Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Dr. Mehta holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St. John's College, Oxford University and a PhD in Politics from Princeton University. He was the President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, one of India’s most distinguished think tanks, till June 2017, and takes on the mantle of vice-chancellor of Ashoka University on 1 July, 2017. He has earlier held positions of Visiting Professor of Government and Associate Professor of Government and of Social Studies at Harvard University, Professor of Philosophy and of Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Visiting Professor at New York University Law School.. Dr. Mehta received the Malcolm S. Adishehshiah Award in 2010 and Infosys Prize 2011. He has done extensive public policy work. He was a member of the Government of India’s National Security Advisory Board. He was Member-Convener of the Prime Minister of India’s National Knowledge Commission.

His recent publications include The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution (co-edited with Madhav Khosla and Sujit Choudhary), and Rethinking India's Public Institutions (co-edited with Devesh Kapur and Milan Vaishnav). He was also part of the collective that produced Non Alignment 2.0: A Foreign Policy for India

Prof. Mehta has contributed to public debates. He is an editorial consultant to the Indian Express, and his columns have appeared in the world's leading publications.