Introduction

The old rulebooks - if there are such things for think-tanks - were dispensed with at the close of 2017.

Instead, we set our goals based solely on who we are, what we seek to do, and how best to leverage our collective skill-set and the resources at our disposal. These parameters contributed to the framework that steered our activities through 2018.

One, we fortified our core research areas and expanded the scope of work to more comprehensively include West Asia and the European Union geographically; and international law, the fourth industrial revolution, hydropolitics and hypdrodiplomacy, refugees and immigrants, and gender, thematically. This endeavour to more closely reflect evolving global geopolitical realities manifested in the form of publications, discussions, podcasts, and in Reelpolitik, IPCS' monthly film screenings. Some of these projects are carrying over into 2019.

Two, we chose to focus on conducting smaller, compact roundtables over 'events', based on the observation that these contribute to more substantial discussions. The 25 seminars and roundtables held in 2018, including the twelfth annual Germany-India-Brazil-South Africa (GIBSA) Quadrilogue, were implemented in this format. The GIBSA conference on The Evolution of Multilateralism was held at the track 1.5 level this year, and featured a breakaway, student-led seminar in JNU, organised in collaboration with the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament (CIPOD).

Three, we laid emphasis on inter-disciplinary collaboration to address some of the consequences of siloisation, or the lack of interdisciplinary analysis that think-tanks and academia often represent. In 2018, we worked to instrumentalise our research through engagement with the fields of law and science and technology. Of these efforts, our collaborations with the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, and Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai, and the Women, Peace and Security Series are relevant examples.

Four, we aimed—and were successful—in better using social media to amplify outreach and build more robust engagement with digital constituencies in India and elsewhere.

Five, while continuing the tradition of innovation in policy-oriented research representative of a cross-section of analysis from across the world, we recognised the importance of showcasing this in different formats, particularly at a time when the audience for the long-form is both shrinking and evolving. We increased the number of podcasts—featuring short interviews with subject-matter experts—that were commissioned through the year. Reelpolitik, IPCS' monthly platform for the study of security issues through visual representation, was similarly strengthened. This visual medium has been instructive in providing insights into the complexities that inform strategic analysis, and has expanded these critical conversations to a wider audience of stakeholders.

Finally, IPCS' emphasis on the capacity building of the next generation of emerging specialists continued as before. Its internship programme, which offers scholars and graduates an opportunity to observe geopolitical and security developments from an Indian perspective and training in policy analysis and writing, and facilitates their access to Delhi's strategic community, was busy this year. IPCS hosted 16 interns from universities and institutions in India, the Netherlands, Spain, the US, Belgium, and the UK.

I invite you to read, in more detail, the range of activities undertaken by IPCS in 2018 in the following pages of its Annual Report, and as always, welcome your feedback at ruhee.neog@ipcs.org.

On behalf of IPCS, my very best wishes for the year, and I thank you for your continuing support.

Ruhee Neog
Director, IPCS