Dr. Kaustav Padmapati

Dr Kaustav Padmapati is a scholar of political science, international relations, American studies and gender studies with a focus on US foreign policy, East Asia, Taiwan and China, and Southeast Asia. He is also a competent professional with several years of experience in the areas of teaching and research, implementing international relations projects, media coordination, public policy, content writing and project coordination. He has finished his PhD in the American Studies Programme from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also developed a major interest in queer and gender studies, especially in the Northeast region of India. He has published widely on international relations specifically on India- US Relations, Taiwan, Look East Policy, etc. and gender and queer identities.

Dr Kaustav has previously been an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Royal Global University, Guwahati, a Programme Officer at Ananta Aspen Centre and a guest faculty at the Centre for Southeast Asian Study, Gauhati University. In addition, he worked as a Programme Officer at the International Affairs division of Ananta Aspen Centre (Formerly known as Aspen Institute India) in the New Delhi office, from July ’14 to September 2018. Some of the international and national projects completed are - the Nippon Foundation Project with Japan, the Foreign Policy Lecture Series, China Symposia in partnership with the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), India- Japan Strategic Dialogue, India – Korea Strategic Dialogue and India- China Strategic Dialogue.
Kaustav also worked at various institutions like Sahitya Akademi, Thought Arbitrage Research Institution, the Foundation for National Security Research and Macmillan Publishing Solutions.

Dr Kaustav's research interests revolve around Global Politics in China and Taiwan, East and Southeast Asia, US Politics, Foreign Policy, Queer and Gender Studies, Cultural Studies

Dr Kaustav’s teaching philosophy is interdisciplinary and based on interactive learning. His teaching also uses important pedagogical tools inspired by the theory of intersectionality. These tools are useful guides for choosing course content; teaching methodology designing in-class exercises, assignments, and internal assessments; and interacting with students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. He believes that quality education plays an important role in enhancing knowledge, developing skills, building confidence, and creating a positive impact on students’ lives. It empowers students to grow not just professionally, but also lays a solid foundation of personal growth. His teaching emphasizes group discussions, assignments, class activities, and internal examinations thus creating a beneficial education environment. He includes all these techniques in teaching especially group discussions on relevant topics like caste, class, gender, race, and ethnicity. 

Dr Kaustav teaches mainly theory courses – Why Media Matters?, Media Laws – Regulation, Governance, Ethics, Media and Cultural Studies, Global Media and Politics, Media and Gender Studies at the undergraduate level and Digital Media, Regulation and Governance, Global Media and Digital Networks at the graduate level. In addition, he also teaches skill enhancement courses – Blogging and Panel Discussions to students of the science stream.

Kaustav Padmapati was a Cross-Cultural Fellow 2023 at Gender and Media Studies for the South Asian Region, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. The Cross Culture Program (CCP) supports professionals and volunteers from up to 40 countries every year. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship and worked from August’11 to May’12 at the Center for Asian Studies, School of International Service, American University, Washington DC, USA as a Visiting Fulbright Research Scholar and Adjunct Faculty. He was awarded by the Royal Global University, Guwahati, for praiseworthy research performance in 2021. In addition, he is a recipient of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) Doctoral Fellowship in 2010-2011, Selected for the US Alumni Micro Grants Competition 2022 for the project US-India Cooperation in Building a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.' and Network for the Advanced Study of Pakistan Fellowship by Takshashila Institute, Bangalore, India.

Dr Kaustav Padmapati has participated in and presented papers at several national and international seminars. His upcoming edited volume “Queer Voices from the Periphery: A Collection of Perspectives from Northeast India” is a humble attempt to bring the voices from academia and members of the queer community from the Northeast part of India to put into a vantage point the challenges and struggles faced by the members of the community. He encourages a lot of critical thinking among my students through various class exercises. In his “Global Media and Politics” course the students frequently debate about China’s rise and global media’s reaction, its potential challenge to India’s position in South Asia. The students also discuss and debate about the status of women in media and patriarchy. He is frequently invited as a resource person by various policy institutions and universities. 

kaustav.padmapati@ddn.upes.ac.in