WISCOMP
STAFF PROFILES
Meenakshi
Gopinath (Founder &
Honorary Director) also serves as Principal, Lady Shri Ram College
for Women, New Delhi. She was first woman member on the National Security
Advisory Board.
Dr. Gopinath
serves on several boards including co-chair of the Academic
Council of the UN University of Peace, Costa Rica; Governing
Board of Co-Existence International, USA; Center for Policy
Research, New Delhi; The Shri Ram School, New Delhi; Regional
Center for Strategic Studies, Sri Lanka; Center for Peace and
Conflict Resolution, New Delhi etc. She is a member of multi-track
peace initiatives in Kashmir and between India and Pakistan
including the Neemrana Peace Initiative, Dostaana e’ Kashmir
and the Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy.
She has authored the book Pakistan in Transition and has contributed
chapters and articles to several books and journals on Gandhi,
the politics of Pakistan, the arts, Conflict Resolution, Gender
and Peacebuilding et al. In recognition of her contribution
to the field of women’s education and empowerment, she
has received several awards including the Indira Priyadarshini
Gandhi Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education,
the Shiromani Mahila Award and the Delhi Citizen Forum Award.
Dr. Gopinath has been a Fulbright scholar and has received several
fellowships. She was awarded the Padmashri by The President
of India for her distinguished contribution to the field of
Literature and Education in India in 2007.
Sumona
DasGupta, (Senior Consultant: Research) began her career
as a member of the Faculty in the Department of Political Science,
Loreto College, Kolkata, and has been associated with the WISCOMP
initiative after moving to New Delhi in 2000. Her doctoral thesis
was titled Rethinking Militarization: The Indian Experience
Since the 1980s. Her research interests include low intensity
conflicts, changing formulations of security, militarization,
and the intersection of gender with issues related to peace
and conflict. In recent years she has increasingly focused on
discourses and practices of democracy, peacebuilding, dialogue,
and reconciliation which has been sustained by her engagement
on the field in India’s troubled Jammu and Kashmir. Some
of Dr. DasGupta’s publications include “Militarization
of the Indian State since the 1980s” in Maroof Raza (ed)
Generals and Governments in India and Pakistan, New Delhi: Har
Anand Publications, 2001, “Structural Challenges, Enabling
Spaces: Gender and Non-Traditional Security in South Asia”
(co-authored with Meenakshi Gopinath) in R. Emmers et al (ed)
Non Traditional Security in Asia, Singapore: Cavendish, 2006,
and “Security, Gender and Conflict Prevention: Perceptions
from South Asia” in Paula Banerjee (ed) Women in Peace
Politics, New Delhi: Sage, 2008.
Manjri
Sewak (Consultant - Conflict Transformation) is also
a member of the Visiting Faculty for the Peacebuilding Diploma
Program at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi. At LSR,
she teaches papers on Justice and Reconciliation; Nonviolence;
and Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Conflict Transformation.
A Fulbright Conflict Resolution Scholar, she holds a Masters
degree in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice
and Peacebuilding, Easter Mennonite University, U.S.A. She recently
published a book titled Multi-Track Diplomacy between India
and Pakistan: A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Security
(Manohar, New Delhi, 2005) and has co-authored, with Meenakshi
Gopinath, two resource books on conflict transformation titled
Transcending Conflict and Dialogic Engagement. She has also
co-authored, with Deepti Mahajan, a monograph titled Kashmir:
Engaging with Possibilities. A trainer in the field of peacebuilding,
Manjrika has designed curriculum and conducted workshops on
various aspects of dialogue, nonviolence and conflict transformation.
Ashima
Kaul (Consultant-Jammu&Kashmir) coordinates Athwaas-
WISCOMP's dialogue initiative in Jammu and Kashmir. An independent
journalist by profession, Ms. Kaul is also trained in gender,
peace and security issues. She has participated in a number
of national and international conferences related to conflict
resolution and peacebuilding. As a peace practitioner she has
an active interest in interfaith dialogue and is a founder member
of the Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network - an initiative
of Kashmiri professionals working on reconciliation and leadership
with children and youth in Jammu and Kashmir. Ms. Kaul is a
board member of Control Arms Foundation of India working on
small arms, light weapons and Arms Trade Treaty. Ms. Kaul also
makes documentary films. She recently directed 'Athwaas-The
Journey', a film commissioned by Public Service Broadcasting
Trust. Currently she is working on “In Pursuit for Change”,
a film on women politicians in Kashmir.
Seema
Kakran (Senior Program Officer) holds an M. Phil degree in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Masters Degree in Political Science from University of Delhi. Her M.Phil dissertation is titled “Police and Social Violence a Study of Communal Riots in Uttar Pradesh-1981-1990”. She also hold a Gruaduate Certificate in Public Policy Analysis from University of Nebraska- Lincoln. She has previously taught undergraduate courses in Public Administration and Political Theory at colleges in Delhi University and at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln.
