Speaker Bio

Dr. Swasti Rao is a geopolitics and defence expert, commentator, and author. She is Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the Jindal School of International Studies, JGU, Consulting Editor (Strategic & International Affairs) at ThePrint, and a defence advisor to India’s Ministry of Defence for the UP Defence Industrial Corridor. A Non-Resident Fellow at Eastern Circles, Paris, and affiliated with the EU-India Women’s Council, she was honoured by the Indian Air Force (2024) and the French Senate (2025) for her research in the field of IR. She has published on strategic affairs, with her upcoming book, ‘Ukraine Untold’ focusing on the Russia-Ukraine war. She was formerly with MP-IDSA (Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses),India’s MoD-affiliated think tank where she worked on MEA and MoD projects on European geopolitics and geo-economics;research focussing on European conflicts , economic security and Europe’s Indo-Pacific and Indo-Mediterranean outreach