Adam was born in London. He grew up between England and Heidelberg Germany. Having received his BA in Economics from King’s College Cambridge in the summer of 1989, he had the good fortune to witness the end of the Cold War in Berlin, where he began his postgraduate studies. He went on to take his PhD from the London School of Economics. From 1996 to 2009 Adam taught at the University of Cambridge, where he was Reader in Modern History and Gurnee Hart fellow in History at Jesus College. After Cambridge, Adam was appointed to the Barton M. Biggs Professorship at Yale University, where he succeeded Paul Kennedy as the Director of International Security Studies. Adam joined Columbia’s history department in the summer of 2015. In February 2011 Adam served as Thomas Hawkins Johnson Visiting Professor in Military History at West Point. 

With his books, he was shortlisted for the Kirkus review, Duff Cooper and Hessel Tiltman prize and his books have featured in the book of the year lists of the Financial Times, LA Times, Kirkus Review, Foreign Affairs and The Economist. Adam’s books have been translated into eleven languages.
Adam has appeared on PBS Television, BBC Radio, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the History Channel, Swiss and French television. He has written and reviewed for numerous publication including the Financial Times, The Guardian, the New York Times, Die Zeit, Spiegel, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Following his studies at the University of Zurich, he worked as an assistant at the University's Institute of Criminology. He earned his doctoral degree in 1992 and, a year later, was admitted to the bar in the canton of Schaffhausen. From 1994 to 1999 Prof. Schwarzenegger was assistant professor for European law, comparative law, criminal law, and criminology at the universities of Niigata and Aichi in Japan. He then returned to UZH to take on the position of assistant professor with tenure-track. After completing his habilitation in 2008, Christian Schwarzenegger was appointed associate professor; in 2010 he was named full professor for criminal law, criminal procedure law, and criminology at UZH. He was dean of the Faculty of Law from 2012 to 2014.

Before entering the United Nations, Dr. Kang was Director General of International Organizations in the Republic of Korea’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade, becoming the second female Korean diplomat to serve at the director level. She was a Minister in Korea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations from 2001 to 2005, during which period she chaired the Commission on the Status of Women.

Prior to joining the Foreign Ministry in 1998, Dr. Kang assisted the Speaker of the National Assembly in the fields of women’s advancement and parliamentary diplomacy. Earlier in her career, she worked for the Korean Broadcasting System’s news bureau and international radio bureau, and lectured in universities both in Korea and in the United States.

Dr. Kang graduated from Yonsei University and has an M.A. in mass communication and a Ph.D. in intercultural communication from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is currently a distinguished professor at the Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment at Yonsei University in Seoul. She is also a trustee of several Korean and international non-governmental organizations.