Experts Profile

Margareth Sembiring, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research focuses on environmental and climate change governance, with a strong interest in low-carbon energy transition.

Dr Sembiring holds a PhD in International Relations from Nanyang Technological University, a master’s degree in International Peace and Security from King’s College London as a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship, a master’s degree in Defence and Security Management from the Indonesian Defence University where she graduated top of her cohort, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

Her works have been featured in several edited volumes and prominent platforms, including the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Bureau of Asian Research, the East Asia Forum, the Straits Times, and the Jakarta Post. Most recently, she published “Critical Geopolitics of Global Environmental Norms: Exploring Indonesia’s Response to Climate Mitigation Agenda” in Geopolitics journal.

In addition to her research, Dr Sembiring manages the Secretariat of the NTS-Asia Consortium, a network of 31 think tanks and research organisations working on non-traditional security issues across the Asia-Pacific region.

Mohosina Mostofa is a Research Assistant at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS). She holds a Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) and a Master of Social Science (MSS) degree in International Relations from Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). Several commentaries authored by her have been published on the BIPSS website, addressing a wide range of contemporary issues, including geopolitics, security challenges, climate security, and the impact of artificial intelligence on global politics. In addition to her expertise in international security and policy, she has a focused research interest 2 in gender studies. Her academic work has produced notable research on genderbased issues; her BSS and MSS thesis projects addressed significant challenges women face, specifically sexual harassment on public transportation and verbal abuse in corporate settings. Both projects involved the collection of primary data as she prefers evidence-based research. She is open to collaborative research opportunities with member organisations of the NTS-Asia Consortium, particularly those that align with her expertise and research interests in traditional and non-traditional security issues and also gender studies.

S. Nanthini is an Associate Research Fellow in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Programme at the Centre of Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) , S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) , Nanyang Technological University (NTU) , Singapore. She holds a Masters in International Relations (International Security) from the University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Gender Studies) from La Trobe University

In 2023, Nanthini was recognised and appointed as a Pacific Forum Young Leader. She is also a member of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) Indo-Pacific Cooperation Network.

Her research interests include HADR, climate security and the gender and security in the Southeast Asian humanitarian landscape.

Mr Nghiem Tuan Hung is currently an Acting Head of Center for International Security and Strategy at Institute of World Economics and Politics. Mr Nghiem Tuan Hung holds the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in International Relations from Vietnam National University – Ha Noi, and he is going to finish his PhD dissertation. Additionally, he is a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of International Studies, Vietnam National University. As a senior research fellow, Mr Nghiem Tuan Hung has taken part in several key national research projects on conflicts, regional security architecture, defence and non-traditional security matters. He is also the member of Vietnam’s Network of International Relations Research. Mr Nghiem Tuan Hung’s research interests include dominant international relations theories as well as new theoretical approaches which can be used in security and strategic studies. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the issue which he concerns the most. Meanwhile, he also concentrates on newly emerging aspect of security studies or non-traditional security issues including international migration and the responses of Vietnam to those new challenges.

Ms. PICH Charadine is Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Global Center for Mekong Studies (GCMS) at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP). She has also served as adjunct lecturer of ASEAN studies in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Paragon International University, Cambodia, where she taught a course on ASEAN in the regional and global context and led the 1st ASEAN Regional Forum Simulation. She had been working with several non-government organizations and had also jointly conducted numerous research projects, prior to her current affiliation.

Mely Caballero-Anthony is Professor of International Relations and Head of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.  Prof Anthony teaches courses on Non-Traditional Security in Asia and Security Governance.

Prof. Anthony’s research interests include regionalism and multilateralism in Asia-Pacific, human security and non-traditional security, conflict prevention and global governance. She has published extensively on a broad range of security issues in Asia-Pacific in peer-reviewed journals and international academic press. Her latest books, both single-authored and co-edited, include: Negotiating Governance on Non-Traditional Security in Southeast Asia and Beyond(New York: Columbia University Press, 2018), An Introduction to Non-Traditional Security Studies, (London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2016), Asia on the Move (Japan: JCIE, 2015), and Human Security and Climate Change (London: Routledge, 2014).

Prof. Anthony has led a number of global and regional research projects on international security and global governance.  In 2017, she co-chaired the Global Reflection Group on the ‘Monopoly of the Use of Force- 2.0’ that brought together 21 scholars from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas that examined the nature of security provision in times of uncertainty.  She was also the principal investigator of the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative (ASI) project of Internal Security Challenges in Asia and Cross-Border Implications and was Co-Chair of the Second Murdoch Commission on Food Security, Trade and Partnership in Asia.

Prof Anthony has served as the Secretary-General of the Consortium on Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia since 2008. From 2015-2017, she was Vice President at-large of the Governing Council of the International Studies Association (ISA) and is a member of the ISA’s Global South Task Force.  She had held visiting fellowship at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University in 2015. From 2013-2017, Prof Anthony was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters and served at its Chairperson in 2016. She was also Director of External Relations at the ASEAN Secretariat from 2011-2012 and was a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council on Conflict Prevention.

Prof. Gamini Keerawella joined Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in the capacity of its Executive Director on November 16th, 2017. Prior to that he was the Deputy Chief of Mission and later the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Sri Lanka, Washington D.C., USA (October 2015 to November 2017). He is an internationally renowned scholar, the former Head and Professor in Modern History at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka who retired from the University in 2015 after 40 years of service. He also worked as the Secretary, Ministry of Ethnic Affairs and National Integration and Mineral Resources Development (2001-2002), the Founder Director of the National Integration Unit (1997-2000) and Advisor to the President on Ethnic Affairs (2002-2005). He earned his M.A. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of Windsor and from the University of British Columbia, Canada respectively. His doctoral thesis was on ‘The Superpower Naval Rivalry the Indian Ocean’. Prof. Gamini Keerawella was a recipient of a number of prestigious fellowships: Fulbright Scholar-in-Resident Professorship tenable in the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, USA (2013-2014), Japan Foundation Fellowship at the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, Japan (2003-04), Scholar-in-Residence, Centre for Theory, Baroda, India (2007), Senior Fulbright Fellowship tenable at the University of California-Berkeley, USA (1991-93), Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Perth (1991). He has over 40 publications to his credit. His area of research includes peace and security in the Indian Ocean, regional security architecture and cooperation in South Asia, identity politics and post-colonial State formation in Sri Lanka. The University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka honored Professor Gamini Keerawella in 2016 with bestowing on him the Emeritus Professorship.

Dr. Jyoti M. Pathania is the founding editor of the ‘Online Indian Journal of Peace & Conflict Resolution’ (oijpcr.org) and hosts the podcast ‘Indian Conflict Resolution’. She is a distinguished professor at the Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. With over two and a half decades of teaching and research experience at universities in India and abroad, she has also served as a Senior Fellow and Chairperson of Outreach at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Hons) from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, where she graduated with distinction. Dr. Jyoti earned her M.A. and M.Phil in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and pursued an advanced Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies at the European Peace University in Austria, Spain, and Ireland. She completed her Ph.D. in Political Science.

Dr Jyoti is a recipient of the Prof. Randhir Singh Award and the Prof. N. N. Aggarwal Memorial Award. She has been commended for her research and academic contributions by the late Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, India.  And recently honoured by the Director of Thapar School of Liberal Arts & Sciences for her outstanding contribution to academics. 

Her prolific writing includes national and international publications, such as “India & Pakistan: Confidence Building Measures”, and “Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Issues in South Asia”. Her latest book, “Deep State Continuum in Pakistan & its Implications for India”, introduces her trademarked term -“Uniformed Democracy”.

Dr. Jyoti’s areas of specialisation and interest include International Relations, Conflict Resolution & Peace Studies, Non-traditional Security issues, Women’s issues, the United Nations, and South Asia.

Click here for more information on  Online Indian Journal of Peace & Conflict Resolution (OIJPCR)

The economic progress of a country does not always linearly correlate with the improvement of the quality of life of its children. Indonesia has constantly shown progressive macro-economic performance and has also succeeded in increasing its status by moving into the group of low-middle income countries. However, the country is still facing persistent problems in child nutrition. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 80 percent of the world’s stunted children live in 14 countries, including Indonesia (UNICEF, 2013). With a prevalence of 37 percent, Indonesia has been a country with the highest stunting rate in South East Asia, surpassing its counterparts in the region with lower or similar phases of economic development, such as Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand (Millenium Challenge Account, 2014). The other nutrition indicators shown by the prevalence of underweight and of wasting which have reached almost 20 and 12 percent are also indicating a severe nutrition problem in the country (Basic Health Survey, 2013).

The high prevalence of child malnutrition in Indonesia raises questions surrounding the effectiveness of various food and nutrition security policies and programs. Hence, I argue that children-related concerns are not adequately incorporated in existing policies and programs implemented. These issues include, for example, quality of care the children receive, dietary habits, as well as the quality of food available in the market that to some extent influence people’s dietary intake. My current publication in IDS Bulletin highlights worrying trend of children’s snacking habits and why this issue is important for the country’s development. It shows that there are still blind spots in government policies on food and nutrition that have not addressed child-caring practices. Therefore, it affects the ability of poor families in preparing quality food for their children (Nurbani, 2015).

Having taught in economics school in which I mostly work with crunching numbers of macro-statistics data, I have never expected to get wide exposure to social issues. My interest was started when I pursued my postgraduate at the Universita di Roma La Sapienza in 2008. During that time I met new colleagues from different countries, including those who have experienced working in development sectors and those who directly worked with grass-root communities. I was also selected to participate in a course on Poverty and Hunger at the World Food Programmes (WFP) headquarter. These experiences opened my eyes on the significance of social phenomena and daily family issues on the wider society. For example, the way people eat or the way people feed their children may have effects on the national economy!

My interactions with social issues were getting more intense when I returned to Indonesia and decided to join SMERU. I felt a growing interest to learn and explore qualitative research methods. I realised that quantitative analyses alone are not enough to answer the question of “why”, particularly when we study social phenomena in communities. In SMERU, I have been involved in various studies covering cross-cutting issues on poverty, including food and nutrition security, child poverty and wellbeing, urban poverty, unpaid care work, basic education, and shock and crises. My biggest passion is on supporting the efforts to achieve better quality of life of children in Indonesia through research. I would also be glad to learn more about how research can be more useful in supporting policy formulation processes.