Aashima Kapoor is a Research Associate at the National Maritime Foundation. She works with the Indian and Regional Maritime Security (IRMS) cluster. Her research focuses on Japan’s maritime geostrategies and their impact on India. She knows the Japanese language and has completed the JF Koza Japanese cultural course from the Japan Foundation. She has written a critique on Japan’s White Paper “Defence of Japan”, examining its defence policies, and has reviewed Scaling India-Japan Partnership and New Horizons of the Nuclear Age as part of her work at NMF.  She, along with Commandant Neeraj Sharma, worked on a research study with the Japan Transport and Tourism Research Institute (JTTRI) in Japan on Developing Cooperative Measures for Enhancing Coast Guard Capacity in the New Maritime Security Environment. She has also delivered a presentation at NMF on research published by the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK), particularly on the work of China specialists Dr Sarah Kirchberger and Dr Sebastian Bruns.  She previously interned at the United Service Institution of India (USI), where she participated in a role-play exercise on Indo-Pacific challenges and won first prize. She has also explored issues related to regional security, international cooperation, and emerging maritime threats.

Aashima holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and a Master’s in Political Science, specializing in International Relations. She has also completed a Diploma in Diplomacy and Indian Foreign Policy from the Tillotoma Foundation and a Diploma in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the Institute of Governance and Leadership.

Beyond her research, she has an interest in holistic well-being and has a certification in Yoga Teacher Training from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

• The maritime geostrategies of Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) impact and interact with India’s own maritime geostrategies within the Indo-Pacific.

• M.A Political Science, Indira Gandhi National Open University
• B.COM, University of Delhi
• Diploma course in International Affairs and Diplomacy, Indian Institute of Governance and Leadership (IIGL), New Delhi
• Proficiency in Japanese Language

• Research Intern at the Centre for Strategic Studies an Simulation (CS3), United Service Institution of India
• Research Intern at the National Maritime Foundation, Autumn (2023-2024)