Günther Bächler, born 1953 in Basel, originally from Trub (Canton of Berne), is trained in Art and History of Art (University of Basel) as well as in Political Science, Regional Studies, and Modern History at the Free University Berlin, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in Conflict Studies (summa cum laude) from the University of Bremen. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace Research and Security Studies at the University of Hamburg where he focused his research on issues related to the East –West Conflict. Between 1988 and 2000 he was the founding director of the Swiss Peace Foundation, a Berne based independent scientific institute in the field of peace and conflict research.

In 1996 he got trained in mediation and negotiation at the Harvard Negotiation Programme and at the JFK School of Government, Cambridge MA. It is because of his experience in both, peace research, international relations, and conflict transformation that he became Head of the newly established Conflict Prevention and Transformation Division at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in January 2001. In May 2005 he was appointed as a Special Adviser for Peace Building in Nepal by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, Political Division IV - Human Security. He contributed successfully to the dynamic peace and constitution making process in the Himalayan country. In November 2007 he was nominated by the Swiss Foreign Ministry as Senior Adviser for Peace Building in Darfur, Sudan. From August 2009 onwards he served as a Senior Mediator in the same department. Until June 2010 he was actively involved in the Peace Talks on Darfur in Doha, Qatar.