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Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, a Singapore-based think-tank.

Among other things, biographical details in his book and on numerous websites, including at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, where he is assistant professor, state he was principal investigator of the United Nations's terrorism prevention branch, a part of the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

His former role as principal investigator has also been highlighted in appearances on the BBC, CNN, Australia's ABC radio, and at prestigious international conferences on terrorism.

But Alex Schmid, the senior crime prevention and criminal justice officer at the UN's terrorism prevention branch, in Vienna, told The Sunday Age that Professor Gunaratna had never worked as a principal investigator with the organisation.

In fact, the position of principal investigator was 'a title we do not have', Mr Schmid said. 'Mr GUNARATNE was, for a while, a consultant of the terrorism prevention branch,' he said. 'He was not a principal investigator. He also did some work for the UN University in Tokyo.'

The biographical details in the book also state that Professor Gunaratna 'was called to address the United Nations, the US Congress and the Australian Parliament in the wake of 11 September, 2001'.

Addressing the Australian Parliament is a rare privilege, normally reserved for visiting heads of state. Checks with the parliamentary library and a comprehensive search of Hansard could find no record of him having done so. He did, however, speak at a parliamentary library seminar held on September 26, 2001, at which some members of Parliament would have been present. He also spoke at a Menzies Research Centre function at Parliament House in May.

Likewise, claims to have addressed the US Congress and the UN appear to refer to testimony he gave to a congressional sub-committee on national security in October 2001, and a paper he presented the same month at a symposium on terrorism and disarmament organised by the UN's Department for Disarmament Affairs.

Professor Gunaratna told The Sunday Age it was right that there was no such staff designation as 'principal investigator' at the UN's Terrorism Prevention Branch, and agreed he had worked with the organisation as a research consultant. He said he headed a project on terrorist escalation and de-escalation in 2001-02, which involved traveling to Colombia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Algeria and Sri Lanka to 'identify the factors' that caused the conflicts in those countries to escalate and de-escalate.

'The academic practice is for researchers who head externally funded projects to be designated principal investigators,' he said.

Professor Gunaratna, who is due to visit Melbourne later this month, said the biographical details that indicated he had addressed the Australian Parliament, Congress and the United Nations had been prepared by his book editor in the United Kingdom, and was 'used by others'.

'To include the least number of words, the specific events that I addressed at the US Congress, the Australian Parliament and the UN have not been included,' he said.

The Age, Melbourne, Australia http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/19/1058545628859.html

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