Professor Abdul Knowles

Abdul Knowles, Ph.D., born and raised in The Bahamas, is the 19th Director of the Institute of
International Relations (IIR), which includes the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean at The
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Knowles was
a senior staff member at the University of The Bahamas (UB) from 2018 to 2026. Most recently,
he was the inaugural Executive Director for the Office of Global Studies and Programmes, where
he established international partnerships, including Memoranda of Understanding, and hosted
international visiting scholars, researchers, and diplomats, including Heads of State. He also
managed international exchange programs for faculty, staff, and student mobility. He was the
former Director of the Office of Global Studies and Programmes and the inaugural Director of
Asian Relations and the Confucius Institute at UB. Dr. Knowles also served as an adjunct faculty
member, teaching research methodology courses and supervising undergraduate and
postgraduate theses. Before his tenure at UB, Dr. Knowles spent 18 years in China, where he was
a senior lecturer and business program director at a university in Beijing. He also worked as an
adjunct faculty member and lecturer at several universities in China, including Renmin
University of China, Tsinghua University, China Agricultural University, and University of
International Business and Economics. He has a Ph.D. in International Law and a Master of
Laws (LL.M.) in Human Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law from The University of
Texas at Austin (USA), a Master of Laws in Contemporary China Studies from Renmin
University of China (China), and a Master of Science in International Affairs with a
specialization in Post-Conflict State Reconstruction and Sustainability from Seton Hall
University, School of Diplomacy and International Relations (USA). He was a postgraduate
student in the Visiting Researcher Program at Harvard Law School (USA) and received fully
funded fellowships to participate in academic programmes, including the Summer Human Rights
Institute at Fordham Law School (USA), the Summer Research Fellow program at the Institute
of Far Eastern Studies (South Korea), and The Japan Studies Institute (San Diego, USA). He was
a volunteer faculty member at a university in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea/North Korea (DPRK), and currently sits on the Board of The Rhizome Center for
Migrants (RCM), which supports and defends displaced persons and uprooted people at risk
around the world. During his legal studies at The University of Texas at Austin, the Hispanic Bar
Association of Austin Charitable Foundation fully funded him to participate in RCM’s Migration
and Human Rights Winter Program in Guadalajara, Mexico. Dr. Knowles has won several
teaching awards, including the Outstanding Teacher Award and Outstanding Individual
Employee during his tenure at a university in China. He was the first foreign recipient of the
Teaching and Service Award given by a university in the DPRK.