Samir Saran is the President of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India’s premiere think tank, headquartered in New Delhi. His research focuses on issues of global governance, climate change and energy policy, technology and new media, and India’s foreign policy. Samir completed his doctoral studies at the Global Sustainability Institute, UK. He holds a Masters in Media Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, and a Bachelors in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, India.
As ORF’s President and member of the board, he provides strategic direction and leadership to the foundation’s multiple centres on fundraising, research projects, platform design and outreach initiatives including stakeholder engagement. He curates the Raisina Dialogue, India’s annual flagship platform on geopolitics and geo-economics, and is the founder of CyFy, India’s annual conference on cybersecurity and internet governance. He spearheads the foundation’s efforts to foster new international partnerships and globalise its platforms. Samir is a member of the Regional Action Group of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a part of WEF’s Global Future Council on Geopolitics, and served as a Commissioner of The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. He is a member of the Board of Directors at ORF America, and serves on the board of Microsoft’s Digital Peace Now Initiative.
He has authored four books, several academic papers, and is featured regularly in Indian and international print and broadcast media. He has recently co-authored two books on geopolitics: The New World Disorder And The Indian Imperative with Shashi Tharoor and Pax Sinica: Implications for the Indian Dawn with Akhil Deo.
