Didier Péclard holds a PhD in political science from the Institut d'études politiques in Paris (2005). He has worked as scientific collaborator to the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, a library and documentation centre on Southern Africa (1996-1999) and then as assistant in History of Africa at the History Department of the University of Basel (2001-2006). Between 2001 and 2003 he was also on a Swiss National Fund research programme dealing with the relationship between Switzerland and South Africa at the time of apartheid.

He has conducted extensive research on the relationships between religion and politics. His PhD dissertation explores the history of State formation processes in Angola with particular emphasis on the complex interplay between Christian missions, nationalism and decolonisation in the Angolan Central Highlands. He joined swisspeace in 2006 as programme coordinator for the NCCR North-South, where he was in charge of a research module on "negotiating statehood". As senior researcher, his current main interest is on state reconstruction processes in societies emerging from violent conflicts. He has regular teaching assignments in political science at the University of Basel, and since January 2010 he is in charge of swisspeace's thematic cluster on "Statehood and Conflict".

He is co-president of the Swiss Society of African Studies, and serves on the editorial board of several academic journals (Politique Africaine, Social Sciences and Missions and the Journal of religion in Africa).