Meenakshi Gopinath is currently Principal, Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, where she also teaches at the Department of Politics. She is also Founder and Honorary Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), an initiative that seeks to promote the leadership of South Asian women in the areas of peace, security and regional cooperation. She was the first woman to serve as member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India.

Dr. Gopinath is a member of multi-track peace initiatives in Kashmir and between India and Pakistan including the Neemrana Peace Initiative and the Pakistan India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy. She has authored among others Pakistan in Transition, and co-authored Conflict Resolution – Trends and Prospects, Transcending Conflict: A Resource book on Conflict Transformation and Dialogic Engagement and has contributed chapters and articles in several books and journals on Gandhi, the politics of Pakistan, the arts Conflict Resolution, Gender and Peace Building et al. Her interests include issues of human rights and gender, conflict transformation and Buddhist and Gandhian philosophy. In recognition of her contribution to the field of women’s education and empowerment, she has received several awards including the Padma Shri Award, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education and the Mahila Shiromani Award and the Delhi Citizen Forum Award and Qimpro Platinum Standard Award for Education and Celebrating Womanhood South Asian Recognition Award for Social Harmony and International Lifetime Achievement Award – 2009 for outstanding work in the field of justice, Equity, Peace and Progress and the L.M. Singhvi fellowship Award at the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies (DDMI), University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Dr. Gopinath serves on the Governing Boards of research institutes, NGOs, educational institutions, member of The Club of Rome, member of the UGC, the Indo German Consultative Group, member of the Conflict Transformation Collaborative a Global network, member of the University for Peace(UPEACE) Asia Leaders Programme and Track Two initiatives in the South Asian region. She has been a Fulbright scholar and has received several fellowships including the Australian International Education Foundation Fellowship (1996-97) and the University Grants Commission Indo-Israel Exchange Fellowship (1994-1996) among others.