Before joining Charles Sturt University, Cesar Alvarez worked for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a Canberra-based National Security and Defence think-tank, where he spent two years researching on Australian and Latin American organized crime links, as well as Colombian politics, and drug trafficking. In Colombia, Cesar provided technical advice to the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and also served as a consultant and advisor to the Counter-Narcotics Directorate and the Doctrine and Planning Office of the National Police of Colombia.

Cesar holds a Master of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism with the degree of Master of International Security Studies from Macquarie University. He also holds a Bachelors Degree of Government and International Relations from Externado University in Colombia.

Cesar is also the founder and Director of the Australia-Colombia Dialogue, a public-diplomacy organization dedicated to promote and advance Australia-Colombia relations. He is a frequent commentator for SBS Radio in Spanish, and his articles and interviews have been featured in The Australian, The Financial Review, The Canberra Times, The Outlook, The Strategist, El Tiempo, Portafolio, The ABC’s the World and the Drum, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, Today Show, and CNN in Spanish. Cesar has lectured at the Police Academy in Colombia, the Military University Nueva Granada, and Javeriana University in Colombia.