Dr. Niklas Swanström is a fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Security and Development Policy. In addition, he is non-resident Professor at Sichuan University and a guest professor at LeShan Normal University in China. His main areas of expertise are conflict prevention, conflict management and regional cooperation, Chinese foreign policy and security in Northeast Asia, the Belt and Road Initiative, traditional and non-traditional security threats and effects on regional and national security as well as negotiations. He focused on Northeast Asia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Swanström has authored, co-authored or edited a number of books, including Eurasia’s Ascent in Energy and geopolitics, Sino-Japanese Relations: The Need for Conflict Prevention and Management, Transnationell brottslighet: ett säkerhetshot? (Trans-national Crime: A Security Threat?), Regional Cooperation and Conflict Management: Lessons from the Pacific Rim, and Foreign Devils, Dictatorship or Institutional Control: China ‘s foreign policy towards Southeast Asia.

He holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University in Sweden. His dissertation dealt with regional cooperation and conflict management in the Pacific Rim. He also holds a Licentiate degree from the Department of Peace and Conflict research, where he examined Chinese foreign policy towards Southeast Asia. He holds M.A. degrees from Uppsala University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has also been a student at Beijing Languages Institute, Beijing University, and Dalian Languages University.