Shruti Pandalai is the inaugural India Chair at the Lowy Institute. Specialising in Indian foreign and security policy, her research focuses on Indo-Pacific geopolitics, great power competition, and the strategic complexities of the India–China relationship in the realm of information operations. She was previously a Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, India’s leading security think tank, under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence. She has contributed to high-level projects from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for India's National Security Council Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs, and Department of Defence, and participated in Track 1.5 and Track II dialogues.