Richard Dolan

Richard has a professional background in education, capacity-building and development in South America and Asia. He recently completed his DPhil at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID).

His work and academic interests concentrate on education and development in post-conflict and transitional contexts, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia. This has concerned Karen communities in northern Thailand and southeastern Burma/Myanmar; it has also involved public sector capacity-building in East Timor. From 2015-2017 Richard was involved in developing integrated peace and training initiatives with non-state groups and civil society organisations in Burma’s ethnic border regions in support of the country’s ongoing peace process.

Richard occasionally provides news and commentary on ethnic issues in Burma and has written for New Mandala, Myanmar Times, The Diplomat, and The Conversation. In Oxford, he has contributed to Tea Circle, an online forum for new research on Burma/Myanmar, and developed policy guidance on ethnic political inclusion following the country’s historic elections in November 2015 as part of the inaugural Oxford-Myanmar Policy Brief Series.