Dr Chime Youdon is a Research Fellow and Head of the Resilience, Sustainability, and Ocean Resources (RSOR) Cluster at the National Maritime Foundation (NMF). Her work spans climate diplomacy, adaptation, nature-based solutions, and blue economy transitions, with a strategic emphasis on the resilience of coastal communities, ecosystems, and critical maritime infrastructure across India and the Indo-Pacific. Working at the intersection of policy and practice, she applies a systems-based approach to address complex, interlinked climate risks through innovative, actionable policy frameworks.

At NMF, she leads multidisciplinary research and policy initiatives in collaboration with institutions such as the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), Keio University, Nature Seychelles, and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). This work primarily focuses on climate security, critical maritime infrastructure, systemic risk assessments, and adaptive strategies.

Dr Youdon contributes to national and international policy as an expert advisor, having served on the Expert Advisory Committee for the Oceans theme of the Climate and Sustainability Working Group (CSWG) during India’s G20 Presidency (2023) and on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (2025). She is also a member of the QUAD Working Group on Resilient Seaport Infrastructure and a 2024 QUAD Infrastructure Fellow supported by the U.S. Department of State. She is an alumna of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS), Honolulu, and a past recipient of the Vice Admiral KK Nayyar Fellowship (2020–2023) and the CDRI Fellowship (2021–2022).

She regularly delivers capacity-building and training programmes on blue economy policy, climate governance, and maritime infrastructure resilience for officials and professionals at institutions including the International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) and the School of Policy and Governance (SPG).

Dr Youdon holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Global Climate Change Policies from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her work is widely published across peer-reviewed journals, strategic reports, and edited volumes.

• Global Climate Change Politics
• Climate Change resilience
• Climate change adaptation of critical maritime infrastructure nature-based solutions
• Blue economy
• Blue justice.

• Associate Fellow, National Maritime Foundation (NMF), New Delhi (since March 2019)
• Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) Fellow, working on the project “Incorporating Infrastructure Resilience in India’s Port-led Development Model”. (2020-21) https://fellowship.cdri.world/fellowship-batch-2021.php
• Vice Admiral KK Nayyar Fellow, Working on the project “Climate Resilience of Coastal Urban Agglomerations”, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi (2020-2022)
• Apprentice, The European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium (2017).
• Research Intern, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi (2016)

Ph.D. in European Studies, Thesis: ‘The European Union and China in the Climate Change Negotiations: From Copenhagen to Paris’, Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (2021)

M.Phil Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi;

M.A. Politics (with Specialisation in International Relations), School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and,

B.A. (Political Science with Honours), Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi.

• Co-presented an abstract of the Monograph “Rising Seas and Coastal Impacts: Metropolitan
  Resilience in India”, part of the Vice Admiral KK Nayyar Fellowship Conference 2023,
  Organised by the NMF at SCOPE Complex Auditorium, 22-23 Feb 2023.
• Coastal Marine Pollution, 4th ASEAN-India Workshop on Blue Economy, Jointly organised by
  Ministry of External Affairs, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, RIS, ASEAN-India Centre
  at RIS, NMF, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
• Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions: Climate Change Adaptation and Disasters Risk
  Reduction, at Symposia on the theme “Addressing Climate-Change-Induced Threats to Critical
  Maritime Infrastructure: National and Regional Maritime Infrastructure, Organized by the NMF-
  KAS on 04 Oct 2022.
• “Incorporating Sustainable Infrastructure in India’s Port Led Development Model” at a
  roundtable discussion on India’s Maritime Diplomacy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), co-
  organised by ORCA and Society for Policy Studies, June 2022.
• Seminar on Preventing Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution, Project on Indo-Pacific Partnership
  on Marine Ecology under AIIPOIP, jointly organized by FICCI, Australian Government,
  Southern Cross University and Pacific Islands Development Forum, 27 May, 2022.
• Preventing Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution, Seminar organised by FICCI, Australian
  Government, Southern Cross University, Pacific Islands Development Forum, May 2022
• Policies and Challenges to India’s Blue Economy: Understanding the Roles of Mangrove
  Ecosystems” at Workshop on Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal, Towards Regional
  Governance for Blue Economy with Contribution of the French Know-How, organised by The
  Bridge Tank, France with AFD, March 2022.
• “Policies and Challenges to India’s Blue Economy: Understanding the Role of Mangrove Ecosystems”, at the Resilient Coastal Ecosystems as a Crucial Prerequisite for Sustainable Economic Value Chains at the Workshop, co-hosted by The Bridge Tank with the mandate of the French Development Agency (AFD), 26 Nov 2021
• “China’s Position and Strategic Objectives in International Climate Change Negotiations”, for Tibet Climate Crisis talk series at Tibet Third Pole, Tibet International Network, 15 Nov 2021
• “Becoming a Leader: A Workshop by the National Maritime Foundation”. One of five team members that conducted a 60-min workshop at a virtual event organised by the Protect Our Planet (POP) Movement, USA on the theme of “Youth-led Ocean Action and Advocacy”, 10 October 2020
• Presented a Paper Title: “Water Diversion Policy of China and its Hydropower Projects” at 3rd Himalayan Studies Conference, University of Colorado, September 2017
• A Gender-Specific Problems of Refugee Women: A Case Study of Tibetan Women” at Women’s World Congress, University of Hyderabad, Aug 2014
• Presented a paper entitled “Human Right in Tibet and the EU’s Approach” at 2nd International Congress on Human Rights and Duties, at Yadam Institute of Research, New Delhi, 10 December 2015
• Presented a Paper on “China’s Participation in Climate Change Negotiations”, at World Conference on Climate Change, Valencia, Spain, Oct  2016