Dr. PL de Silva

Purnaka L. (“PL”) de Silva, Ph.D., is Faculty and University Adjunct Professor of the Year 2022, at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, NJ; and Director, Institute for Strategic Studies and Democracy (ISSD) Malta, a think-tank covering Libya, human trafficking, forced migration, and terrorist threats posed by Islamic State (Daesh).

Previously he was Senior Advisor, United Nations Global Compact in the Executive Office of Secretary-General (EOSG) Mr. Kofi Annan.  Post 9/11/2001 Dr. de Silva was a Member of the UN Terrorism Committee in the Special Sub-Group on Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism headed by Jayantha Dhanapala (Under-Secretary-General Disarmament Affairs), and the Policy Working Group on the UN and Terrorism chaired by Sir Kieran

Prendergast (Under-Secretary-General Political Affairs).  In 2009 he gave a keynote address at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) “Future Operational Environment Seminar”.

Dr. de Silva has over 30-years of experience in back-room diplomacy, mediation/negotiation, dealing with complex emergencies, deeply divided societies, and civil wars.  His work on conflict/peace studies focuses on political violence, paramilitaries, counterterrorism, transnational security, and role of diplomacy within the UN system.  Dr. de Silva has taught Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy, and United Nations Studies at several universities in the U.S., and was Lecturer, School of Politics at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.  His current research focuses on International Security.

Dr. de Silva is co-editor, with Robin Andersen (2018) The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action; and with Ronaldo Munck (2000) Postmodern Insurgencies (Macmillan).