Meenakshi Gopinath

Meenakshi Gopinath

Meenakshi Gopinath is currently Founder and 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 is also Chair, Board of Governors, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Life Trustee- India International Centre (IIC), and Principal Emerita of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, where she served as Principal for 26 years from 1988-2014. She has been a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), India.

Dr. Gopinath was the first woman to be nominated to the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India. She is a member of multi-track peace initiatives and people-to-people dialogues in South Asia. 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, Conflict Resolution, Gender and Peace Building et al. Her interests include issues of human rights and gender, conflict transformation and Buddhist and Gandhian philosophy and the performing Arts. She also headed the Task Force of the   SAKSHAM Report of the University Grants Commission that initiated several policy reforms on Gender Equity on Higher Education Institutes in India

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,   Award of the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Letters (Honoris Causa) for significant contribution to the education of women and the commitment to fostering global peace through Conflict Resolution, La Trobe University, Australia, Distinguished Alumna Award, by Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi for meritorious contribution in the field of Education and Nirbhaya Puraskar 2017,  by OYSS Women for exemplary courage and accomplishment in the field of Education. She was Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Social Sciences, Monash University (2015)

Dr. Gopinath serves on the Governing Boards of research institutes, NGOs, educational institutions and corporate bodies. Life Trustee- India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. She is also a Board of Trustees of the Asian University for Women, Bangladesh, on the Council of UPEACE– a UN Mandated University, Shri Ram Foundation, Track Two initiatives in the South Asian region, Editor in Chief, Peace Prints- A South Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, New Delhi, and others. 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.

Member, Board of Management