Dr Robert Glasser

Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Climate and Security Policy Centre, ANU

Robert Glasser is the Head of the Climate and Security Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).  He was previously the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).  He was a member of the Secretary General’s Senior Management Group and the Deputy Secretary General’s Climate Principals Group.

Dr Glasser has over 30 years of experience as a practitioner, advocate and policy-maker in the areas of climate change, sustainable development and disaster response.  Before joining the U.N., he was the Secretary General of CARE International, one of the world’s largest non-governmental humanitarian organisations, with annual income of about $1 billion and over 10,000 staff active in some 80 countries. From 2003-2007, Dr Glasser was the Chief Executive of CARE Australia. Prior to joining CARE, he was Assistant Director General at the Australian Government aid agency (AusAID) where his responsibilities ranged from Southeast Asia programs to Corporate Policy and Infrastructure and Environment. He has also worked on energy and climate change science and policy for the US Department of Energy (Los Alamos National Laboratory-Center for National Security Studies) and on peace and conflict issues at a variety of institutions, including the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, the Cornell University Peace Studies Program, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and the Centre for International and Strategic Affairs at the University of California.

Dr Glasser is on the board of WaterAid Australia, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and Inclusivo (Santiago, Chile). He was previously the Inaugural Board Chairman of the CHS International Alliance, a new organisation resulting from the merger of People in Aid and the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership.  He was also previously the Chair of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (an organisation comprised of the CEOs/Secretary Generals of the largest NGOs/international organisations involved in disaster response).

Dr Glasser was an Advisory Panel member of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor, a member of the Principals Steering Group of the United Nations Transformative Agenda for Humanitarian Action; and a member of the Project Steering Group for the World Economic Forum project on The Future Role of Civil Society.

An Australian national, he has published on several topics, including climate change and disaster risk, peace and conflict, and humanitarian and development policy.