Venilla Rajaguru

Venilla Rajaguru serves as the Chair of a pan-university research working group on ‘Ocean Frontiers’, since 2015, under Science for Peace (Canada). She is also an honourary elected member of the Board of Directors under Science for Peace, since 2016. While completing her doctoral degree, she has served as a Course Director several times since 2014, taking on syllabus design and teaching duties for the following semester-long courses at York University: ‘Science and Technology in Global Development’ (Dept. of Science & Technology Studies); ‘Natural Resource Management’ (Faculty of Environmental Studies); and ‘History of the Environment’ (Natural Science Division). Her educational background is in Science & Technology Studies, International Law, and English Studies. She holds a professional certification in Strategic Space Law jointly awarded by McGill University’s Centre for Research in Air and Space Law and Spectrum Space Security Inc, Canada. Her former degrees are from Cornell and the University of Oxford. She is the recipient of the following merit awards: Susan Mann Doctoral Dissertation Award (Canada) 2017–2018; Vivienne Poy Asian Research Award (Canada) 2016; Ontario Graduate Scholarship for Doctoral Research 2014–2015; and the International Rhodes Scholarship 1992–1994.

Rajaguru’s professional career, since the mid 1990s, spans lead positions in corporate and public communications, corporate social responsibility consulting, and community outreach for intergovernmental sectors. Earlier in her career, she edited the British Council’s journal series in the mid-1990s titled, Literature Alive: New Writings from India and Britain, while heading the communications unit of British Council India. Her research writings to date include articles on maritime issues and policy papers on ASEAN partnerships. She has also served as the Chair of ASEAN Women’s Wing based at the ASEAN Secretariat from 2009–2011, focusing on community outreach projects through institutional partnerships with international organizations such as UNICEF and the Red Cross. Rajaguru is for now back in the university sector to follow her research interest on technological and knowledge production practices that shape new geographies in the Indo-Pacific.

Representative Publications

Rajaguru, Venilla. 2019. "Constructing an Inventive Order of Rights? The Geopolitics of Island-Building in Transnational Waters" in Science, Technology and Art in International Relations, ed. JP. Singh, M. Carr, R. Marlin-Bennett. New York: Routledge.

Rajaguru, Venilla. 2017. “40 Years of ASEAN-Canada Partnership, and a Strategic Agenda for Tomorrow,” in Policy Update. Nov 2017: Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Rajaguru-Pushpanathan, Venilla. 2010. “What is ASEAN Consciousness?” in the ASEAN Day Supplement, The Jakarta Post. 07 August 2010.