Regional Security
Border dynamics, defence posture, maritime affairs, and the security architecture of the wider region.
Policy Labs
SAFI focuses on several programme areas. For each of these, we aim to create a Policy Lab under the Institute — directed by experts, working to a shared standard of evidence.
Ten Programme Areas
Interdisciplinary by design
Labs share instruments, sampling frames and quality standards, so findings can be read across themes and across borders rather than sitting in isolation.
Democracy
Democratic institutions, civic space, rule of law, and the health of representative government.
Election
Electoral integrity, voter attitudes, participation, and the administration of credible elections.
Governance
Public administration, transparency, service delivery, and institutional capacity.
Sustainable Development
Climate adaptation, energy transition, water security, and development policy.
Conflict Management
Mediation, peacebuilding, communal tension, and post-conflict recovery.
Youth, Gender & Vulnerability
Youth leadership, gender equity, and the position of vulnerable populations in policy.
Refugee and Migration
Displacement, statelessness, labour migration, and protection frameworks.
Foreign Policy & Diaspora Studies
Regional diplomacy, US–South Asia relations, and the political role of the diaspora.
Religious and Cultural Freedom
Freedom of belief, minority rights, cultural expression, and pluralism.
How a lab works
Directed by experts, accountable to a shared method
Each lab is responsible for its own instruments, fieldwork standards, and publication schedule. What it is not free to do is vary the standard of evidence: sampling frames, weighting decisions and fieldwork dates are published with every result.
- Expert direction, with contributors drawn from all nine nations
- Published methodology alongside every finding
- Shared sampling frames enabling cross-theme comparison
- Explicit disclosure where fieldwork could not be completed
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We adopt a multi-thematic and interdisciplinary approach to data collection and policy analysis. This program is organized into various analysis labs, each directed by experts.
— SAFI, Interdisciplinary Data Gathering and AnalysisFocus areas named at founding
Regional security, democracy, election, governance, peace, refugee issues, environmental policy, and education.
Read the program
Work with SAFI
Evidence that reaches the people who decide.
Partner with the Institute, join a policy lab, or apply for an internship. We work with researchers, institutions, and communities across all nine nations and the diaspora.