Dr. Luka Biong
Luka Kuol (PhD) is a Professor at Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) at US National Defense University in Washington and a faculty lead of two academic programs: National Security Strategy Development in Africa and Managing Security Resources in Africa. He is also Associate Professor of Economics at University of Juba, South Sudan, a Global Fellow at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), and a fellow at Rift Valley Institute. He was a resident fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, former director of Center for Peace and Development Studies at University of Juba and academic staff at University of Gezira, Sudan. He served as a minister of presidency of Southern Sudan and as a National Minister of Cabinet Affairs of Sudan during the 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement until he resigned in 2011. He also worked as a Senior Economist for the World Bank in Southern Sudan and a founding member of New Sudan Center for Statistics and Evaluation (currently South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics). He received his PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at University of Sussex, UK and earned a Master of Arts in Economics and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and Bachelor of Science from Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Khartoum, Sudan. He has published scholarly articles in a wide array of international journals and contributed with many peer-reviewed chapters in various books. His most recent research products include report by the World Food Program (WFP) entitled “At the Root of Exodus: Food security, conflict and international migration”, report by United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) entitled “The Humanitarian – Development Nexus: What do evaluations say about it?”, and report by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) entitled “Forging Resilient Social Contracts: A Pathway to Preventing Violent Conflict and Sustaining Peace”. He is a co-editor of a book entitled “The Struggle for South Sudan: Challenges of Security and State Formation”. He serves as a member of editorial board of Disasters Journal.
