d.menezes@polarconnection.org
@Dwayne_Menezes
Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes is a social entrepreneur, historian and policy expert, focusing on the Commonwealth and the Polar Regions.
Over his career as a social entrepreneur, Dr Menezes has been the Founder and Managing Director of two London-based international think-tanks, Polar Research and Policy Initiative (PRPI), the leading international think-tank dedicated to Arctic, Nordic, North Atlantic, North Pacific and Antarctic affairs; and Human Security Centre (HSC), which addresses current and emerging threats to human security around the world. He is the publisher of The Polar Connection, the world’s largest platform for Arctic analysis and commentary; the Vice-President of Arctic Today, the foremost media outlet covering news and stories from across the circumpolar North; the Co-Founder of the Arctic Business Journal, an online publication hosting pan-Arctic business news, announcements and commentary; a Member of the Advisory Board of JONAA – Journal of the North Atlantic & Arctic; and the Coordinator of the Arctic Media Alliance. He is also the Co-Founder and Director of the Anglo-Danish-Greenlandic investment advisory firm Greenland Development ApS, which supports sustainable business and infrastructure development in the Arctic, with a focus on clean technology, biotechnology, zero-emissions transportation, critical minerals and the blue economy, and of High North Fisheries, which promotes Arctic, North Atlantic and North Pacific seafood globally. In addition, he serves as adviser to numerous other innovative businesses in the above-mentioned sectors.
Over his policy career, Dr Menezes has served as Consultant to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Principal Consultant to the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Head of the Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Yemen in the UK Parliament, Research Associate to a UN Special Rapporteur, Governor of a Church of England school and Researcher at the London-based think-tank ResPublica. He has engaged closely with various UN agencies, including the IMO, UNFCCC, OHCHR, WFP, UNDP and UNESCO; NATO; The Commonwealth; EU; Council of Europe; OSCE; Arctic Council; Nordic Council and Nordic Council of Ministers; West Nordic Council; Barents Euro-Arctic Council and Barents Regional Council; and Arctic Economic Council, as well as national and regional governments/parliaments in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Norway, at several of which he has spoken or provided written or oral evidence. Under his leadership, the first think-tank he founded, Human Security Centre (HSC), contributed to the negotiation process and side events at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris that led to the Paris Agreement, and both PRPI and HSC remain involved with international climate negotiations, with PRPI supporting the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association (ZESTAs)’s Ship Zero conference at COP26 in Glasgow. Since 2020, he has also served as the Director of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Greenland in the UK Parliament, which he helped establish.
Over his academic career, Dr Menezes has been a historian of the British Empire, the Commonwealth and the Polar Regions. He read History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Cambridge, graduating from the latter with a PhD in History. He then served as Research Associate at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) at the University of Cambridge; Visiting Academic at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford; and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London. At present, he serves as Associate Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London; Honorary Fellow at the UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London; and Affiliate of the UCL Warning Research Centre. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society of Arts. He is the author and/or editor of numerous publications, including the books The Commonwealth of Values: Conversations with the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma (London: The Commonwealth, 2016); The Secretaries-General of the Commonwealth: A Review of the Past 50 Years (London: The Commonwealth, 2016); The North American Arctic: Themes in Regional Security (London: UCL Press, 2019); Global Britain and Greenland: Building a New Special Relationship at the Edge of Europe (London: PRPI, November 2020); The Case for a Five Eyes Critical Minerals Alliance: Focus on Greenland (London: PRPI, 2021); UK-Greenland Trade: Focus on Seafood (London: PRPI, 2022); and Non-State Actors in the Arctic Region (Springer, 2022).
In his film career, Dr Menezes is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Think-Film Impact Production (TFIP), a film production company which supports established and emerging filmmakers by producing and promoting films that address social and political issues and advance positive social outcomes. He is the Associate Producer of the Oscar-shortlisted, Emmy-nominated Canadian film My Enemy, My Brother (2015, 2017) that deals with refugees from Iraq and Iran in Canada; the American documentary COMPLICIT (2017) that looks at labour rights, global supply chains and occupational health and safety in China; the Italian-Venezuelan film La Soledad (2016) that depicts the economic crisis in Venezuela; and the South African film The Number (2017) that focuses on the numbered prison gangs of South Africa. He is a frequent speaker at major film festivals, including Cannes.
Dr Menezes is frequently consulted for analysis and commentary by the BBC, Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, Daily Express, Sky News, Spectator, New Statesman, New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, National Review, Foreign Policy, Diplomat, American Spectator, US News & World Report, International Business Times, Qz, ABC, CBC, La Presse, Radio Canada International, Calgary Herald, Toronto Sun, Globe and Mail, ABC (Australia), Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, West Australian, Market Herald, Radio New Zealand, France 24, DW, Haaretz, Al Jazeera, Nikkei, Straits Times, South China Morning Post and other media outlets.
Apart from academia, politics and business, Dr Menezes is passionate about travel, exploration, art, film, museums, heritage conservation, opera and ballet.