Swini Adikari is currently a master’s student at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. She is studying security policy studies with a concentration in transnational security. Her focus includes non-state actors and counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East and East Africa. Swini has conducted a plethora of research on militant groups such as the Islamic State, Islamic State affiliates, Iranian-backed militias, and Al Shabaab. She has also written policy memos on topics focused on countering the threats of terrorist groups in the Middle East and East Africa.
On a professional level, Swini interned at the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) in the Casual and Consequences team and in the Perpetrator and Identification Team. During her time as an intern at the GTD, she conducted qualitative text analysis on terrorist events in the Middle East and North Africa in order to contribute to START’s GTD. The internship significantly boosted her subject matter expertise about terrorist groups and their operational capabilities. Swini’s experience at START is a major driver of her interests in non state actors and counterterrorism.