Convenors

INTERNATIONAL HISTORY

Gareth Austin joined the faculty in 2010 from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to his position at the London School of Economics, he lectured at the University of Ghana. His research and teaching interests are in African, comparative and global economic history. His primary research has focused on West Africa, especially Ghana and the pre-colonial kingdom of Asante. A former editor of the Journal of African History, he is currently president of the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH).

INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS

Gopalan Balachandran holds a Ph.D in economic history. His current teaching, research, and supervision interests include cross-national economic, social, and cultural history with an accent on critical Southern and post-colonial perspectives, and modern and contemporary South Asia.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Thomas Biersteker is the first holder of the Curt Gasteyger Chair in International Security and Conflict Studies, established thanks to the support of the APESI to honour Professor Gasteyger, HEI professor emeritus.

The author/editor of nine books, including State Sovereignty as Social Construct, The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance, and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, Biersteker’s research focuses primarily on international relations theory and economic aspects of contemporary global security issues. His recent activities include work with the UN Secretariat and the governments of Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany on the design of targeted sanctions.

POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Professor Bocco's main research interest is on the role of international aid organisations and the impact of their humanitarian and development programs. He has been the director of CERMOC (Centre d’études et de recherches sur le Moyen-Orient contemporain), the French Social Sciences Research Institute based in Amman (Jordan) and then Research Director of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED, Geneva). He taught at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and at the University of Bologna (Italy). From 2000, Riccardo Bocco has been heading a team (funded by several UN agencies) that has monitored the evolution of the socio-economic conditions of the civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. From 2004 to 2007 he was heading a joint research project with UNRWA on the Palestinian refugees in the Near East. In 2008, Riccardo Bocco co-founded the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peace at the Graduate Institute. His research currently focuses on peace-building and reconciliation policies in the Middle East. Riccardo Bocco received his PhD from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

Specialised in Southeast Asia, Jean-Luc Maurer works on Asian Economic and Social Development Policies, with a particular focus on Indonesian development issues. Among other duties, Professor Maurer was Director of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED) from 1992 to 2004, and President of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) from 2005 to 2011. He was also Board member (1992-1998) and Vice-president (2001-2004) of EUROSEAS, the European Association of Southeast Asian Studies. Author of about 70 publications, including several books as sole or co-author and a large number of articles in scientific journals focusing on economic, social and political development issues in Indonesia, Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region in general, he received his Ph.D from the Graduate Institute of International Studies (Geneva).