Principal Investigator

James Der Derian
James is the Michael Hintze Chair of International Security and Director of the Centre of International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. He writes books and produces documentaries on war, peace, media and technology, including After 9/11 (2003), Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network (2009), Critical Practices in International Theory (2009), Human Terrain: War Becomes Academic (2010), and Project Z: The Final Global Event (2015).  He also directs two projects on the geopolitical and ethical implications of emerging quantum technologies, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  He is currently working on a book and documentary film, Project Q: War, Peace and Quantum Mechanics.

Co-Investigators

Shohini Ghose
Shohini is a Professor of Physics and Computer Science and NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering. She is the Director of the Centre for Women in Science (WinS), and past president of the Canadian Association of Physicists. Her research is in the area of quantum information science – the study of how the laws of quantum physics can be harnessed to transform computation and communication, and to develop novel tasks such as teleportation. Her work also explores the fundamental connections between classical chaos theory and quantum physics, and has led to the first experiments directly showing the effect of chaos on quantum entanglement. As founding Director of the Laurier Centre for Women in Science (WinS), Shohini also works on research projects and leads initiatives to explore and address gender issues and diversity in science. She has received multiple awards and publishes extensively on the field of quantum physics and technology, and women in science.

Nisha Shah
Nisha is an Associate Professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research explores the role of infrastructures and artefacts in world politics. Her work uncovers how and why things such as technological devices and physical geographies come to take particular form and function within the normative and ethical frameworks of governance and war. She is currently working on a number of projects, including a book on the history of territory, which explores the emergent relationship between physical landscape and political legitimacy. She is also undertaking genealogy of lethality, which uncovers how the ethics of killing in war take shape through the calibration of various weapons technologies. She has published articles in Security Dialogue, Critical Studies on Security, International Political Sociology, Political Geography, Globalizations, and the International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, and is co-editor of Metaphors of Globalization: Mirrors, Magicians and Mutinies (Palgrave, 2008). Prior to joining the School of Political Studies, Nisha was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, and has been a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics.

Parag Khanna
Parag is a leading global strategy advisor, world traveler, and best-selling author. He is Founder & Managing Partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario based strategic advisory firm. Parag’s newest book is MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us (2021), which was preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (2019). He is author of a trilogy of books on the future of world order beginning with The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008), followed by How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance (2011), and concluding with Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization (2016). He is also the author of Technocracy in America: Rise of the Info-State (2017) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012). Parag was named one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” He holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has traveled to nearly 150 countries and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

ORF Partners

Dr Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan
Rajeswari (Raji) is the Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology (CSST) at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.  Dr Rajagopalan was the Technical Advisor to the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) (July 2018-July 2019).  She was also a Non-Resident Indo-Pacific Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre from April-December 2020.  As a senior Asia defence writer for The Diplomat, she writes a weekly column on Asian strategic issues. Dr Rajagopalan joined ORF after a five-year stint at the National Security Council Secretariat (2003-2007), Government of India, where she was an Assistant Director.  Prior to joining the NSCS, she was Research Officer at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.  She was also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan in 2012.

Trisha Ray
Trisha Ray is an Associate Fellow at ORF’s Centre for Security Strategy and Technology. Her research focuses on Geotech, the security implications of emerging technologies, AI governance & norms and lethal autonomous weapons systems. Trisha is also a member of the UNESCO’s Information Accessibility Working Group. Prior to this, Trisha was a Program Assistant at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington DC, where she researched and wrote on national AI strategies in Asia, nuclear issues and India-US security relations. She also helped convene forums to engage US lawmakers, academics and embassy officials on US’s trade, technology and security policy for Asia.

Prachi Mishra
Prachi is a Young Leaders in Tech Policy Fellow at the University of Chicago. Through her fellowship, she is associated with the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation on their Quantum Meta-Ethics project. She researches, reads, and writes about the uptake of quantum technologies in India and how India can ease into the quantum transition.

Research Assistants

Gabi Skoff
Gabi is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney Business School and a researcher on the Quantum Meta-Ethics project at the Centre for International Security Studies. Her research focuses on responsible innovation practices in the context of the quantum technology industry and research commercialisation. She led an interdisciplinary engagement project with the Sydney Quantum Academy and writes regularly about the geopolitical dynamics and social and environmental impacts of emerging quantum technologies.

Stuart Rollo
Stuart is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on geopolitics, imperial history, and the US-China relationship. He is currently investigating the geopolitical implications of quantum technology as part of the CISS Quantum Meta-Ethics project. Stuart writes regularly on international affairs, politics, and cultural issues in Australian and international media.

Jayson Waters
Jayson Waters holds a Master in International Relations from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of International Studies from Macquarie University. His research interests include: non-ordinary phenomena, time, non-linear causality, and all things quantum. In addition to pursuing a PhD at the University of Sydney on the topic of ‘Quantum International Relations,’ Jayson assists Professor James Der Derian with Project Q and its subsidiaries.

Project Coordinators

Claire Stevens
Claire is an experienced project officer with expertise in higher education management, marketing and stakeholder engagement. She has enjoyed a successful career in the University sector for nearly ten years. Previously Claire worked at the University of Sydney as Senior Project Officer for the interdisciplinary research centre, the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC). In that role, she was responsible for providing project management advice and operational support to project teams within a multi-faceted program of work across the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Claire has also worked at The Law Society of NSW and City, University of London.

José Torrealba
José is a graduate of the Concordia University with a BFA in film production, and has extensive experience in film production and film festival coordination. José finished a Master in Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) a couple of years after moving to Australia in 2013. He is currently a media officer at the Centre for International Security Studies, organising the media production and editing for a variety of projects and events. José is involved in the production and editing of a variety of videos for Project Q, which includes producing the Project Q: A Question of Quantum documentary film.

Media Production Team

Daisy De Windt
Daisy is the Business Manager of Conceptavision: an end-to-end video production house. She works behind the scenes to manage Conceptavision’s input into Project Q. She worked on small and large projects in the health sector for over 10 years before joining Conceptavision and is a certified project manager (PRINCE2 and CAPM). Daisy holds tertiary qualifications in Biomedical Science, Business and Health Law and is passionate about projects that fuse science and the arts.

Jack McGrath
Jack has a background in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney and has lectured in film and animation for a number of years at the University of Sydney, Sydney Film School, Australian Film Television and Radio School, and The University of Technology Sydney. He has written and directed a wide range of short films that have been screened around Australia and internationally. He is the Director of Conceptavision and has collaborated with the CISS team on the film and documentation aspects of Project Q.

Website Coordinator

John Mazza
John is a web designer/developer living in Providence, Rhode Island. He holds a BA in Digital Art and Design from the University of Rhode Island, along with an MA in Media Studies from Rhode Island College. Aside from his work on Project Q and various other freelance projects, John currently works full time as the Manager of Web and Multimedia Technology for the The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

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