Gerald Caiden was born in London, and is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (1954-1959), obtaining the degrees of BSc (Econ) in 1957 and PhD in 1959 awarded by the University of London. He completed post-doctoral studies in Ottawa, Canada, as a Canada Council Fellow (1959-1960). From 1961-66 Dr Caiden was a research fellow at the Department of Political Science, Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University (Public Administration). During this time he wrote "Career Service" and "ACPTA: a study of white collar Public Service Unionism in the Commonwealth of Australia." In 1988 he was a visiting Professor at ANU and from 1994-2004 was a United Nations Expert in Public Administration and Finance.