Razmik Panossian assumed the post of Director of the Armenian Communities Department in February 2013.

Razmik Panossian is the author of The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars (Columbia University Press/Hurst & Co., 2006). He received his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His thesis won the prestigious Lord Bryce Prize for Best Dissertation in Comparative and International Politics in the UK (2001) granted by Britain’s Political Studies Association. He received his MA from York University in Toronto, Canada, and his BA (honours) from McGill University in Montreal. Panossian has taught at the London School of Economics and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) on the subjects of nationalism, ethnic conflict, post-Soviet transition/democratisation, and comparative politics.

In 2004 he assumed the position of Director of Policy, Programmes and Planning at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, a Canadian federal institution devoted to the promotion of democracy and human rights.

He managed the Centre’s international programming in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. His work took him to countries as diverse as Afghanistan, China, Haiti, Colombia, Egypt, Morocco and Congo. Between 2010 and 2012 Panossian worked as an international consultant, including at UNDP in New York. He has delivered numerous lectures and conference papers throughout the world, has participated in Turkish-Armenian workshops and the Armenia-Diaspora conferences. He has published many academic articles on Armenian national identity and nationalism, as well as on Armenia-diaspora relations.

Razmik was born in Lebanon and immigrated to Canada at the age of 12. He has lived in English and French Canada as well as the UK.