USI Core Team

Maj Gen RPS Bhadauria, VSM (Retd)

Head Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3)

He is presently Head of Centre for Strategic Studies & Simulation (CS3) at United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. He regularly conducts strategic gaming exercises for National Defence College, Army War College and Indian Foreign Service Institute. He retired from the faculty of National Defence College, New Delhi in Feb 2016 after serving in the Indian Army for 36 years. General has vast experience in anti-terrorist operations both at policy formulation and execution level. He has commanded a mountain division and brigade. He has held many prestigious staff appointments at Command and Army Headquarters. He has the unique experience of raising two large formations i.e. Division and Mountain Corps. He holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from Madras University, India. He has attended course on Politics and Strategic Affairs at Escola Superior de Guerra in Brazil. General has deep interest in researching and writing on security environment in Indo Pacific region particularly in South Asia.

Dr (Mrs) Roshan Khanijo

Assistant Director (Research)

Her academic qualification includes BSc, MA and PhD. Her area of interests is strategic issues particularly Nuclear Strategy, Nuclear profile of Nuclear Weapon States, Armament, Disarmament, Niche technologies etc. She has authored and edited books, monographs, occasional papers namely, “Complexities and Challenges of Nuclear India”, “The Indo-Pacific Region: Security Dynamics & Challenges”, “Iranian Nuclear Conundrum”, etc. She has been a panellist in various national and international panel discussions and a guest speaker at Air War College, Hyderabad, Southern Naval command, Kochi, OP Jindal Global University, etc. She was the member of the study team which did the Net Assessment on China, South Asia, Pakistan, etc for HQIDS.

Research Faculty

Major General Rajendra Singh Yadav, VSM (Retd)

Distinguished Fellow

Major General Rajendra Singh Yadav, VSM, a President’s Awardee from the National Defence Academy, served an illustrious 38 years with the Infantry. He has rich operational experience of CI/CT operations and both Pak and China fronts. He was also a Defence Attache of India in the Middle East. Post superannuation, he has been Vice Chancellor of a University. Has travelled 24 countries, and has deep interest in International Relations, with specialisation in West Asian region. He is now a Distinguished Fellow with USI of India.

Brigadier Pawan Bhardwaj, YSM

Senior Research Fellow

Brigadier Pawan Bhardwaj is an Infantry Officer with 31 years of service experience in operational areas of Siachen Glacier, Line of Control and Counter Insurgency. He has commanded an Infantry Battalion in Counter Insurgency and an Infantry Brigade along the Line of Control in the High Altitude Area. A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, he has held instructional appointments at the Army War College and the Infantry School. A five years tenure with Strategic Forces Command has given him a wholesome tri-service experience with a unique strategic perspective. His reading interests include Technology Trends, Information Warfare and Military Training. He is pursuing a Research Fellowship on Employment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a Tactical Level with the United Service Institution of India, New Delhi.

Gp Capt A Dogra

Senior Research Fellow

Gp Capt Aseem Dogra was commissioned in the Aeronautical Engineering branch of IAF in November 1993. He is an M Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Panjab University, M Sc from Madras University and Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engg from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur. His Master’s dissertation was on ‘Indo-Russian Relations in the Emerging World Order’. Gp Capt Dogra is a graduate of DSSC, Wellington and has also attended the Higher Command Course at Army War College, Mhow. He has extensive experience on aeronautical engineering, ranging from O-level to D-level maintenance of Russian fighter aircraft fleets. He has tenanted various field, instructional and staff appointments in the maintenance hierarchy of IAF. He commanded Air Force Liaison Establishment, co-located with HAL (Nasik) and mandated to act as an interface between IAF and HAL. He is presently studying “India’s One China Policy – Need for a Change” as a part of his research fellowship at USI, New Delhi.

Col Manik Trivedi

Senior Research Fellow

Col Manik Trivedi is an Armoured Corps Officer, an alumni of Indian Military Academy (1994) and Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. The officer commanded 53 Armoured Regiment in desert sector. In his vast career has had cross functional exposure in challenging Staff and Command appointments. His last billet has been Deputy Commandant WARDEC responsible for developing IT enabled war-games. He is perusing Research Fellowship from USI wef Oct 2021 on Indo- Nepal Relationship in the backdrop of emerging Chinese influence.

Col Akhil Rathee

Senior Research Fellow

Col Akhil Rathee was commissioned in 501 AD Gp (SP) in December 1994. He has wide operational, regimental, staff and instructional experience. He commanded his parent unit, has served as GSO 1 (Ops) of an AD Brigade in Strike Corps, AQ of Rashtriya Rifles Sector and as an instructor Class B and C in Army Air Defence College. He served as a Staff Officer in United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.Col Akhil Rathee is a graduate of Defence Services Staff collage. He has also completed his MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. He is presently pursuing research fellowship at USI of India, New Delhi. His topic for research is “Countering Chinese Hegemony in Asia and in Archiving History of Indian Army” at USI of India.

Col Harpal Singh

Senior Research Fellow

Col Harpal Singh was commissioned in the Corps of Signals in 1995. In addition to Masters in Business Administration and PGD in Cyber Security, the Officer holds degrees in Bachelors in Science from Kurukshetra University, a B Tech (Comn and IT) from JNU and an MSc (Military Technology) from DIAT. The Officer has tenanted various regimental, command and staff appointments both in India and abroad. His operational experience include regimental appointments responsible for EW and Communication Engineering during Op VIJAY and Op PARAKRAM. The officer has served in EW units in the North East, Sigs Units in J&K, Punjab and a UN Peace Keeping Mission in DRC. His staff appointments include logistics planning as Desert Corps, Col GS of Sub Area in High Altitude Areas and Weapons Director and Equipment at Army Headquarters. The officer is presently pursuing Research Fellowship at USI on the subject ‘Afghanistan Crisis : India’s Conundrum’..

Dr Jagannath Panda

Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Jagannath Panda is a Senior Fellow at the United Services Institution of India (USI). Currently, Dr. Panda is based in Stockholm, and is the Head of Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Sweden. In addition to his primary appointment at ISDP, Dr. Panda is also the Director for Europe-Asia Research Cooperation at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS); International Research Fellow at the Cannon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) in Japan; a Senior Fellow at East Asian Security Centre at Bond University, Australia; and a Senior Research Fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS), Tokyo. He was a fellow at India’s premier think-tank, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (now, Manohar Parrikar-IDSA) for one and half-decade [2006-2022]. As a senior expert on Indo-Pacific affairs, Dr. Panda’s research focuses primarily on India’s relations with Indo-Pacific powers (China, Japan, Korea, USA); EU-India Relations; and EU’s infrastructure, connectivity and maritime initiatives in Indo-Pacific. He is the Series Editor for Routledge Studies on Think Asia, and also the Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Asian Public Policy (JAPP: Routledge). Dr. Panda has a monthly column as “Asia’s Next Page” with Japan Forward, and is a keen follower of Chinese, Japanese and Korean affairs. He has been a Korea Foundation (2018) and Japan Foundation fellow (2018). He frequently writes for The National Interest, China Brief (Jamestown Foundation), The Diplomat, 38 North (Stimson Centre), Asia Times, The Japan Times, The Diplomat, South Asian Voices and many other international forums. Dr. Panda is the author of the book India-China Relations (Routledge: 2017) and China’s Path to Power: Party, Military and the Politics of State Transition (IDSA & Pentagon Press: 2010). His recent work includes Quad Plus and Indo-Pacific (Routledge: 2021); Scaling India-Japan Cooperation in Indo-Pacific and Beyond 2025 (KW Publishing Ltd. 2019), and The Korean Peninsula and Indo-Pacific Power Politics: Status Security at Stake (Routledge, 2020), India-Japan-ASEAN Triangularity (Routledge: 2022), and the Future of Korean Peninsula: Korea 2032 and Beyond (Routledge: 2021).

Dr Tricia Bacon

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Tricia Bacon, PhD. is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3) in United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. She is an Associate Professor at the American University’s School of Public Affairs. She directs the Policy Anti-Terrorism Hub at the American University. Prior to her employment at the American University, Dr. Bacon worked on counterterrorism for over ten years at the Department of State, including in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Bureau of Counterterrorism, and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Dr. Bacon is a non-resident fellow with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and an associate fellow with the International Centre for Counter-terrorism. She serves in the Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program Advisory Council for the Middle East Institute and the editorial board of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Terrorism and Political Violence. Her research focuses on behavior of terrorist and insurgent groups’ and decision-making, U.S. counterterrorism policy, and in the role of intelligence in national security decision-making. She recently published an article discussing a peace deal between the Taliban and the United States.

Dr. Madhukar Shyam

Research Assistants

Dr. Madhukar Shyam is a Research Assistant at Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3) in United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. He finished his M.Phil. and PhD. from Centre for East Asian Studies at School of International Studies, from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Previously, he worked as an Assistant Professor at Sri Vishwakarma Skill University [2019-22] and also as an Assistant Professor at Delhi Colleges of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi [2018-19]. He also writes for different journals on International Politics, China’s – Foreign policy, Economic policy and IPR.

Mr Manav Saini

Research Assistants

Manav Saini is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3) at the United Service Institution of India (USI). He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from South Asian University and Bachelor’s in Journalism & Mass Communications from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. He has previously worked at National Maritime Foundation as a Research Intern, and went through their teaching capsule on various Maritime domain facets. His research interests are Maritime security in Indo-Pacific, China’s foreign policy and its role in the Indo-Pacific region.

CS3