Dr Charles T. Hunt is a Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the School of Global, Urban & Social Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia. He is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (APR2P) at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Charles is currently an ARC DECRA fellow (2017-2020).
Charles’ background is in political science with specialisation in international relations and critical security studies. He has a PhD International Relations from the University of Queensland, Australia, as well as MA International Studies and a BSc (Joint Honours) Economics and Political Science – both from the University of Birmingham, UK. During his tenure at the University of Queensland, Charles was Senior Researcher in the Institute for Social Science Research (2008-2012), Leader for the protection of civilians program at the APR2P (2009 to 2015), Lecturer in International Security in the School of Political Science and International Studies (2012-2015) and has been an Associate Investigator with the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security since 2009.
His research in the field of international relations, peace and conflict studies focuses on four main areas:
1. The changing nature of United Nations peace operations – with particular focus on protection of civilians
2. Reform of governance, security and justice systems in conflict-affected countries and regions
3. Monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment and organisational learning in conflict management, peacebuilding and development programming
4. The ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) and prevention of mass atrocity crimes
Dr Hunt is widely published, having authored and edited five books and over twenty articles and chapters. He is also a regular blogger on sites including the Global Observatory (International Peace Institute, New York), The Conversation, The Interpreter (Lowy Institute, Sydney), and Australian Outlook (Australian Institute for International Affairs, Canberra).
Charles has worked with the Australian government over a number of years assessing their role in peace operations and as a Principal Advisor to DFAT’s Fragility and Conflict Panel. He has worked extensively in Africa conducting field research in a number of locations (e.g. South Sudan, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe) and performed consultancy roles with the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the United Nations and a number of international humanitarian NGOs. Charles’ previous work for international organisations, think tanks, civil society organisations, NGOs and academic institutions in Africa, Asia and the Pacific has provided him with a global perspective on issues of peace, security and justice.