Nicholas Turner is Academic Programme Associate at the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP).  He holds an M.A. in international relations (with distinction) from the University of Kent in the UK, as well as a B.Sc. (Hons) in business and computer science. Prior to joining UNU he worked for local government and several charities in Hampshire and Kent, for Qinetiq Ltd as a full-time consultant on the Defence Review Programme for the UK Armed Forces, and in Japan as Chief of European Affairs at NS Foreign Study Centre.

His specific research interests lie in international peace and security, human rights and ethics, focusing in particular on Just War theory, the Responsibility to Protect, the universalism/cultural relativism debate, assessing the legal and ethical justifications of human rights derogations, and tensions between perceived security threats and protection of human rights. He is currently engaged in research into the ethical implications of non-state actors in military conflict, including the increasing role of private military companies. He lectures at Hosei University and Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo.

His peer-reviewed publications include World Religions and Norms of War (co-edited with Gregory M. Reichberg and Vesselin Popovski, UNU Press: 2009), Human Rights Regimes in the Americas (co-edited with Mónica Serrano and Vesselin Popovski, UNU Press: 2010), Post-Conflict Countries and Foreign Investment (co-edited with Virtus Igbokwe and Obijiofor Aginam, Adonis & Abbey, forthcoming), and a chapter in Legality and Legitimacy in International Order (edited by Richard Falk and Vesselin Popovski, Oxford University Press: 2010).