Dr. Andrea Malji joined DKI APCSS in January 2025, where she serves as a professor focused on Indo-Pacific security challenges. At DKI APCSS, she oversees fellow projects and contributes to the development of policy-relevant analysis and teaching material for civilian and military leaders across the Indo-Pacific. Her work centers on deterrence and strategic stability in a multipolar Indo-Pacific, small-state security strategies, critical minerals and resource geopolitics, and conflict dynamics with a regional specialization in South Asia. Her research and teaching emphasize how geography and great-power competition shape alliance management, supply chains, conflict, and escalation risk.
Dr. Malji has represented DKI APCSS at regional forums, including the Galle Dialogue in Sri Lanka, and has led and participated in professional and alumni engagements in the Maldives, Indonesia, and the Philippines, supporting regional security cooperation, policy dialogue, and sustained institutional relationships with civilian and military stakeholders.
Before joining DKI APCSS, Dr. Malji served for seven years at Hawaiʻi Pacific University, where she was an associate professor of international studies and political science and chair of the Department of History, Humanities, and International Studies. As department chair, she provided academic and administrative leadership, managed faculty and curricular portfolios, and oversaw program development across interdisciplinary programs—experience that informs her current work in institutional leadership, curriculum design, and professional education.
Dr. Malji has published extensively on security-related issues with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, the Hoover Institution, and leading peer-reviewed journals. She is a frequent contributor to policy-focused outlets, including War on the Rocks, the Stimson Center, Inkstick, 9dashline, Small Wars Journal, and The Diplomatic Courier, translating research into applied insights for defense and policy audiences.
In 2022, she was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship and conducted research and strategic engagements across southern India. She has also held leadership roles within the International Studies Association, contributing to the development of professional and policy-relevant dialogue on South Asia and Indo-Pacific security.
She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from the University of Kentucky, specializing in international relations. Her doctoral research examined how geography shapes terrorism and counterterrorism strategies in India and its border regions.
