Dr. Asma Shakir Khawaja is a distinguished academician and policy expert of Kashmiri descent, with an exceptional record in strategic studies, peace and conflict research, and regional security discourse. She is the Founding Executive Director of the Centre for International Strategic Studies, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (CISS AJK), and the only woman ever appointed to such a position by Pakistan's National Command Authority (NCA).

Dr. Khawaja previously served as Head of the Department of Strategic Studies at the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, and was the founding faculty member who played a pioneering role in establishing Pakistan's first Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at NDU in 2008.

She was selected for the prestigious Allama Iqbal Chair at the University of Cambridge in 2021. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed book Shaking Hands with Clenched Fists: The Grand Trunk Road to Confidence Building Measures between Pakistan and India.

Dr. Khawaja earned her PhD from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany as a DAAD scholar, and holds multiple master's degrees from Quaid-i-Azam University. She is a recipient of the Presidential Gold Medal of Merit and the DKI APCSS Alumni Achievement Award.