Expert Profile

Dr Kadira Pethiyagoda is a Doctoral Fellow within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. Kadira Pethiyagoda is a former fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. His research focuses on India’s relations with the Gulf States, drawing on experience in Indian foreign policy spanning both policymaking and academia. Previously, Pethiyagoda worked as a Foreign Affairs advisor to an Australian Shadow Foreign Minister and advised other parliamentarians on foreign policy matters. He provided analysis and advice on major diplomatic relationships with India, China, Russia and the United States, as well as conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. As an Australian diplomat and Foreign Service officer, Pethiyagoda covered bilateral relations with India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Iraq and the European Union, and undertook trade analysis and public diplomacy. As a senior adviser at Australia’s Refugee Tribunal, he examined the human rights situations in South Asia. As a visiting scholar at Oxford University, Pethiyagoda taught on South Asia’s foreign relations and researched India’s approach to humanitarian intervention and U.N. reform at Oxford’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. Pethiyagoda has appeared on the BBC, ABC, Al Jazeera, and other media. He has published with Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The Independent, Huffington Post, European Council on Foreign Relations, Lowy Institute, major Indian newspapers, Oxford Analytica and The Diplomat. He has been interviewed and cited by the New York Times, CNN, Reuters, LA Times, Bloomberg, and South China Morning Post.