Dr Tharishini Krishnan is Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Strategic and Defence Studies at the National Defence University Malaysia.

Tharishini is a Visiting Fellow at the Malaysia-Australia Maritime Exchange Program at The Australia National University, where she is researching a single point of contact to combat maritime crimes in Malaysia, using the Australia Border Force as a model.

Besides the NDUM, she lectures at the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College and the National Resilience College, where she teaches international relations, international organisations, and extra-regional affairs. Her main research interests include maritime security and policy, and Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific strategy.