South Asia Program Fellowships

Professional Development Opportunities with the South Asia Program

Visiting Fellowship

About

The South Asia Program Visiting Fellowship is a year-long research fellowship combining professional development in research, writing, and public presentation skills. Annual cohorts spend ten months conducting research in their home countries and one month in Washington, DC, gaining extensive exposure to regional and international policymaking communities. Since 1993, the South Asia Program has offered the Visiting Fellowship to outstanding analysts, scholars, and researchers in India and Pakistan. Former fellows have gone on to senior leadership positions in think tanks, academia, media houses, and government.

Apply

Applications for the 2026 Visiting Fellowship are closed.

The Stimson Center South Asia Program’s Visiting Fellowship is designed for outstanding analysts, scholars, students, and researchers in India and Pakistan who are dedicated to the study of strategic and security issues in the subcontinent.

This fellowship combines professional development of research, writing, and public presentation skills with extensive exposure to the D.C. policy community. Visiting Fellows will develop a research project while meeting with senior scholars and analysts working on South Asian security issues at universities and think-tanks, as well as leading practitioners in the U.S. government. They also contribute analysis to SAV throughout the one-year period.

Fellows are selected based on criteria such as the quality of their research proposal, research and writing aptitude, and fit with the Stimson Center’s research interests. Frequent, high-quality contributors to SAV will be given special consideration.

2026 Visiting Fellowship Cohort

South Asia Program Visiting Fellow
South Asia Program Visiting Fellow
South Asia Program Visiting Fellow
South Asia Program Visiting Fellow

Perspectives from Our Visiting Fellows

Visiting Fellows 2024 Testimonial: Usama Nizamani
Visiting Fellows 2024 Testimonial: Seema Khan
Visiting Fellows 2024 Testimonial: Nikita Singla
Visiting Fellows 2024 Testimonial: Bashir Abbas

Research by South Asia Program Visiting Fellows

Policy Memo
A fresh Incidents at Sea Agreement (INCSEA), better crisis communication, and broader interactions can help the Indian and Pakistani Navies manage new risks in the maritime domain
Bashir Ali Abbas
Policy Memo
Exploring US-India collaboration to improve cargo clearance, balancing speed and security for more resilient global supply chains
Nikita Singla
Policy Memo
If both India and Pakistan continue to modernize their warfighting capabilities without restraint, they will end up critically impeding their nuclear signaling capabilities
Dr. Muhammad Shareh Qazi
Policy Memo
Insulating the Indus Water Treaty from domestic pressures in India and Pakistan to keep it from becoming increasingly politicized
Anuttama Banerji
Policy Memo
NCBMs regimes can reduce nuclear risks through crisis communication infrastructure, review and monitoring mechanisms, and protecting nuclear dialogue
Haleema Saadia