Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), and the Acting President of CESRAN International. He previously served as Director of Birmingham’s Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security.
His research focuses on trust-building between adversaries, the security dilemma, nuclear order and non-proliferation, humanitarian intervention, and the role of interpersonal relationships in international diplomacy. His major publications include Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (Oxford University Press, 2000), The Security Dilemma: Fear, Cooperation and Trust in World Politics (with Ken Booth, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), Trusting Enemies: Interpersonal Relationships in International Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2018), and Interpersonal Diplomacy: The Making of Atomic Bonds in International Crises (with Marcus Holmes, Oxford University Press, 2026).
Professor Wheeler is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Learned Society of Wales. He also co-edits the Cambridge Studies in International Relations series with Christian Reus-Smit and Evelyn Goh.