Draft:Council for Strategic and Defense Research

Council for Strategic and Defense Research (CSDR) is an independent think tank and consultancy based in New Delhi, India. It conducts independent analysis, issues policy advisories, and offers consulting solutions, to help governments, businesses, and others institutions.

CSDR relies on a network of global and regional experts to deliver tailored interventions rooted in evidence-based research and experiential knowledge. CSDR's expertise covers foreign policy, geopolitical risk, connectivity and geoeconomics, defense and aerospace, military strategy, strategic technologies, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, climate change, energy security, and tech policy. CSDR specializes in the Indian subcontinent, Eurasia, and the Indo-Pacific.

Origins and Objectives
CSDR was founded in January 2020 by Dr. Happymon Jacob, Lt Gen D S Hooda (retd), and Dr. Gaurav Saini. It emerged from the need for independent research, informed advocacy, and inclusive dialogue on Indian foreign and national security policy. As India's role increases in the international system, CSDR is envisioned to provide non-partisan analysis to policy actors in India and aborad to make informed decisions.

Programs
Currently, CSDR has twelve programs.


 * Peacebuilding and Conflict Management
 * Geopolitics and International Security
 * Counterterrorism and Internal Security
 * Defence and Aerospace
 * Indo-Pacific
 * Space Technologies and Policy
 * Artificial Intelligence and Linguistics
 * Emerging Technologies and Society
 * Geopolitics and Regionalism
 * Climate Security and Diplomacy
 * Inclusive Foreign and Security Policy
 * War Gaming Lab

Activities
CSDR primarily produces evidence-based research and convenes relevant stakeholders to disseminate its findings. These events include roundtables, closed-door discussions, national and international conferences, and task forces. In addition, it offers educational products to policy actors through workshops, immersion programs, and online courses. CSDR's activities are project-based and include other forms of informational aggregation, analysis, and dissemination, such as public databases and podcasts.

Rankings
Given that CSDR is a fairly new organization, it has not been ranked by any of the existing think tank rankings yet.

Notable Fellows and Advisors

 * Dr. Happymon Jacob - Associate Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
 * Lt Gen D S Hooda (retd) - Former Northern Army Commander, Indian Army
 * Amb. Rakesh Sood - Former Diplomat and PM's Special Envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
 * Prof. C Raja Mohan - Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
 * Amb. Riva Ganguly Das - Former Secretary East, Ministry of External Affairs
 * VAdm Anil K Chawla - Former Commanding-in-Chief Southern Naval Command
 * Anita Prakash - Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of President of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
 * Lt Gen Sanjay Verma(retd) - Former Director General, Weapons & Acquisitions
 * Capt Sarabjeet S Parmar(retd) - Former Executive Director, National Maritime Foundation
 * Col. Shashank Ranjan (retd) - Former Colonel in the Indian Army and Counter-Insurgency / Counter- Terrorism expert
 * Atul Chandra - Aerospace Journalist
 * Dr. Debak Das - Assistant Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver
 * Dr. Jabin Jacob - Associate Professor, Shiv Nadar University, India.
 * Shiv Sahai - Former Additional Secretary, Internal Affairs Division, National Security Council Secretariat, India