Konverents Indiast tänapäeva polariseerunud maailmas

Conference keynote speakers in alphabetical order

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Kristina Garalytė
Associate Professor and researcher at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies at Vilnius University

She got her PhD in Social Sciences (Cultural Anthropology) at Vytautas Magnus University in 2016, with a dissertation titled Dalit Student Movement in India: From Identity Politics to Counter Culture Movement. Garalytė specializes in South Asian anthropology and cultural area studies. Her research centers on social and political phenomena in India and South Asia, with a particular focus on caste-based social inequality and Dalit movement. She also explores connections between South Asia and Lithuania by examining the Indian migrant community in Lithuania and the alternative orientalist religiosity in the late 20th century and contemporary Lithuania. She is involved in two research projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania: 1) Ethnic, National and Transnational Identities and Geopolitical Attitudes of Third-country Nationals in Lithuania in the Context of the War in Ukraine and 2) Alternative Religiosity in Soviet and Post-Soviet Lithuania: Orientalist Religious Movements and their Features, Manifestations and Transformations.

Garalytė co-edited a special issue of South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal titled Student Politics in South Asia, a special issue of CASTE: A Global Journal of Social Exclusion titled Historical and Contemporary Anti-Caste Utopias: A Dalit Bahujan Discourse, and an edited volume Anthropology: A Humanistic Science (Vilnius University Press).

In addition to her research, Garalytė is teaching both undergraduate and master’s level courses. Her teaching portfolio includes Anthropology of South Asia, Area Studies and Research, and Social Movements in Asia. From 2018 to 2024, Garalytė served as the Director of the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies at Vilnius University. Since 2024, she has been leading the Vilnius University Asian Studies Program Committee.

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Harsh V. Pant
Vice President – Studies and Foreign Policy at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi

Professor Harsh V. Pant is a Professor of International Relations with King's India Institute at King’s College London. He is also Director (Honorary) of Delhi School of Transnational Affairs at Delhi University.

Professor Pant has been a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; a Visiting Professor at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania; a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University; a Non-Resident Fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC; and an Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne.

Professor Pant's current research is focused on Asian security issues. His most recent books include India and Global Governance: A Rising Power and Its Discontents (Routledge), Politics and Geopolitics: Decoding India’s Neighbourhood Challenge (Rupa), America and the Indo-Pacific: Trump and Beyond (Routledge), New Directions in India’s Foreign Policy: Theory and Praxis (Cambridge University Press), India’s Nuclear Policy (Oxford University Press), The US Pivot and Indian Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan), Handbook of Indian Defence Policy (Routledge), and India’s Afghan Muddle (HarperCollins).

Professor Pant writes regularly for various Indian and international media outlets including the Japan Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National (UAE), the Hindustan Times, and the Telegraph.

CONFERENCE SITE

All sessions take place in the University of Tartu Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Please enter from the main entrance (the darker brown section on the photo), take a few steps up the stairs and you will find the conference room at your left.

Street address Lossi 3, Tartu.

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WELCOME RECEPTION

The welcome reception takes place in Ülikooli Kohvik restaurant that is located in the historic building next to the University of Tartu main building.

Street address Ülikooli 20, Tartu.

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ARRIVING TO TARTU

There are several options to arrive in Tartu.

BY PLANE

Tartu Airport (15 min drive, 10 km from Tartu city centre).
Tartu Airport has Helsinki-Tartu flights. From the airport, there is a special Airport Shuttle, an Express bus No. E1 operating between Tartu Airport and Tartu City. Detailed timetables and stops are provided here.

Lennart Meri Airport in Tallinn (2 hours drive, 176 km from Tartu)
Tallinn Airport has direct air links to numerous cities. To travel from Tallinn airport to Tartu there is a choice between a bus and a train. You can board the Tallinn-Tartu line from the Tallinn airport for a bus, or from Ülmiste stop for train. Tickets can be bought online and downloaded to a smartphone.

Riga Airport in Latvia (3.5 hours drive, 253 km)
There is a special bus line from the Riga Airport in Latvia to Tartu Coach station that we’d recommend. It is operated by the Lux Express company, and the direct link to their ticket platform is here. Please make sure the selected stops are Riga Airport and Tartu Coach Station.

BY BUS

Tartu bus station is a few minutes walk from the conference venue. All bus tickets can be purchased on the Tpilet website and bus station ticket offices. Tickets can be purchased in advance for 10 to 180 days, depending on the bus company. Please note that arriving at the bus station is advisable 15 minutes before departure. If you are arriving by plane via Lennart Meri Airport in Tallinn, there is also a bus stop at the airport “Tallinn Airport”.

BY TRAIN

To travel from Tallinn to Tartu there is also an option for a train. You can board the Tallinn-Tartu train bus either from “Balti jaam” or “Ülemiste” (type the name for the departure), and the destination will be Tartu. Tickets can be bought online and downloaded to a smartphone.

BY FERRY

Information about the sea connections with Tallinn can be found on the Port of Tallinn page. Please make sure that the selected destination is Tallinn. From the port, there is a convenient 20 min walk to Balti jaam train station to catch a train to Tartu.

HOTELS

You will find a large variety of nice hotels and other places to stay in online booking sites. The venue is located in the University of Tartu. Address: Lossi 3, Tartu, Estonia. For all the presenters and keynote speakers we have booked rooms in Dorpat Hotel.