Fen Osler Hampson

Canada | Director, Centre for International Governance Innovation

Fen Osler Hampson is a distinguished fellow and director of CIGI’s Global Security & Politics program, overseeing the research direction of the program and related activities. He is also co-director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance. Most recently, he served as director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and will continue to serve as chancellor’s professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Under his leadership, NPSIA established its reputation as a Canadian leader in international relations, expanding the student enrollment and faculty members, and increasing the research budget. Fen was instrumental in creating collaborative learning approaches to international security at NPSIA and in establishing several new research centres at Carleton University.

Fen is the author or co-author of 10 books and editor or co-editor of more than 26 other volumes. In addition, he has written more than 100 articles and book chapters on international affairs. His book, The Global Power of Talk (co-authored with I. William Zartman) was published in March 2012. His most recent book is Brave New Canada: Meeting the Challenge of a Changing World, co-authored with Derek Burney.

Fen holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University where he also received his A.M. degree (both with distinction). He also holds an MSc. (Econ.) degree (with distinction) from the London School of Economics and a B.A. (Hon.) from the University of Toronto. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he is the past recipient of various awards and honours, including a Research and Writing Award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace (a non-partisan, congressionally-funded think tank) in Washington, D.C. He has also taught at Georgetown University as a visiting professor.

He is formerly a senior adviser to the United States Institute of Peace and a member of the Steering Committee of the Program in International Negotiation at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael). Fen serves on the International Advisory Board Committee of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, and has been a consultant to the International Peace Academy in New York, the Social Science Research Council in New York, the United Nations Commission on Human Security, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the MacArthur Foundation, the International Development Centre, and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. He served on the Social Science Foundation board at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, was vice-chair of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre and currently serves on the board of the Parliamentary Centre in Ottawa. Fen has also served as chair of the Human Security Track of the Helsinki Process on Globalization, a joint initiative of the governments of Finland and Sweden, and was also international institutions and content coordinator on International Cooperation at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security, hosted by the King of Spain in Madrid, March 8-11, 2005.

Fen is a frequent commentator and contributor in the national and international media. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Foreign Policy Magazine, the Ottawa Citizen, iPolitics and elsewhere. He is a frequent commentator on the CBC, CTV, and Global news networks.

Hampson was an event speaker at The Dialogue.