Research Clusters

The following examples of common concerns are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Illustrative in nature, they underline the critical importance of investing in building shared capacities for peace, sustainability and prosperity in South Asia. The shared vulnerability and the imperative of transboundary cooperation in South Asia have been graphically captured and forcefully conveyed in Chapter 10 (Asia) of the Working Group II Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1. It is noted: “Observed surface air temperature has been increasing since the 20th century all over Asia…“Bangladesh, with 163 million people…is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate risks and natural hazards, and faces severe floods, cyclones, droughts, heatwaves and storm surges on a regular basis” (page 1467). Moreover, “South Asia illustrates that on average it could lose nearly 2% of GDP by 2050, rising to a loss of nearly 9% by 2100 under a business-as-usual scenario” (page 1468).

The significance of regional and sub-regional approaches, policies and strategies for disaster risk reduction (DRR) in South Asia is reinforced by growing scientific evidence that climate change contributes to the frequency and intensity of disasters. A rather long list of shared concerns, challenges and risks faced by South Asian countries include environmental degradation, deforestation, desertification, air pollution, depleting fishing stocks, and degraded marine ecosystems. The lack of interdisciplinary policy-relevant research based on reliable data remains a crucial hurdle in realising sustainable futures for South Asia(ns), whether in forestry, agriculture, biodiversity, water resource management, or ocean governance.

The future challenge of feeding nearly 10 billion people globally by the middle of the 21st century, combined with the present-day reality of millions of people remaining undernourished and local agricultural systems unable to provide enough nutritious food, is another stark reminder to all SAARC member states that overall food demand is going to increase many a fold in the years ahead. As SAARC nations work out their policies on agriculture, horticulture, livestock, and dairying, the harsh reality persists that while land is limited, labour and technology are not. The prospects for joint knowledge production, sharing of information, and capacity building by the South Asian nations offer hope to farmers, especially marginal farmers, across the sub-continent.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a new holistic way of approaching ecological, social, and economic issues as interrelated. On the transformative agenda of the SDGs, one finds all the critical and significant global, regional and national challenges that threaten the future of humanity in South Asia, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. All of them underline the importance of meticulously deploying an integrated regional approach. The ISAS is expected to be a space to share experiences of different South Asian countries in public policy and governance issues. As noted earlier, the following list of shared concerns, strategically organized under apparently open-ended research clusters, is far from exhaustive and illustrative at best; it will continue to evolve, as will the strategic academic approaches to address them.

Research Clusters2


  1. Human Security

  2. Energy-Water-Food-Ecosystem Nexus

  3. Health Security, Alternative Medicine, Monitoring of Regional Epidemics

  4. Resource Security

  5. Maritime Security


  1. Building Skills and Mediating Conflict

  2. Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

  3. Avenues for Dialogue and Establishing Peace


  1. South Asia and Multilateralism

  2. Foreign policy and Diplomacy

  3. Global Governance

  4. Governing Global Commons


  1. Regional Approaches to Sustainable Development Goals

  2. Natural Resource Conservation

  3. Multilevel Governance and Biodiversity Conservation

  4. Transboundary Water Resource Management


  1. Maritime Domain Awareness

  2. Ocean Governance and Ocean Management

  3. Maritime Security and Safety

  4. Maritime Regionalism and Regional Organizations

  5. Global Commons and Maritime Multilateralism


  1. Feminist Foreign Policy

  2. Gender and diplomacy

  3. Emancipation and gender justice


  1. Weather patterns

  2. Human Induced Disasters

  3. Role of Agency Coordination

  4. Role of Civil Society and NGOs

  5. Early Warning Systems

  6. Law and National Policies


  1. Knowledge Management, Innovation and Regional Cooperation

  2. Artificial Intelligence and Common Public Good

  3. Technologies and Innovation

  4. Research-Policy Linkages: Interfaces and Innovations


  1. Rejuvenating SAARC and Quest for New Regionalism

  2. Avenues for Integrating South Asia

  3. Comparative Regionalisms


  1. Ethics and Value Studies

  2. Shared Intellectual and Philosophical Traditions

  3. Preserving Cultural Heritage

References

  1. Shaw, R., Y. Luo, T.S. Cheong, S. Abdul Halim, S. Chaturvedi, M. Hashizume, G.E. Insarov, Y. Ishikawa, M. Jafari, A. Kitoh, J. Pulhin, C. Singh, K. Vasant, and Z. Zhang, 2022: Asia. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1457-1579, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.012.
  2. Far from being exhaustive, this list is illustrative at best. Some of the themes in the list relate to MA and PhD courses taught at the Department of International Relations.
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