I am a tenured full professor of International Relations based in Tokyo, Japan, and a visiting fellow at Exeter College, Oxford University (my alma mater).

I was educated at the Universities of Trento (Italy), Auckland (New Zealand), Wales/Aberystwyth (UK), and Oxford (UK), and I hold two doctoral degrees, one in International Law and the other in International Relations.

Because of my double doctorate, my areas of specialization are broad and include international relations, international history, the United Nations and international organizations, genocide studies, Africa's international relations, and the links between art, archaeology, and international relations.

I have written seven books and more than 40 academic papers in three languages. My 2017 book on the role of the United Nations in Rwanda, titled 'Dangerous Diplomacy', was published by Oxford University Press and won the 2018 Alger Prize of the International Studies Association as the best book on multilateralism, as well as the 2016-18 Book Award of the Academic Council on the UN System.

My 2024 book titled 'L'Artisan de la Paix?' ['The Artisan of Peace?'] was published in Paris and is a critical assessment of the United Nations. In the spring of 2024, I was invited to appear before the French Parliament ('Assemblée Nationale') and my report was used by its Foreign Affairs Committee to advise the French Government on how to reform the UN, including the Security Council.

In March 2025, I was promoted to the rank of full professor, while in April my second French book - titled 'Le Petit Prince et les Cinq Planètes du Racisme' ['The Little Prince and the Five Planets of Racism'] - was also published in Paris.

I am currently under contract with OUP to write two other monographs: a 'political' history of the United Nations Secretariat (due in 2026), and a book on the relations between UN peacekeeping and political affairs (due in 2028).

Before moving to Tokyo, I was a visiting scholar at Sciences-Po in Paris; an officer at the Icelandic Human Rights Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland; an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh; and briefly an Associate with the Under-Secretary-General's Office at UN Headquarters in New York.

I have also been a Secretary-Treasurer of the International Studies Association, Asia-Pacific (ISA-AP); a Senior Adviser to the South Asian Foundation for Academic Research (SAFAR) and to the Center for Advanced Studies in South Asia (CASSA) in Kathmandu, Nepal; and a Visiting Professor at the School of International Studies of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.

A cosmopolitan by vocation, I am fluent in English, Italian, French, and Spanish; I am a life-long enthusiast of history and archaeology; and I am a passionate collector of ancient art, especially as it relates to diplomacy and global politics.