Diego F. Osorio is an academic-practitioner and Canadian federal public servant working at the intersection of climate security, governance, post-conflict reconstruction, and complexity-informed policy. He is an Adjunct (Associe) Professor at Université Laval, Bishop’s University, École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), and École 3A in Lyon. He is also a PhD candidate at Utrecht University, where his research explores how complexity theory and institutional design can strengthen policy responses to climate-related security risks, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
He brings over 28 years of experience across multilateral organizations, national governments, and international policy environments. His career combines operational fieldwork with strategic advisory roles, including positions within the United Nations system, NATO, the World Bank, and the Government of Canada. His work focuses on the interaction between environmental stress, governance systems, conflict dynamics, and economic and institutional resilience.
A central dimension of his work is the translation of complexity theory into practical methodologies and tools for the public sector. He has contributed to advancing complexity-informed approaches in policymaking, including systems thinking, adaptive governance, and decision-making under uncertainty, with the aim of improving how institutions design and implement responses in dynamic and high-risk environments.
From 2023 to 2024, he was a Weatherhead Foreign Policy Fellow at Harvard University, conducting research on climate change, biodiversity, and conflict prevention, with particular attention to science–policy interfaces and decision-making under uncertainty. He previously served as Senior Advisor on Climate Security at Global Affairs Canada, contributing to the development of the NATO Centre of Excellence on Climate Change and Security. Prior to that, he held a similar role at CGIAR, where he helped shape a global agenda linking climate change, food systems, and conflict prevention.
His professional experience spans diplomacy, humanitarian action, peace operations, and security sector governance. He has worked extensively in complex and fragile contexts, including Afghanistan, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, the Central African Republic, Indonesia, Jordan, Kosovo, Liberia, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, and Venezuela. These experiences inform his research, grounding it in operational realities and policy practice.
Within the Government of Canada, he has advised on peacekeeping, mediation, and climate security, supporting the integration of environmental risks into foreign and security policy, as well as contributing to multilateral negotiations and stabilization strategies.
In parallel, he is actively engaged in teaching and academic collaboration. He lectures on climate security, governance, post-conflict recovery, political economy, and complexity, with a focus on interdisciplinary analysis and applied policy challenges. His teaching emphasizes experiential learning and the use of complexity-based frameworks to understand real-world systems.
He is an Associate Fellow of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair in Strategic and Diplomatic Studies (UQAM), a Fellow of the Făgăraș Research Institute, and a collaborator with the Network for Strategic Analysis in Canada. His current work also includes applied approaches to co-creation, human-centred design, and participatory policy processes aimed at institutional innovation in complex environments.