Faculty/Research Associates

Uswa Khan is a Non-Resident Junior Fellow at CSSPR. She is an Erasmus Mundus Scholar currently pursuing her International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies from University of Glasgow (UK), Dublin City University (Ireland), and Charles University (Czech Republic) under the Erasmus+: EMJMD Partner Country fully-funded Scholarship. She has done her Bachelor’s in Strategic Studies from National Defence University, Islamabad. She has completed a research-based internship at the National Assembly Secretariat, Islamabad and served as a Fellow in CSSPR’s Nuclear Scholars Initiative, 2021. Her area of interest lies in Counter-terrorism, the geopolitics of the South-Asian region and emerging security threats.

Dr.Shahzad Akhtar is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrated Social Sciences at the University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations and an M.A. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research and teaching are focused on insurgency, counterinsurgency and terrorism. His work has published in The Third World Quarterly and Asian Survey.

Dr. Asif Amin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrated Social Sciences (SISS) at the University of Lahore. He completed his Doctoral and Master’s  Studies in International Relations at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Jilin University, China. His research includes human security, radicalization, terrorism, violent extremism & Counter Violent Extremism(CVE),  and security challenges of the 21st century. He has participated in several national and international conferences.

Dr. Kishwar Munir holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Punjab University, Pakistan, focusing on electoral politics and voting behavior. She is currently Associate Professor at the School of Integrated Social Sciences & Research Fellow at the Centre for Security Strategy and Policy Research at the University of Lahore.  Currently, she is a Charles Wallace Fellow at London School of Economics where she is working on “Water Issues between Pakistan and India: Implications for Regional Security and Peace Process”. She has been a Visiting Fellow at The Stimson Center, Washington DC (July 2017), and has recently co-authored (with Iram Khalid) an article on judicial activism in Pakistan in South Asian Studies. Kishwar’s research interests include voting behavior, CPEC, terrorism, insurgency, regional and global security, and domestic politics in Pakistan.

Dr. Ayesha Ashfaq is an Assistant Professor at the School of Integrated Social Sciences, the University of Lahore. She holds a Ph.D. in South Asian Studies from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. Dr. Ashfaq received her Master’s degrees in History and Philosophy from the same university. She also holds a diploma in the Hindi language and literature from the University of the Punjab. Her areas of interest include Pakistan’s and India’s political and sociocultural issues, communal politics, ethnic issues in South Asia, violence and human rights, extremism, security issues, CPEC, SAARC, and women’s empowerment.

Iqra Javed, Iqra Javed is a lecturer in the School of Integrated Social Sciences and a Research Associate in CSSPR. She has M.Phil in Political Science form Kinnaird College for Women Lahore. Her research work focused on politics of the local body system…

Muhammad Ajmal, is a  Research Associate at Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research(CSSPR), and Senior Lecturer at the School of Integrated Social Sciences (SISS), University of Lahore, since Oct. 4, 2016. Prior to this, he worked in the development sector for almost seven years and mainly kept involved ..

Syed Ali Zia Jaffery is the Deputy Director of the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore, and Associate Editor of Pakistan Politico  Ali was a Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Center, Washington, D.C. Ali regularly writes on strategic issues for national and international publications, to include Routledge, South Asian Voices , The National Interest, The Atlantic Council, CSIS, Daily Times, and The News, among others. Ali is an alumnus of Woodrow Wilson Center’s  Nuclear Proliferation History Project Nuclear History Boot Camp.  His research interests lie in the fields of nuclear deterrence, strategic stability, and geopolitics. He is teaching undergraduate level courses on foreign policy, national security, arms control& disarmament, and non-proliferation, since 2018. He is also a Graduate Research Assistant at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 

Waqas Iqbal has a keen interest in Pakistan’s internal and external geo-strategic landscape. His focus ranges from security to foreign policy in the context of current regional and global political scenarios. Apart from Pakistan, his articles also reflect a sharp insight on multiple regional and global issues like international security paradigm, cyber security, international law, international political economy, South Asian affairs and issues related to global South vis-à-vis role of UNO and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He obtained Master’s Degree in International Relations (IR) from the University of Balochistan, Quetta. As the founding director of IR Academy for CSS, he has effectively mentored aspirants for superior administrative services in Pakistan He is also working as Associate Editor of Pakistan’s first foreign and strategic affairs magazine i.e. Pakistan Politico and had also been a freelance journalist. Currently, Waqas is working as a Research Associate at the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR) at the University of Lahore. As a visiting faculty member at the School of Integrated Social Sciences (SISS) University of Lahore, he teaches Comparative Politics.

Zainab Dar  Zainab Dar obtained an M.Phil. in Political Science from Kinnaird College. Her research is focused on Pakistan’s political culture, voting behaviour and human rights. She has collaborated and worked with various international human rights organisations through United Nations.

Abdul Waris Hameed is Lecturer, School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. He  holds a postgraduate degree in Security and Strategic Studies from the University Of Management & Technology, Lahore. Prior to this, he attended the Engineering School at the University of Lahore. His research interests fall in the domains of South Asian security, strategic culture, traditional and non-traditional security, military history and culture, and Civil- Military Relations (CMR). Previously, he has worked as a Research Associate on the ‘Gap Analysis of Policy Formulation of Local Government in Punjab and KPK’ project funded by GIZ.

Sehar Khurshid Durrani is a lecturer at the School of Integrated Social Sciences. She has done her Master’s of Philosophy in Political Science from Forman Christian College University,Lahore. Her research areas are South Asian studies and Pakistan’s political culture.

Rutt Syed is a lecturer at School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. She did her MPhil in IR from Kinnaird College, Lahore. Her areas of interest are geopolitical issues, defence and security studies, Indian Ocean studies and blue economy. Before joining SISS, she worked as a Research Associate for the hub of maritime thinking, the only think tank of Pakistan Navy at Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore where she also worked as an Editor for their pioneer journal ‘The Beacon’. Rutt Syed has worked on various research and development projects like SDGs and its progress in Pakistan, a report on Implications of Principles of War in Ukraine-Russia conflict and Blue Economy. She teaches a variety of courses at SISS related to International Political Economy, international security studies, South Asian Affairs, etc.

Javaria Sehar is Lecturer, School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. She is also the Country Expert at V-Dem. Formerly, she was a visiting lecturer at the Lahore College for Women University and the University of Lahore. She obtained Master’s degrees in English and Political Science, as well as an MS in Political Science. Her research interests lie in comparative politics, international relations, and public policy.

Farwa Batool is a Lecturer at School of Integrated Social Sciences. She has done her Masters of Philosophy in Political Science from Kinnaird College Lahore. Her research areas are Women and Security studies and Geopolitics.

Noor Rehman is Lecturer,  School of Integrated Social Sciences at The University of Lahore. He graduated in Political Science and holds a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from the Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab. Noor’s areas of research are the strategic dimension of Pak-Afghan relations, strategic culture, cross border terrorism, militancy in erstwhile FATA, and the nexus between climate change and national security.

Aizaz Hussain is a Research Associate at the Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR). He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science with a specialization in Comparative Politics from the Central European University (Vienna, Austria). His academic and research interests include terrorism, hybrid regimes in modern times, nationalism, populism, and theories of non-violence. His graduate thesis was a scoping study focused on terrorism studies conducted by Pakistani scholars and their interplay with terrorism incidents in Pakistan. Prior to this, he obtained his BSc (Honors) degree in Political Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His research work during his bachelor’s program was on Sindhi nationalism and its convergence or divergence with Pakistani nationalism.

Before joining UOL, Aizaz served as a Policy Consultant with the Strategic Policy Planning Cell at the National Security Division, Office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He has also worked as a Researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Afnan Abdul Ghaffar is a  Research Assistant at the Centre of Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR). She completed her Bachelor’s in Social Sciences from the School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. Her research interests include public policy, social security and geopolitics.

Hassan Amin Khokhar is Research Assistant,  Center for Security, Strategy and Policy Research (CSSPR). He  obtained a BS Social Science degree, with specialization in Politics and International Relations from the School of Integrated Social Sciences, The University of Lahore. He has keen interests in the domains of foreign policy, human rights, and security studies.

Ejaz Haider is a Senior Resident Fellow at CSSPR. He has been a newspaperman since 1991, starting his career at The Frontier Post, Lahore. During his career he has held several editorial positions and was the News Editor of The Friday Times and Executive Editor of Daily Times. Haider has also done television and hosted political and policy talk-shows at Dawn News (2007), Samaa TV (2009-10), Capital TV (2013-2018), and Indus News (2018-21). He was a Ford Scholar at ACDIS (Programme in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1997) and a visiting fellow at the Foreign Policy Studies Programme at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.(2002-03). Haider has written extensively for publications at home and abroad including The Friday Times, Daily Times, Express Tribune, Pakistan Today, Times of India, India Abroad, The Indian Express, Daily Star (Beirut), The Washington Post, Jane’s Sentinel (Crisis Assessment for Pakistan), and The Hindu, among others. Haider is a regular commentator on national and foreign TV channels. He has done policy work during fellowships in the United States and lectured at various universities, think tanks and civil and military institutions including Command and Staff College, Quetta, National Defence University, National Institute of Public Administration, and formerly Administrative Staff College. He was also a guest speaker at the Turkish Military’s Centre of Excellence in November 2011, as part of a course on WMD and Terrorism. Haider’s areas of interest include defence and foreign policies, nuclear strategy, theories and concepts of war, international relations, statecraft, literature, and satire. He, until recently, was Executive Editor at Indus News.
He writes a regular column for Bol weekly magazine.

Muhammad Tabish is a Research Fellow at CSSPR, and PhD Candidate at the School of Integrated Social Science (SISS) at the University of Lahore. He is also a IR graduate of National Defense University, Islamabad. His areas of interest are strategic communications, cyber security and digital politics.

Fazal Elahi Bilal is a Research Fellow at CSSPR, and a  PhD candidate at the School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. He holds an M.Phil. in International Relations from Lahore Leads University and an M.S in Political Science from the University of The Punjab, Lahore. His areas of interest include politics of South Asia, security studies, American studies, and governance.

Muhammad Akif Rashid is a Research Fellow at CSSPR, and PhD candidate at the School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. He is also a Senior Patrol Officer in National Highways & Motorway Police. He holds an M.S. in Politics & International Relations from Lahore Leads University and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of The Punjab, Lahore. His areas of interest include South Asian studies, climate change, governance, road safety, and extremism in Pakistan.

Rashda Abbas  is a Research Fellow at CSSPR, and PhD candidate at the School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore. She is corporate lawyer, and has been providing legal services and advice to a number of top Pakistani organizations and multinational companies. As a legal professional, Rashda specializes in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Contracts. She s did her MBA from University of Management & Technology (UMT) and then completed her LLB and LLM degrees from Punjab University with distinction.

Adeela Ahmed is a Research Fellow at CSSPR and Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Integrated Social Science (SISS). Additionally, she is a visiting lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan. She did her M.Phil. in Defence and Strategic Studies at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. She is also working as a research fellow with the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Strategic Studies (PICSS), Islamabad. Her book chapter on “The Contours of Pakistan’s Relations with Russia,” was published by Routledge, in 2022. Her areas of research are Pakistan’s foreign policy and deterrence stability in South Asia.