Dr. Asma Shakir Khawaja is the Executive Director. She is the author of highly acclaimed book, “Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists: The Grand Trunk Road to Confidence Building Measures between Pakistan and India.”

Dr. Khawaja is an Associate Professor and former Head of the Department of Strategic Studies, at the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, where she has been a faculty member since June, 2008. She is among the founding members of Faculty of Contemporary Studies, NDU. Not only this, she has the honor to establish the first ever department of Peace and Conflict Studies, in Pakistan in September 2008, at NDU.

Her distinguish career in academia, includes more than two decades long teaching, research, and administrative experience. Asma received her scholarship by German government for Doctorate in South Asian Studies from the Institute of South Asian Studies, Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg Germany, and Msc & MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. She has also done Masters in Political Science and Pakistan Studies.Dr. Khawaja is a frequent media commentator, represented Pakistan, and presented her research studies in various conferences worldwide. She has published numerous research studies, monographs, books, and book chapters. Her areas of interest include strategic studies, peace and conflict studies and precisely peacebuilding, conflict resolution, regional and global integration and geopolitics, strategic alignments, energy politics, women peace and security, strategic culture and Pakistan-India relations.

Her active participation in the activities of knowledge community include: Crisis Management Course at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), Hawaii, USA; IVLP Fellowship on Security and Foreign Policy; Rotary Peace Fellowship and representation of Pakistan at its Global Innovative Peacebuilding Conference in Bangkok; ICRC Fellowship; DAAD Fellowship; and the Ambassadorship of Global Peace Index at the Institute for Economic and Peace. She is the recipient of Presidential Gold Medal of Merit and the alumni achievement award by APCSS, USA. Last but not the least she is the president of APCSS Alumni Pakistan.