Trained as an engineer, Olivier Ferrando worked for the French Ministry of Cooperation (1994-1996), the European Commission (1996-1998) and various international development organizations (1999-2004) in the Balkans, Central Asia and South Africa. He has a Master of International Law from Pierre Mendès-France University of Grenoble and a doctorate from the Institute for Political Studies of Paris. Currently he is a research fellow at the Center for International Studies (Sciences Po - CERI) and he teaches geopolitics, the theory and sociology of international relations, minority and indigenous rights, and project management cycle for development. Since 2013, he is head of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and he is responsible for the development of cooperation between France and Central Asia in the fields of humanities and social sciences.