Dr Adam Day is Head of the Geneva Office of United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.
Dr Day oversees programming on peacebuilding, human rights, peacekeeping, climate-security, sanctions, and global governance, while also acting as co-lead on UNU-CPR’s support to the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism.
Prior to joining UNU in 2017, Dr Day served for a decade in the UN, including as Senior Political Adviser to MONUSCO (the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in the UN Special Coordinator’s Office for Lebanon, in the front offices of both UNMIS (Khartoum) and UNAMID (Darfur), and was a political officer in both the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York. Dr Day also has substantial civil society experience, including with Human Rights Watch’s Justice Program and for the Open Society Justice Initiative in Cambodia.
Dr Day was an international litigator in New York, where he also worked pro bono for the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Guantanamo detainees in their suits against former US officials for torture. He also supported the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
He has published widely in the fields of State-building, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, mediation, conflict resolution, human rights, rule of law, transitional justice, climate-security, the UN Security Council, and global governance.
Most recently, these include:
- States of Disorder, Ecosystems of Governance (Oxford University Press)
- Stress Testing the UN’s Regional Prevention Approaches
- Rule of Law and Sustaining Peace: Towards More Impactful, Effective Conflict Prevention
- The UN Security Council and Transitional Justice
- Peacebuilding and Authoritarianism: The Unintended Consequences of UN Engagement in Post-Conflict Settings
- When Dictators Fall: Preventing Conflict During Transitions from Authoritarian Rule
- Hybrid Conflict, Hybrid Peace: How Militias and Paramilitary Groups Shape Post-conflict Transitions
- Conflict Prevention in an Era of Climate Change: Adapting the UN to Climate-Security Risks
- UN Transitions: Improving Security Council Practice in Mission Settings
He has recently published op-eds in The Washington Post, International Policy Digest, The Diplomat, Global Observatory, Japan Times, The Conversation, and The Hill, among others. His recent academic publications include articles in Stability Journal, Global Governance, and Ethics & International Affairs.
Dr Day holds a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a Master’s in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a Master’s in Comparative Literature from Brown University, and a Doctorate from King’s College London’s War Studies Department.
Research Interests
- Climate-security
- Conflict Prevention
- Conflict resolution
- Countering Violent Extremism
- Peacebuilding
- Peacekeeping
