National Advisor

P.L.Dash

P.L.Dash has been Professor of Eurasian Studies and Former Director, Centre for Central Eurasian Studies at the University of Mumbai, India. He has been Visiting Professor, MEA Central Asian Program, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Visiting Professor, CRRID, Chandigarh, India (from July, 2014 to September 2015) He was Professor of International Relations and ICCR India Chair, university of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. (December, 2011 to January 2014). He was Visiting Research Fellow, (December 1, 2010 to February 2011 at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has been Professor and Director (October 1997-October 2010) at the Centre for Central Eurasian Studies, University of Mumbai. He was Associate Professor (February 1994-October 1997) at the Centre for Central Eurasian Studies, University of Mumbai. He has been Lecturer (September 1988-February 1994) at the Centre for Soviet Studies, University of Bombay. He was Research Associate at the Centre for Soviet Studies, (January 19986-September 1988) at the Centre for Soviet Studies, University of Bombay. He was Research Fellow (March 1990-May 1991) at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He has been CSIR Pool Officer(December1984-December 1985) at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His area of specialization is Soviet/Russian political history, Central Asia, Ethno-nationalism and Geopolitics in Eurasia, Indo-Russian Relations and International Relations. He has published over eighteen books (edited and authored) and over 165 research articles/papers in journals. He is proficient in Hindi, Russian and English.

National Advisor

Navras J. Aafreedi

Dr. Navras J. Aafreedi is an Assistant Professor in the department of History, Presidency University, Kolkata, where he teaches several self-designed courses in Jewish Studies, Genocide Studies and Interfaith Studies. His numerous publications include his book Jews, Judaizing Movements and the Traditions of Israelite Descent in South Asia (2016). He received his tertiary education at the University of Lucknow. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Tel Aviv University, the Woolf Institute, Cambridge, UK, and the University of Sydney, and has been an ISGAP Scholar-in-Residence at St. John’s College, Oxford. He has spoken at scholarly forums in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Dr. Aafreedi has to his credit the first ever Holocaust films retrospective in South Asia, which he held in 2009 at the universities in Lucknow, a major centre of Muslim scholarship, a couple of international multidisciplinary conferences in Genocide Studies, one of which he organised with a couple of colleagues and the other singularly, and several Holocaust photographic exhibitions. He sits on the editorial board of the peer reviewed Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies and on the advisory board of Asian Jewish Life. Contemporary Indian Jewish literature is of great interest to him and he is a serious student of antisemitism in South Asia, about which he writes frequently. He can be followed on Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Twitter.

National Advisor

Kausik Bandyopadhyay

Kausik Bandyopadhyay teaches History at the West Bengal State University, Barasat, India. He was a Fellow of the International Olympic Museum, Lausanne in 2010. A former Fellow of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, he is an Editor of Soccer and Society (London: Routledge). His areas of research interest include Social and Cultural History of Modern India, Popular Culture in South Asia, History of Sport, and Contemporary South Asia. Bandyopadhyay has authored and edited a large number of books. His most important recent authored works include Sport, Culture and Nation: Perspectives from Indian Football and South Asian Cricket (LA & New Delhi: Sage, 2015); Bangladesh Playing: Sport, Culture, Nation (Dhaka: Subarna/ICBS, 2012); and Scoring Off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911-80 (New Delhi/London: Routledge, 2011). Among edited works, mention may be made of Heroes, Icons, Legends: Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer (London: Routledge, 2016); Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer: A Global Exploration (London: Routledge, 2010); and Fringe Nations in World Soccer (co-edited with Sabyasachi Mallick) (London: Routledge, 2008). He has also published a large number of articles in national and international journals.