Kumari is Executive Assistant at WISCOMP for the last 16 years. Previously, she worked as a Primary School Teacher and Head Librarian at the Kerala Education Society, Delhi. She is a poet and a short story writer in Malayalam. Sree holds a Bachelors’ degree in Chemistry and Library Sciences.

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Akashleena Chakrabarti is an Program Associate at WISCOMP where she curates sessions for the virtual Book Café series and facilitates interactive spaces of dialogue for young scholars, academicians and practitioners. She holds a Bachelors’ degree in Political Science and a Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and a Masters’ degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi. Akashleena’s research interests lie at the intersection of political theory, pedagogy and performance studies.

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