Jonathan Liljeblad
Jonathan Liljeblad is a Visiting Fellow of the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program. He is Associate Professor at the Australian National University College of Law. Most recently, he was at Oxford University (Michaelmas term 2024), where he was Research Visitor at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Academic Visitor at Saint Antony’s College, and before that at Cambridge University (Easter term 2024), where he was Academic Visitor at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.
Jonathan earned his PhD in Politics and International Relations and a JD from the University of Southern California. He obtained an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington, and a BS in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Myanmar for 2014-2015, where he was placed at Yangon University.
Jonathan’s research interests center on the complexities of promoting international norms within developing countries, with a focus on issues of human rights, Indigenous rights, and environment. His research is empirical, with his studies grounded in field work in Southeast Asia. His field work has been supported through engagement with international aid organizations, for which he has designed and delivered capacity-building and systems-strengthening programs in rule-of-law, governance, human rights, Indigenous rights, and environment.
Currently, Jonathan is assisting the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs in its development of Indigenous principles for research ethics and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in its rule-of-law programs in Bhutan. From 2022-2024, he was engaged by Asia Development Bank for a judicial training program on environmental law in Cambodia. Between 2015-2021, he served Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, International Commission of Jurists, and Danish Institute of Human Rights in their respective human rights programs with the Myanmar Attorney General’s Office and Supreme Court of the Union. During that time, he also maintained pro bono services for the Myanmar Ministry of Education, assisting in university reforms for curricula and pedagogy in Political Science, International Relations, and Law.