Roland Rich


Roland Rich is an Australian career diplomat who has been the head of the United Nations Democracy Fund since 2007, and is also Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. Currently he is an assistant teaching professor at Rutgers University. Rich was Australia's Ambassador to Laos from 1994 to 1997, and founding Director of the Australian National University's Centre for Democratic Institutions from 1998 to 2005. He has also been a research fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and served on the Australian Defence College staff.
Rich joined Australia's foreign service in 1975 and served in a variety of overseas posts, including Ambassador to Laos, before being appointed Assistant Secretary for the International Organisations Branch in Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was then founding Director of the Australian National University's Centre for Democratic Institutions from 1998 to 2005. He was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in 2005, and then taught in the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies of the Australian Defence College.
A lawyer by training, Rich followed a BA in Government/Anthropology from the University of Sydney with an LLB and a Masters in International Law. He also holds a PhD from the Australian National University.

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