Nicolas is a Fellow in the Department of International Relations, and the Department’s Director of Research. He graduated with his PhD in international relations from Sciences Po Paris (Institute for Political Studies in Paris) in 2010. Prior to joining ANU in 2019, Nicolas worked as an invited professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal and senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham. His current research interests include statebuilding and intervention issues in Asia/Pacific and beyond. He is particularly interested in local resistance to international interventions and the political economy of interventions.

Nicolas has co-edited four books, including Semantics of Statebuilding: Language, Meanings and Sovereignty (Routledge, 2014); The Political Invention of Fragile States (Routledge, 2015); and Hybridity: Law, Culture and Development (Routledge, 2017).

Teaching

Nicolas teaches the undergraduate courses Understanding Peace and Conflict INTR1021 (Semester 1, 2021) and Peace and Conflict Studies POLS2123 (Semester 1, 2021).