Michele Acuto

Michele was previously Fellow of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS) and the Programme for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. He also served as Fellow of the Center on Public Diplomacy in the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. He taught science and technology studies (STS) in the Faculty of Business and Government at the University of Canberra and international relations at the Australian National University. He held visiting positions at the National University of Singapore and the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, served as JPO for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and worked for several years as consultant on the Kimberley Process for conflict diamonds. Michele holds a BA (Diplomacy) from the University of Genoa, a specialisation in peace and conflict studies from the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO), and a Master of International Affairs, a Master of Diplomacy and a PhD (Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy) from the Australia National University.

Michele is the author of The Urban Link (Routledge), editor of Negotiating Relief (Hurst), co-editor of Global City Challenges (with Wendy Steele) and Reassembling International Theory (with Simon Curtis) and of the series Cities and the Global Politics of the Environment (with Sofie Bouteligier) all for Palgrave Macmillan.

Michele is currently principal investigator for the ESRC project “Urban Connections” and the City Leadership Initiative, a joint project of UN-Habitat, World Bank and UCL which aims at assessing the role of city leadership in responding to global challenges. Michele is also co-investigator in two EPSRC projects focusing on the governance of the energy-food-water nexus, and an expert advisor on city diplomacy for the WHO. Michele’s research focuses on the role of urbanisation and technology in world politics and on the changing landscapes of diplomacy.