Darshana M. Baruah is the Director of Security and Geopolitics program at the Australia-India Institute. Baruah’s primary research focuses on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and the role of islands in shaping great power competition. Her work examines the impact of maritime security in foreign policy engagements, naval strategy, maritime partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, and island agency in shaping great power competition.
Previously Baruah was a Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, where she directed the Indian Ocean Initiative. Under the initiative, Baruah conceptualized the annual Indo-Pacific Islands dialogue, a unique platform bringing together island leaders and voices from across the Indian and Pacific oceans. Baruah also set up an Indian Ocean interactive map, designed to convey the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean and its implications for the Indo-Pacific.
Baruah has worked on different aspects of maritime security and geopolitics supporting minilaterals and dialogues such as the India-Australia-France and Quad among others. Prior to her role in Washington DC, Baruah worked in think tanks in New Delhi and Tokyo and spent some time in Hawaii and Canberra working on different aspects of Indo-Pacific, foreign policy and maritime security.
Baruah is the author of “The Contest for the Indian Ocean: And the Making of a New World Order” (Yale 2024) and writes regularly for leading journals, policy reports, media and edited volumes.
Baruah earned a B.A.(Hons) in History from University of Delhi and MSc Econ in International Relations from Cardiff University, Wales (UK).