About Me

Hello and Namaskar! 🙏

My name is Chaitanya Giri.

I am a strategy analyst doubling up as an author based out of the Indian (Bharatiya) megalopolis of Mumbai.

At present, I am affiliated with a leading international think tank, the Observer Research Foundation; I serve on the Advisory Board of the Satcom Industry Association, and I am nominated by the Governor of Maharashtra to be on the Senate of the University of Mumbai.

My day job traverses the domains of space and S&T policy and strategy analyses, from commercial, cultural, and political perspectives, especially those at the crossroads of Industry 4.0 & Space 2.0.

I am a trained, hands-on, and bona fide space scientist - astrochemist and planetary chemist, to be precise. I have spent considerable time in Germany and France as a doctoral and postdoctoral scientist, and after that in Japan and the United States as an early-career scientist. I am grateful that life offered me opportunities to work at some of the top space science and technology laboratories in the world, well before I switched towards think tanks.

I have transferred my skills from hands-on scientific research to strategy consulting. I am fortunate to work closely with numerous scientific institutions, international multilateral organisations, private corporations, startups, venture capital firms, academia, and media.

Professional Accomplishments

Author of the book India in the Second Space Age of Interplanetary Connectivity, published by Routledge India in 2021.
Award-winning early career scientist with rich 10-year experience in Field-Deployable Measurement and Signals Intelligence (MASINT) payload technologies.
Team Member on European Space Agency’s Rosetta Mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Scientific team member of the Philae Lander - the first space probe in human history to ever land on a comet surface.
As co-investigator of the COSAC MASINT payload of Philae, discovered novel organic molecules native to the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Awarded the 2014 Dieter Rampacher Prize by the Max Planck Society - ranked #4 globally for science - for outstanding doctoral research by the youngest scientist.
Made the first-of-its-kind physical detection of extraterrestrial graphene in two distinct meteorites.
1 of 10 promising scientists recruited by MEXT, Government of Japan, under EON Fellowship.
Delivered consultations on space and emerging technology industry to a wide range of stakeholders - government, industry, academia, and media.
Briefed the top strategic leadership of India, including the Department of Space, the National Security Council Secretariat, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Nominated Member of Review Committee on International Science and Technology Cooperation (Oct 2021-July 2022) of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Represented India on various Track 1.5 and Track 2 Diplomatic Engagements on science, space, climate and emerging technology matters.
High-Table Speaking at various global summits, including NATO’s Halifax International Security Forum, the GlobSec Forum, the Arctic Forum India Dialogue, the Indo-Pacific Critical Tech Forum and the Russia-India Strategic Dialogue.

Professional Affiliations

August 2024 - Present || Fellow, Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai

February 2023 - July 2024 || Associate Professor, FLAME University, Pune, INDIA

February 2022 - intermittent || Contributor, The Center for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, CANADA

December 2021 - July 2024 || Consultant, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, New Delhi, INDIA

October 2021 - present || Member, Advisory Board, Space Federation of India

October 2021 - present || Member, Advisory Board, Satcom Industry Association India

March 2018 - November 2021 || Space & Ocean Studies Fellow, Gateway House: Indian Council for Global Relations, Mumbai, INDIA

Feb. 2018 - present || ELSI Origins Network (EON) Affiliate Scientist, Earth-Life Science Institute - A World Premier International Research Center Initiative by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Japan at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, JAPAN

Feb. 2016 - Jan. 2018 || ELSI Origins Network (EON) Research Fellow, Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, JAPAN

Jun. 2016 - Jun. 2017 || Science Collaborator (EON Visiting Investigator), Code 690, Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA

Jun. 2016 - Jun. 2017 || EON Visiting Investigator, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC, USA

Sep. 2014 - Nov. 2015 || Postdoctoral Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, GERMANY

Sep. 2011 - Sep. 2014 || Doctoral Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, GERMANY

Feb. 2012 || Visiting Scientist at DESIRS beam line, CNRS-CEA SOLEIL Synchrotron, Paris, FRANCE

Oct. 2010 || Visiting Scientist, Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, JAPAN

Academic Background

Sep. 2014

Ph.D. (Chemistry)

Thesis: The organic composition of cometary nucleus, the COSAC experiment on Philae

Supervisors: Uwe Meierhenrich, École Doctorale Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées (EDSFA), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, FRANCE

Fred Goesmann, International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) in Solar System Science, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, GERMANY

Aug. 2011

M.Sc. (Biophysics) with First Class

University Department of Biophysics, University of Mumbai, INDIA

Jun. 2008

B.Sc. Hons. (Major: Chemistry; Minors: Life Science, Microbiology) with First Class

Ramnarain Ruia College, University of Mumbai, INDIA

Academic Genealogy (A Pleasant Chance)

I received a PhD in Chemistry in 2014 from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (now Côte d'Azur University), France, under the tutelage of Prof. Uwe Meierhenrich.

Prof. Meierhenrich is a global authority on biomolecular chirality and interstellar organic chemistry. His team has the distinction of synthesising several amino acids and sugars under interstellar conditions simulated in the laboratory. He has also been a leading investigator and payload designer for the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and ExoMars mission to the planet Mars.

Being his protégé, I am part of an academic genealogy that has some of the most prolific chemists of modern times (left-to-right in chronological sequence).

Wolfram Thiemann has been an influential proponent of environmental chemistry, meteoritics and interstellar organic chemistry.

Karl Erik Zimen was Germany's prominent nuclear scientist and policymaker. He also served as the founding director of the Hahn-Meitner-Institute for Nuclear Research in Berlin, which today is known as the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin.

Otto Hahn is considered the Father of Nuclear Chemistry. He is the discoverer of Nuclear Fission and several transuranic elements and nuclear phenomena.

Theodor Zincke is well-regarded among organic chemists, as the discoverer of important chemical reactions - Zincke Reaction, Zincke-Suhl Reaction and the Zincke Nitration.

Friedrich Woehler was the first to synthesise urea and had co-discovered elements Beryllium, Silicon and the compound silicon nitride. He discovered calcium carbide. Woehler, in his time, had the largest collection of meteorites.

Jons Jacob Berzelius is considered the father of Modern Chemistry. He has several firsts to his credit. He discovered the elements cerium, silicon, selenium and thorium. He has coined several terminologies of prime importance to modern chemistry - allotrope, catalysis, isomer, polymer and protein.

Enjoy this interesting trivia!

About the Site

This site - chaitanyagiri.com - is a one-stop aggregation of all content that I have generated independently, through my professional affiliations, and at the invitation of connoisseurs and institutions.

This is a not-for-revenue website. However, I'm excited to be among a group of like-minded peers and enthusiasts who will keep me on my toes and provide valuable content for them every month!

I would curate a subscription-based monthly newsletter and disseminate it on the last Sunday of every month (early morning, 6 am to be precise). The subscription would not cost you anything; instead, it will help me identify, connect with, and interact with my regular readers. Let's form a nice, jolly, and do-gooder community!

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