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ABOUT RCSS

The Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) is an independent, non-profit and non-governmental organization for collaborative research, networking and interaction on strategic and international issues pertaining to South Asia. The main objectives of the Centre are to:

• provide a centre for studies and research in South Asian Strategic Studies.
• sponsor and coordinate such research on strategic and security related issues;
• promote interaction among scholars and other professionals in this region and beyond engaged in South Asian strategic and international studies; and
• foster linkage and collaboration between institutions devoted to studies on issues related to conflict, conflict resolution, cooperation, stability and security in South Asia.

Areas of Interest

The RCSS facilitates scholars and other professionals of South Asia to address, mutually and collectively, problems and issues of topical interest for all countries of the region. The following are principal areas of focus:
• conceptions & problems of national & regional security, and recent trends in thinking and approaches to security & strategic studies;
• problems of conventional defence build-up & proliferation of nuclear weapons;
• issues of defence expenditures and disarmament;
• disputes and conflicts in intra and inter-state relations and their implications for regional and inter-regional cooperation and development;
• external factors in the security and stability of the region;
• refugees and other forms of movement of people, ethnic, religious and sectarian conflict and their trans-border implications; problems of governance; political violence, terrorism and other types of low-intensity conflicts;
• sharing & management of resources, and geopolitical, economic & environmental factors in security, stability & cooperation in the region; and
• conflict resolution & management, confidence-building and cooperative security.

International Research Committee

Its International Research Committee composed of the following members and the Executive Director, guide the Centre’s research and core activities.

*Dr Saba Gul Khattak*	Executive Director Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad
*Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain*	RCSS Executive Director
*Prof Sridhar Khatri*	Executive Director, SACEPS (Ex- officio)
*Prof. Ataur Rahman*	Professor of Political Science & Director, Japan Study Center, University of Dhaka
*Dr. Shaheen Afroze*	Research Director, Bangladesh Institute for International and Strategic Studies
*Prof. Zangley Dukpa*	Professor, The Royal University of Bhutan
*Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dipankar Banerjee*	Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi
*Prof. Aparajita Biswas*	Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai
*Prof. P. Sahadevan*	Professor of South Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
*Dr. Saba Gul Khattak*	Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad
*Prof. Talat Wizarat*	Professor of International Relations, Karachi University
*Prof. Nira Wickremesinghe*	Professor of International Relations, University of Colombo
*Dr. Neluka Silva*	Former Head, Department of English, University of Colombo
*Prof. Stephen P. Cohen*	Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC
*Prof. Shen Dingli*	Professor of International Relations, Fudan University, Shanghai

Board of Directors

The administrative and financial matters of the Centre are conducted with the approval of its Board of Directors. Members of the Board, from January 2001, are:

*Dr. R A Ariyaratne,*	Professor, University of Colombo
*Mr. Dilip Kodikara,*	Managing Director, Dutch-Lanka Trailers
*Mr. Ahmed Naseem*	Director General Investments, Foreign Investment Services Bureau, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Male
*Dr. Saeed Shafqat*	Director, National Institute for Population Studies, Islamabad
*Mr. M.D.D. Peiris*	c
*Gen. (Retd.) V.R. Raghavan*	Director, Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai
*Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain*	Executive Director, RCSS

Executive Director

Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain is the Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS). He was appointed ED for a period of three years in August, 2005. Prior to becoming the Executive Director of the RCSS, Dr. Rifaat Hussain served as Director General (Research) at National Defence College, Islamabad. Dr. Rifaat Hussain has held many prestigious appointments including Director General Research, National Defence College, Islamabad. visiting Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, California, Minister (Press) Pakistan Embassy Washington, D.C and Chairman, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has taught international relations from Quaid-i-Azam University for over two decades. Dr. Rifaat Hussain holds a Master's degree in international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University and an M.A. and Ph.D in international studies from University of Denver, Colorado, USA. Dr. Rifaat Hussain has widely published on regional and international security issues in Pakistani and foregin journals and books.

E-mail : edrcss@rcss.org

Rest of the Staff at RCSS

Associate Director

Ambassador Geetha de Silva is the Associate Director of RCSS, appointed on December 1, 2007. She was a member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service(SLFS) and last held the position of Acting Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her career spanning over 25 years as an SLFS officer she served as Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada; Deputy Chief of Mission with Ambassador rank at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington D.C. and Deputy Permanent Delegate of Sri Lanka to UNESCO, Paris, amongst other assignments. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs she held the positions of Additional Foreign Secretary/Political Affairs; Director General /South Asia and SAARC; Director/ South Asia and Deputy Director/ United Nations and Human Rights. A graduate of the University of Colombo, Ambassador de Silva holds a Diploma in International Relations of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.

Finance and Administrative Officer	Ms Dilkie Koelmeyer	dilkie@rcss.org
Programme Officer	Ms Gayathri Nanayakkara	gayathri@rcss.org
Librarian	Ms Kamani Perera	lib@rcss.org
Secretary	Ms Dharshani Dias	dharshani@rcss.org
Office Assistant	Mr P Mahendran

Funding

The work of the Centre is funded by voluntary contributions, grants, endowments, proceeds from funded projects, and income from sale of publications. The Ford Foundation, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, the Rockefeller Foundation, W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Asia Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, John Merck Fund, Japan Foundation Asia Center, Independent Group on South Asian Cooperation (IGSAC), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, MacArthur Foundation and Konrad Adenauer Foundation have been the main sources of funding as of September 2000.