Ms Maria Elizabeth Joseph, leads the West Asia and Europe portfolio at Ananta Centre. She holds a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University and was a recipient of the Middle East Studies Thesis Grant for her comparative historical work on Iran’s policy towards the Baluch and Kurds. She writes on the Middle East and has contributed a chapter on “The Arab Spring and Sunni Extremis among Sunni Minorities in Iran,” edited by MD. Muddassir Quamar in Politics of Change in Middle East and North Africa Since Arab Spring, published by Routledge in 2023. She most recently contributed a chapter to “Global Bridges: The EU and the Global South for an inclusive multilateralism” published the Global Policy Centre at IE University in Spain (November 2024) and “ITEC at 60: India's Development Partnership over Six Decades” published by Ananta Centre and the Gates Foundation (March 2025). She has a working knowledge of Arabic and is currently studying Persian and Urdu.