Syed Akbaruddin joined the Kautilya School of Public Policy on June 1, 2021, as its dean, following a distinguished diplomatic career spanning more than three decades.
Entering the Indian Foreign Service in 1985, he retired in April 2020 upon completion of his tenure as the permanent representative of India to the United Nations. He was the official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs from 2012 to 2015.
He is among the few Indian diplomats who have the distinction of also serving as an international civil servant in a United Nations entity. From 2006 to 2011, he worked at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. He was the head of the External Relations and Policy Coordination Unit, and later also served as the special assistant to the director-general of the IAEA. He also served as the consul general of India, Jeddah, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2004.
Having served as counselor at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad (1998-2000), he is well versed in key issues between India and Pakistan. Also, he has worked at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations as first secretary (1995- 98). He was a member of the U.N.’s apex body, the Advisory Committee on Administrative & Budgetary Questions, during 1997-98.
Since his retirement, he has written and spoken extensively on global public policy issues. He has a master’s degree in international relations from the Australian National University. He writes regularly in the Indian and West Asian media and lectures on the politics and economics of West Asia, Eurasia, and the Indian Ocean; political Islam; and energy security.
