Dr Afsar Rathor
Founder
Dr. Afsar Rathor is a global citizen as he grew up, studied and has roots in several countries. He has a distinguished career with several United Nations organizations across the globe. He has an extensive experience in peace & conflict resolution, poverty alleviation, diplomacy, interfaith harmony, climate change, and project & risk management. He has served at the UN responsible for implementing multimillion-dollar projects in Africa, South America and East Europe. He has also worked with the UN Department of Peacekeeping (UNDPK) serving in several war-hit conflict zones, among others, in Bosnia Herzegovina, Rwanda and Somalia etc.
He left the UN in 2017, to work as a volunteer across various developing countries on a variety of social, economic, and environmental thematic areas and/or projects. Dr. Rathor is the founding member and the President of LIOS-SOIL Organization (LIOS), an Austrian based NGO providing policymakers and other stakeholders with solutions to the globally escalating issues of loss of fertile topsoil, land erosion and desertification, as well as promotes Regenerative Agricultural Management methods.
Dr Yasir Khan
Chief Executive
Dr. Yasir Khan has been with the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy since September 2022, focusing his research on topics of South Asia in the field of economic, security, and political dimension amidst the rising Chinese role, particularly in countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. He is also deeply intrigue in the phenomenon of peacekeeping, peacebuilding, Migration, Counter-Terrorism and the greater role of the United Nations in the region. He is also interested to research on the role of European Security Policy in South Asia. Dr. Yasir Khan has completed his Master’s degree in International Relations from the National University of Modern Languages Islamabad. He also achieved a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from European Peace University (EPU) Stadtschlaining Burgenland Austria.
Dr. Yasir Khan completed his Ph.D. degree in “Political Science” with a focus on “UN Peacekeeping and the Role of Pakistan in DRC, Somalia, and Liberia”. He served as a consultant with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna with the section of Health and Counter-Terrorism. He served as a Director of International Relations with Sigmund Freud University. In addition, he served as Project Coordinator with Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) Vienna.
Sehrish khan
director finance
Sehrish Khan is a seasoned finance and management professional with over a decade of experience spanning banking, education, operations, and consultancy. She currently serves as Director Finance at Global Institute for Training and Research (GITRUN), leading financial planning, auditing, compliance, and strategic growth initiatives to ensure transparency and operational excellence.
Sehrish began her career in 2012 as Operations Manager at a private construction company, overseeing budgets, staff training, inventory, and process improvements. From 2015 to 2017, she contributed to the education sector as a Lecturer at a private college in Swat, developing student-centered curricula and delivering lectures.
She transitioned into banking in 2017, serving as Senior Officer at The Bank of Punjab, a semi-government bank (2017–2023), and then as Assistant Manager at Meezan Bank (2023–2025), gaining extensive expertise in client relationship management, financial services, auditing, and compliance.
Since mid-2025, she has been Assistant Controller Examination at Minhaj University Lahore, overseeing examination processes and ensuring fair, transparent, and efficient administration, a role she continues to fulfill with dedication.
In addition to her role at GITRUN, Sehrish is Director at Vienna Consulting Company, contributing her expertise in consultancy, training, and international projects.
Her core skills include financial management, auditing, strategic planning, operational efficiency, leadership, process improvement, and stakeholder communication, making her a versatile professional committed to driving organizational success.
National Advisory Board
Mr. Jean Luc
Director Division for Policy Analysis, UNODC (2013-2024) Member Advisory Board Siracusa International Institute (SII) Adjunct Professor Webster University Vienna Faculty Member Diplomatic Academy in Vienna
Jean-Luc Lemahieu was appointed Director of the Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs (DPA) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in December 2013.
Before taking up this position in Vienna, he gained 20 years of field experience in various countries that are challenged by political economies and are heavily dependent on drug cultivation, including Afghanistan and Myanmar, and in transit regions such as the Caribbean. His first appointment with the United Nations dates back to 1990, as a Junior Professional Officer with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) assigned to the Republic of Korea. Prior to joining the UNODC (then the United Nations Drug Control Programme – UNDCP) in 1994, he also had a short tenure with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Mr. Franz Bauman
Assistant Sectary General Climate Change United Nations
Mr Franz bauman spent most of his professional life as a United Nations official. His last assignment was as Special Adviser on Environment and Peace Operations with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General. He left the United Nations at the end of 2015 and joined New York University in 2017 as a Visiting Research Professor. He is a Senior Fellow and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Baumann started his career at the European Parliament in Luxembourg in 1976 before transferring to the European Commission in Brussels and eventually joining Siemens in Munich. In 1980 he joined the United Nations, where he remained for more than three decades, serving in four cities on three continents in a variety of functions. In 2009, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for the General Assembly and Conference Management at the headquarters in New York. His doctorate in Political Science (African Studies) was obtained from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Prof. Dr Andreas
Head Unit of Peace and conflict studies University of Innsbruck Austria
Dr. Andreas Oberprantacher is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy and also serves as Head of the Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies. His research and teaching focus on social philosophy and political theory, the philosophy of technology and media, as well as aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Methodologically, his work is primarily oriented towards phenomenology and genealogy, approached from an intersectional, interspecific, and largely postcolonial perspective, with metaphorology also serving as an important point of reference.
After studying Philosophy and History, along with Comparative Literature, European Ethnology, and Peace and Conflict Studies at the Universities of Innsbruck, Nottingham (UK), and Castellón (Spain), he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck in various positions. He has also held numerous fellowships, guest lectureships, and visiting professorships in New Orleans (USA), Bangkok (Thailand), Castellón (Spain), Pondicherry (India), Pokhara (Nepal), and Taichung (Taiwan). Since October 1, 2021, he has served as Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck.
Prof. dr. Alistair edgar
associate head school of political science wilfrid university canada
Dr. Alistair Edgar is Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of the School of International Policy & Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada. He served as Executive Director of ACUNS, 2003-2008 and 2010-2018 and is a series editor for The ACUNS Series on the UN System (published by Edward Elgar Publishers). His current research interests include: post-conflict transitional justice after mass atrocity crimes, with a focus on Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kosovo and Uganda; governance in the UN system, with an ongoing research project examining the President of the General Assembly; and Canadian defence and foreign policy. Outside of his scholarly activities, he serves as President and Chair of the Canadian Landmine Foundation.
Dr. Lucas Zinner
Head of the Department of Research Services and Career Development at the University of Vienna
Lucas Zinner is Head of the Department of Research Services and Career Development at the University of Vienna. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Vienna. After six years as a researcher at various universities in Austria and Sweden, he joined the Austrian Science Fund as a program manager in 2002 and returned to the University of Vienna in 2004, where he played a key role in establishing the department he now heads. Since 2007, Lucas Zinner has been involved in higher education policy in Europe and worldwide, particularly in the doctoral debate, taking on various advisory roles and participating in numerous international projects. In 2017, he co-founded and is currently the chair of the PRIDE Network Association for Professionals in Doctoral Education, which aims to increase the visibility of professional support staff and provide an international forum for exchange and continuous development.
International Advisory Board
ambassador Sardar masood khan
ambassador of pakistan to united states
Masood Khan is a Pakistani-Kashmiri diplomat who is currently serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States. Khan also served as the 27th President of Azad Kashmir. Khan joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1980. From August 2003 to March 2005, he served as the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2005 to 2008, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China between September 2008 and September 2012 and as Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York, between October 11, 2012 and February 7, 2015.
hasan askari Rizvi
chief minister (care taker) of punjab province
A visiting professor of Pakistan Studies at the Columbia University from 1996 to 1999, Prof Askari has also served as Allama Iqbal Professor at Heidelberg University, Germany, from 1988 to 1991.
He has a number of publications, including more than 1,800 op-eds and comment pieces in domestic and international newspapers and magazines and has spent over 35 years teaching and supervising research at the post-graduate level. The books include ‘Military, State and Society in Pakistan’ and ‘The military and Politics in Pakistan: 1947 – 1997’.
He has taught Master’s-level courses at local, German, and American universities on South Asian affairs, comparative politics, international relations, Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policy, civil-military relations, the Middle East and the Gulf region. He was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 2010 by the government.
aizaz Ahmad choudhry
foreign sectary of pakistan
Mr Chaudhry served as the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan for over three years, and participated actively in high level foreign policy discussions from December 2013 to March 2017. Mr Chaudhry’s last diplomatic assignment was as Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States of America, where he actively engaged the US legislators at Capitol Hill, lectured extensively at leading US universities and think tanks, and reached out to Pakistani Diaspora all across the country to strengthen relations between Pakistan and the US. Also served as Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands, in which capacity he engaged in active public diplomacy in partnership with Pakistani community to win friends for Pakistan. He also authored a book “Pakistan mirrored to Dutch eyes” published by Sangemeel publications.
Served as the Foreign Office Spokesman and interacted with Pakistani and international media. Mr. Chaudhry has extensive multilateral experience. He served as Additional Foreign Secretary for UN and Disarmament Affairs in Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in New York, and Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary General of ECO in Tehran.
Ambassador. Dr. Raza Muhammad
High Commissioner of Pakistan to Mauritius
Raza Muhammad is a retired two-star general of the Pakistan Army, and has served as the High Commissioner of Pakistan to Mauritius. He was concurrently accredited to Republic of Seychelles, Republic of Madagascar and Union of the Comoros. Raza has also been awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) for his meritorious services to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
He was an Advisor to President National Defence University (NDU) from 2019 to 2022, and the President of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI). He had also served in Army Welfare Trust (AWT) as an Executive Director(Services).
He has also served at the Inter-Services Intelligence as one of the Director Generals before he was deputed to the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP), Rawalpindi as Additional Secretary.
He is from the Sind Regiment and was promoted to the rank of Major General in August 2008. After being promoted, he was deputed as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Infantry Division Pakistan where he was transferred command by the then GOC General Raheel Sharif . Before his promotion to the rank of Major General, he served as Chief of Staff Corps Headquarter, Director Military Intelligence Operations at the General Headquarters (Pakistan Army) Rawalpindi and Commander Independent Infantry Brigade Group.