Rolf Jucker grew up in northern Switzerland in an upper middle-class family with a brother and a sister. In his early teens his literary, political and social conscience was woken by a friend. An intense interest for ecology, indigenous people (in particular Native Americans) and social justice developed, with political activity against nuclear power and fighting for autonomous spaces for young people (Zürcher Bewegung).
He studied German literature and language, philosophy and history in Berne, Zurich and Berlin and graduated with an MA and a Ph.D. from Zurich University. He wrote his dissertation about a radical critique not only of the totalitarian German Democratic Republic but of the exploitative and destructive Western industrial society in general, namely Stefan Schütz' novel Medusa.
After a short period as a grammar school teacher in Switzerland he was appointed as a lecturer, later senior lecturer at the German Department of the University of Wales Swansea (1992-2005). For the next few years he developed a strong research reputation and publication record in contemporary German literary studies (see German Studies writings). Whilst even here his focus was mostly wider than narrow textual studies, only the birth of his first child Meret in 1994 refocused his attention on the question: what am I doing with my life?
From then on he started to build a second, voluntary career alongside his lecturing job, largely signalling a return to many of his interests in his youth. He initiated an environmental group at the University of Wales Swansea (UWS), drafted its Environmental Policy Statement and helped set up the Environment Sub-Committee of UWS, which he chairs since its inception until 2005. He also set up and managed the Environment WWW pages of the University (now defunct). He became involved in many local, regional and national environmental and sustainability groups and projects, such as the Environment Centre in Swansea or the EAUC (Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges). He designed and taught modules, degree schemes, adult education courses on sustainability, trained as a PP4SD trainer and finally gained an MSc in Education for Sustainability from London South Bank University. He has published Our Common Illiteracy. Education as if the Earth and People Mattered and written many articles on ESD in international journals (see ESD writings).
He has organised the first national conference on Education for Sustainability in Wales (see conference webpages) and was subsequently invited to become a member of the Education for Sustainable Development Advisory Panel to the Welsh Assembly Government (for which he drafted a Higher Education Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development, now incorporated into the ESD Strategy). He is also a member of the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), IUCN (World Conservation Union) and a member of the International Advisory Board for The EcoJustice Review "Educating for the Commons". Additionally, he is a Fellow of the International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS) and a Member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (UK).
He has won various research grants from Pro Helvetia, DAAD, the Leverhulme Trust, the ESD Advisory Panel in Wales and the Higher Education Academy.
Since June 2005 he is working for and since August 2007 leading the Swiss Foundation for Environmental Education (Stiftung Umweltbildung Schweiz) which is tasked by the regional and national government(s) to mainstream ESD in the Swiss education system.