He specializes in history and contemporary politics of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
[1] Marples was born October 17, 1952, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, and grew up in Bolsover, a town about 6 miles (9.7 km) away.
[3] Marples is a former President of The North American Association for Belarusian Studies[4] (2010–15) and was formerly Director of the Stasiuk Program on Contemporary Ukraine at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (2004–14), University of Alberta.
[5] He is regarded as one of the leading Western authorities on the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe (social and political aspects).
He is honorary president of the Belarusian Academy or Arts and Sciences in Canada, and retired Hon.