Roland Bleiker

Professor of International Relations, University of Queensland

May 24th, 2010

Area of Expertise: International Relations, Law and Human Rights, War and Conflict
Geographical Expertise - Region: Europe, Oceania
Geographical Expertise - Country: Australia, Korea
Field of Work: Academia, Government
City: Brisbane
Country: Australia
Continent: Australia

Email: roland.bleiker@theglobalexperts.org

Roland Bleiker is Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. He is a former Swiss diplomat.

He grew up in Zürich, Switzerland, where he was educated and worked as a lawyer. He then studied international relations in Paris, Toronto, Vancouver and finally in Canberra, where he obtained his Ph.D. from the Australian National University. Bleiker also worked for two years in a Swiss diplomatic mission in Panmunjom, the Korean DMZ. He held visiting research and teaching affiliations at Harvard, Cambridge, Humboldt, Tampere, Yonsei and Pusan National University as well as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Bleiker has been at the University of Queensland since 1999.

Besides engaging issues of trauma, conflict and reconciliation in divided societies, such as Korea, Bleiker has been particularly interested in exploring alternative sources of insights into international relations. He is currently working on three different projects: one that explores non-western approaches to conflict resolution; one that examines the emotional dimensions of conflict through a range of aesthetic sources, including photography and literature; and one that scrutinizes how to best deal with nuclear North Korea.

Tags: Australia, Korea, Roland Bleiker, Switzerland