He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University. He is the editor of Change in Democratic Mongolia: Social Relations, Health, Mobile Pastorialism and Mining (Brill, 2012) and of Mongolia Today, a blog focused on contemporary Mongolia (http://blogs.ubc.ca/mongolia). His research on Mongolia has focused on public policy responses to the countryʻs resource boom. Dr. Dierkes has served as an international election observer in the last four national elections and in 2013 was awarded a Governor General's Medallion for his contributions to building Canada-Mongolia relations.