Shanthie D`Souza

Dr. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza is the Founder and president of Mantraya, an independent research forum that seeks to make constructive contributions in the realm of strategy, innovations, and alternatives.  She is also a visiting faculty at the Naval War College, Goa; a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, Washington D.C.; a Research Fellow at WeltTrends-Institut für Internationale Politik, Potsdam; an International Advisor at the Nordic Counter Terrorism Network, Helsinki; a Member of Board of Studies, School of International & Area Studies, Goa University; an Editorial board member of Small Wars & Insurgencies (Routledge: UK);  and an Adviser for Independent Conflict Research and Analysis, London. In a career spanning over two decades, she has conducted extensive field research in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Africa and Australia. 

Dr. D’Souza’s research interests and expertise include Politics of aid, development, gender and security in Afghanistan; Climate change, energy and human security; Women, peace and security; Countering terrorism, insurgencies and violent extremism; Geopolitical trends in Asia; Non-traditional security threats and crisis response; India’s foreign, maritime, climate and security policy. She has been a recipient of the Fulbright Junior Research Fellowship (2005-06) and the President’s Award for Excellence in Research (2009) from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

Dr. D’Souza has been a Founding Professor at Kautilya School of Public Policy, Hyderabad (2021-2022); a Visiting Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin, Germany (2022); a Board Director at the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo (2018-2022); a Visiting Research Associate at the School of Business & Governance, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2017); a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (2010-14); an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi (2006-10); a Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Research Associate at the South Asia Studies, The Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C. (2005-06). She has worked with governmental and non-governmental sectors for more than a decade and conducted field-based research in Afghanistan and India. 

Dr D’Souza’s writings based on her field studies have appeared in journals, newspapers, policy forums, and edited books, receiving attention from academics and practitioners, and informing public debate on crucial issues in Asia. Among her most recent published work are edited books titled Countering Insurgencies and Violent Extremism in South and South East Asia (Cass Military Studies, Routledge: UK), Afghanistan in Transition: Beyond 2014?, co-edited books, Perspectives on South Asian Security and Saving Afghanistan. She has guest edited a special issue on “Countering insurgencies and violent extremism in South Asia” in Small Wars & Insurgencies (UK: Routledge), February 2017. She has also contributed chapters to edited books, encyclopedias, yearbooks, regional surveys, and op-eds in the media.

She has published in international peer-reviewed journals and policy outlets including Small Wars & Insurgencies, Journal of South Asian Development, South Asian Survey, Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, Contemporary South Asia, Pacific Affairs, Strategic Analysis, Journal of Defence Studies, Welt Trends: Journal for International Politics and Comparative Studies, Multipolar: Journal for critical security research, Indian Naval Despatch, RAND, and others. Dr. D’Souza has been interviewed and cited by various media outlets and her writings on India and South Asia have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Straits Times, The National Interest, The Diplomat, Indian Express, Asian Age, Business Standard, The Business Times, among others.

Dr D’Souza has presented academic and policy papers in various national and international forums. She has delivered guest lectures and designed training modules on key security, political and economic developments in South and South East Asia for policy makers, diplomats, security personnel, media, civil society organizations, women and youth groups. She has been a part of the “US-South Asia Leader Engagement Program”, a pilot initiative to bring national security leaders from South Asian countries to the United States by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA), Washington D.C., 2011. She has conceptualized and participated in Track 1.5 and Track Two dialogues on conflict resolution in South Asia.

As the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she will be teaching and conducting research on Global Climate Change and Geopolitics of Energy and the prospects for cooperation between India and U.S. in addressing issues of climate change, mitigation, and crisis management.