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Cooperation and Development and the European Space Agency
[ESA], both of them in Paris. He was also for some years Chairman
of the Institute of Tibetan Studies at Vevey in Switzerland.
In 1986 he left ESA, went often to the Krishnamurti Centre at
Brockwood, and was for many years a trustee of the Krishnamurti
Foundation Trust, for which he still works as an editor. He was
drawn naturally to Krishnamurti’s teaching because of a lasting
interest in conflict, whether in personal, working or international
relationships; also, because Krishnamurti took a planetary view of
the human condition.

DR MEENAKSHI THAPAN is a trustee of the Krishnamurti Founda-
tion India and currently the Director of Rishi Valley Education Cen-
tre. She encountered Krishnamurti and his teachings early in her life,
and from then on has had an on-going engagement with his educa-
tional thought as well as institutions. During her university years,
she taught briefly at the Rishi Valley School and later conducted her
field research within this school community, resulting in the publi-
cation of her first book, Life at School: An Ethnographic Study.
Subsequently, she went on to become a highly accomplished
academician, based at the University of Delhi, both in the Depart-
ment of Education, and later at the Department of Sociology, Delhi
School of Economics. She has travelled widely, teaching, speaking
and contributing to university departments all over the world. She
is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards, apart from being
the author of numerous books as well as research papers and arti-
cles in several prominent publications.
Prior to joining Rishi Valley Education Centre in 2019 as its
Director, Dr Thapan held the positions of Professor of Sociology
and Director, Delhi School of Economics as well as Head of the
DS Kothari Centre for Science, Ethics and Education, University
of Delhi.

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