Biography

Associate Prof. (Dr) Pooja Bhatt received her doctoral degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2021. She holds an M.A. in International Relations and an MPhil in Diplomacy and Disarmament from JNU. She also holds a diploma in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) from Yeosu Academy, Korea Maritime Institute.

She is also the author of the book titled Nine-Dash Line: Deciphering the South China Sea Conundrum (Republished by Routledge June 2024; Knowledge World 2020). Pooja was a part of the prestigious Indian Navy History book A Decade of Transformation: The Indian Navy 2011-21 released by the Hon’ble President of India on Navy Day 2022. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi.

Besides working extensively on maritime issues, particularly the Indo-Pacific and the South China Sea, she writes about issues related to defence and Asian security architecture. Her work has been published in the US Naval War College’s prestigious journal, International Law Quarterly, and Journal for Indo-Pacific Affairs, USA. She has published several chapters in edited volumes and articles on reputed web platforms such as Lowy Institute, Pacific Forum, PerthUSAsia, Institute for Security and Development Policy, Sweden and so on. Her two recent papers on submarine cable protection were published by a DFAT Australia-funded project at the Australia-India Institute, and another co-authored one at the Institute for Security & Development Policy, Sweden.

Previously, she worked as a Consultant with the Policy Planning & Research division at the Ministry of External Affairs, India. Dr Bhatt also taught as an assistant professor at the School of Defence and Strategic Studies at the reputed Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar. She has worked with India’s leading think tanks, such as the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi (an Indian Air Force research institute), the Indian Council of World Affairs, and the Ministry of External Affairs. She has published extensively on several leading platforms in India and abroad as well has been a speaker on maritime issues at various reputed international seminars including the US INDOPACOM conference (Bangkok chapter), CSIS Washington DC,  Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Hanoi, East-West Centre Hawaii amongst others.  She had been invited by the US Naval War College RI to present her paper on maritime security and governance in 2020. She takes lectures in the Indian Navy Defence courses and programs on maritime issues.