Professor Charles Hunt
Professor
Details
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College: School of GUSS
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Department: School of GUSS
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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charles.hunt@rmit.edu.au
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ORCID: 0000-0002-3172-3901
Open to
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
- Collaborative projects
- Mentoring (long-term)
- Media enquiries
About
Dr Charles T. Hunt is Professor of Global Security in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
He has a background in political science with specialisation in international relations, peace and conflict, and critical security studies. Based in the Social Equity Research Centre, his research focuses on peace operations, security and justice in conflict-affected societies, monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding programming, the protection of civilians and human rights in armed conflict, and the prevention of mass atrocity crimes.
Professor Hunt is also Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research in New York/Geneva and and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (University of Queensland) where he was the leader for the protection of civilians program from 2009 to 2015. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Global Responsibility to Protect (since 2020) and a member of the editorial boards for International Peacekeeping and the Journal of International Peacekeeping.
Charles bridges academic rigor and practical engagement to improve policy on peace and security issues. He has extensive knowledge and experience of the UN policy community and regularly consults to the United Nations and selected member states and has been commissioned to write numerous policy papers, practical handbooks and guidance on issues of peace and security. Professor Hunt has worked extensively in Africa - including as Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa - conducting field research in many locations (e.g. South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe). He has performed consultancy roles with the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and several international NGOs. Professor Hunt has also 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.
Charles’ previous and on-going work for international organisations, government agencies, think tanks, civil society organisations, and academic institutions across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific has provided him with a global perspective on issues of peace, security and justice.
Professor Hunt has won a number of prestigious awards including an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2017-2021), Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship (2015-2017), the RMIT Award for Research Excellence Early Career Researcher (2017), RMIT Vice Chancellor's Award for Research Impact (2020), and was listed by The Australian Research Magazine in Australia’s top 250 researchers (as leader in the field of ‘defence studies’) three years running (2021-2023).
In addition to traditional academic publications, Charles regularly writes editorials and commentaries for widely-read outlets, including the Washington Post, The Conversation, Global Observatory (International Peace Institute, New York), Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Canberra Times, The Interpreter (Lowy Institute, Sydney), and Australian Outlook (Australian Institute for International Affairs, Canberra). His analysis and expertise have also featured on international and national television and radio stations including appearances on flagship programs on the BBC, ABC, and SBS.
He has a background in political science with specialisation in international relations, peace and conflict, and critical security studies. Based in the Social Equity Research Centre, his research focuses on peace operations, security and justice in conflict-affected societies, monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding programming, the protection of civilians and human rights in armed conflict, and the prevention of mass atrocity crimes.
Professor Hunt is also Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research in New York/Geneva and and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (University of Queensland) where he was the leader for the protection of civilians program from 2009 to 2015. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Global Responsibility to Protect (since 2020) and a member of the editorial boards for International Peacekeeping and the Journal of International Peacekeeping.
Charles bridges academic rigor and practical engagement to improve policy on peace and security issues. He has extensive knowledge and experience of the UN policy community and regularly consults to the United Nations and selected member states and has been commissioned to write numerous policy papers, practical handbooks and guidance on issues of peace and security. Professor Hunt has worked extensively in Africa - including as Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Security Studies in Addis Ababa - conducting field research in many locations (e.g. South Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe). He has performed consultancy roles with the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and several international NGOs. Professor Hunt has also 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.
Charles’ previous and on-going work for international organisations, government agencies, think tanks, civil society organisations, and academic institutions across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific has provided him with a global perspective on issues of peace, security and justice.
Professor Hunt has won a number of prestigious awards including an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2017-2021), Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship (2015-2017), the RMIT Award for Research Excellence Early Career Researcher (2017), RMIT Vice Chancellor's Award for Research Impact (2020), and was listed by The Australian Research Magazine in Australia’s top 250 researchers (as leader in the field of ‘defence studies’) three years running (2021-2023).
In addition to traditional academic publications, Charles regularly writes editorials and commentaries for widely-read outlets, including the Washington Post, The Conversation, Global Observatory (International Peace Institute, New York), Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Canberra Times, The Interpreter (Lowy Institute, Sydney), and Australian Outlook (Australian Institute for International Affairs, Canberra). His analysis and expertise have also featured on international and national television and radio stations including appearances on flagship programs on the BBC, ABC, and SBS.
Research fields
- 440808 International relations
- 440810 Peace studies
- 440804 Defence studies
UN sustainable development goals
- 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Non-academic positions
- Senior Research Associate
- Institute for Security Studies
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- 1 May 2023 – 1 May 2024
- Principal Advisor
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Fragility and Conflict panel
- Canberra, Australia
- 30 Apr 2020 – 29 Apr 2022
- Senior Fellow (non-resident)
- United Nations University
- Centre for Policy Research
- New York / Geneve, USA / Switzerland
- 1 Oct 2019 – Present
- Senior Fellow (Honorary)
- University of Queensland
- School of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS)
- Brisbane, Australia
- 16 Nov 2015 – Present
Supervisor projects
- Humanitarian implications of Chinas relationship with authoritarian and marginalized regimes in Africa: Case of Zimbabwe.
- 18 Aug 2022
- The Relativity of Freedom: Lifting the Veil on Digital Conflicts of Law, Governance, Autonomy, and Power Struggle in a Modern Society
- 8 Mar 2021
- Alternative View on Governance in Developing Countries: An Integrative Analysis of Governance for Sustainable Development in Somaliland
- 5 Dec 2020
- Unpacking Cyber Diplomacy in the Asia Pacific
- 3 Aug 2020
- The INF Treaty Demise and Ramifications: US and Russian perspectives
- 2 Jul 2020
- What works in international aid? Exploring power within the international aid sector through the impact of Evidence-Based Practice on the Localisation Agenda
- 30 Jun 2020
- Investigating Engagements between International Police Agencies and Non-State Actors in Peace and Stability Operations
- 15 May 2020
- Peacebuilding Education Initiatives in a Divided Society: Dealing with the Legacies of a Violent Past in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 17 Nov 2017
- A Systems Approach to Explaining the Movement of International Finance in Support of Humanitarian Action in Pakistan and Vanuatu 2007–2019
- 3 Jul 2017
- Vernacular Security and the Spiritual Landscape in Timor-Leste
- 27 Apr 2017
Teaching interests
Professor Hunt's teaching practice is informed by my research and applied policy work while underpinned by a strong commitment to the scholarship of teaching and learning. His practice in the classroom facilitates transformative learning experiences for students by prioritising delivery of teaching and assessment that is research-driven and career-development oriented.
Charles currently teaches ‘Global governance’ (POLI1099) and ‘Global Security’ (HUSO2434) in the Masters of Global Studies and previously led curriculum design and delivered a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of international relations, security studies, peace and conflict, development, diplomacy and human rights. He also teaches into professional training programs run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Defence Force on, inter alia: peacekeeping; protection of civilians in armed conflict; international humanitarian and human rights law; gender and security; and post-conflict transitions.
Supervisor interests:
Security and justice sector reform; policing; Peace operations; Peacebuilding; Humanitarianism; Responsibility to protect and protection of civilians in armed conflict; African Security; monitoring and evaluation.
Charles currently teaches ‘Global governance’ (POLI1099) and ‘Global Security’ (HUSO2434) in the Masters of Global Studies and previously led curriculum design and delivered a wide range of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of international relations, security studies, peace and conflict, development, diplomacy and human rights. He also teaches into professional training programs run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Defence Force on, inter alia: peacekeeping; protection of civilians in armed conflict; international humanitarian and human rights law; gender and security; and post-conflict transitions.
Supervisor interests:
Security and justice sector reform; policing; Peace operations; Peacebuilding; Humanitarianism; Responsibility to protect and protection of civilians in armed conflict; African Security; monitoring and evaluation.
Research interests
Professor Hunt is an accomplished researcher. He is widely published, having authored/edited seven books and over forty peer-reviewed articles and chapters.
Charles' research in the field of international relations, security studies, peace and conflict studies has four main foci:
The first looks at the changing nature of United Nations (UN) peace operations. In particular, it examines at the implications of trends towards a greater focus on civilian protection, more involvement in post-conflict peacebuilding and an increased willingness to use force as part of mandate implementation. As part of this work, Charles was the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Fellowship (2017–2021) that aimed to assess the evolving roles and emerging impacts of police peacekeepers, specifically as they relate to implementing protection of civilians mandates. He was also a Chief Investigator (along with Professor Alex Bellamy, University of Queensland) on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (2016–2020) that aimed to evaluate the impacts of more 'robust' civilian protection and stabilisation-focused missions for UN peacekeeping overall as well as for myriad other actors operating in the same space, such as the development and humanitarian communities. He is widely published on these issues, including recent articles in Survival, International Affairs, International Peacekeeping, Global Governance, Australian Journal of International Affairs, and Stability.
The second relates to the peacebuilding and governance in conflict-affected societies and regions. This body of work – including as a Chief Investigator on multi-year research projects funded by the Australian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung in Germany – examines the empirical realities of social order in the 'differently ordered' states of West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Mali) and Oceania (Bougainvillle-PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands). This research features theoretical, empirical and applied dimensions and employs a critical lens to dominant and conventional paradigms and practices. It therefore advocates for new approaches to conflict transformation processes based on conceptualisations of development that understand the state as a more holistic and complex political order drawing on insights from theories of hybridity and relationality. As such, it emphasises the connections to everyday experiences of governance and accountability and differences across different contexts according to a range of exclusionary horizontal inequalities. This area of work aims to contribute to more realistic, effective international efforts to support conflict resolution in complex, heterogeneous security contexts. It further focuses on accounts of the intricate inter-relationships between international, regional and national actors as well as those at the local level that constitute sites of both resilience and resistance. Stemming from this work, Dr Hunt is co-editor of: Exploring Peace Formation: Security and Justice in Post-Colonial States (Routledge, 2018) and a number of articles, including those published in Conflict and Cooperation, the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, and Global Change, Peace and Security.
The third focus relates to issues of monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment and organisational learning in efforts to support and build peace. This work emerges from a multi-year research project funded by the Australian Federal Police developing a framework for assessing the impact of police capacity-development initiatives overseas. Research in this area draws on complexity theory and advocates for new epistemological thinking as well as adjustments to practical approaches to assessment in order to enhance the effectiveness of peacebuilding and development. On these issues, Charles is author of numerous books, articles and policy reports, including: UN Peace Operations and International Policing: Navigating Complexity, Assessing Impact and Learning to Learn (Routledge, 2015); and, co-authored with B. Hughes and J. Curth-Bibb, Forging New Conventional Wisdom Beyond International Policing: Learning from Complex, Political Realities (Martinus Nijhoff, 2013). He is also a founding member of the 'Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network' (EPON) and was lead author of one of its major reports, UN Peace Operations and Human Rights: A Thematic Study (NUPI, 2024).
The fourth area of research is focused on the normative character and trajectory of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as well as the policy and practice dimensions of efforts to prevent mass atrocities more generally. Charles is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect where he was the leader for the protection of civilians program from 2009 to 2015. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Global Responsibility to Protect and has published widely on these issues, including: Charles T. Hunt and Phil Orchard, eds., Constructing the Responsibility to Protect: Consolidation and Contestation (Routledge, 2020) and Charles T. Hunt and Noel M. Morada, eds., Regionalism and Human Protection: Reflections from Southeast Asia and Africa (Brill, 2018).
Charles' research in the field of international relations, security studies, peace and conflict studies has four main foci:
The first looks at the changing nature of United Nations (UN) peace operations. In particular, it examines at the implications of trends towards a greater focus on civilian protection, more involvement in post-conflict peacebuilding and an increased willingness to use force as part of mandate implementation. As part of this work, Charles was the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Fellowship (2017–2021) that aimed to assess the evolving roles and emerging impacts of police peacekeepers, specifically as they relate to implementing protection of civilians mandates. He was also a Chief Investigator (along with Professor Alex Bellamy, University of Queensland) on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (2016–2020) that aimed to evaluate the impacts of more 'robust' civilian protection and stabilisation-focused missions for UN peacekeeping overall as well as for myriad other actors operating in the same space, such as the development and humanitarian communities. He is widely published on these issues, including recent articles in Survival, International Affairs, International Peacekeeping, Global Governance, Australian Journal of International Affairs, and Stability.
The second relates to the peacebuilding and governance in conflict-affected societies and regions. This body of work – including as a Chief Investigator on multi-year research projects funded by the Australian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Gerda Henkel Stiftung in Germany – examines the empirical realities of social order in the 'differently ordered' states of West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Mali) and Oceania (Bougainvillle-PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands). This research features theoretical, empirical and applied dimensions and employs a critical lens to dominant and conventional paradigms and practices. It therefore advocates for new approaches to conflict transformation processes based on conceptualisations of development that understand the state as a more holistic and complex political order drawing on insights from theories of hybridity and relationality. As such, it emphasises the connections to everyday experiences of governance and accountability and differences across different contexts according to a range of exclusionary horizontal inequalities. This area of work aims to contribute to more realistic, effective international efforts to support conflict resolution in complex, heterogeneous security contexts. It further focuses on accounts of the intricate inter-relationships between international, regional and national actors as well as those at the local level that constitute sites of both resilience and resistance. Stemming from this work, Dr Hunt is co-editor of: Exploring Peace Formation: Security and Justice in Post-Colonial States (Routledge, 2018) and a number of articles, including those published in Conflict and Cooperation, the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, and Global Change, Peace and Security.
The third focus relates to issues of monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment and organisational learning in efforts to support and build peace. This work emerges from a multi-year research project funded by the Australian Federal Police developing a framework for assessing the impact of police capacity-development initiatives overseas. Research in this area draws on complexity theory and advocates for new epistemological thinking as well as adjustments to practical approaches to assessment in order to enhance the effectiveness of peacebuilding and development. On these issues, Charles is author of numerous books, articles and policy reports, including: UN Peace Operations and International Policing: Navigating Complexity, Assessing Impact and Learning to Learn (Routledge, 2015); and, co-authored with B. Hughes and J. Curth-Bibb, Forging New Conventional Wisdom Beyond International Policing: Learning from Complex, Political Realities (Martinus Nijhoff, 2013). He is also a founding member of the 'Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network' (EPON) and was lead author of one of its major reports, UN Peace Operations and Human Rights: A Thematic Study (NUPI, 2024).
The fourth area of research is focused on the normative character and trajectory of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as well as the policy and practice dimensions of efforts to prevent mass atrocities more generally. Charles is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect where he was the leader for the protection of civilians program from 2009 to 2015. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly journal, Global Responsibility to Protect and has published widely on these issues, including: Charles T. Hunt and Phil Orchard, eds., Constructing the Responsibility to Protect: Consolidation and Contestation (Routledge, 2020) and Charles T. Hunt and Noel M. Morada, eds., Regionalism and Human Protection: Reflections from Southeast Asia and Africa (Brill, 2018).
