Nicholas Hopton

Diplomacy Nicholas Hopton was born in Manchester and raised in York. After St Peter’s School, he studied at Cambridge University, La Sapienza University in Rome and ENA in Paris. He was a Visiting Academic at St Antony’s College, Oxford, in 2013/14.  Nicholas’ career has been  in diplomacy. Until September 2021, he was UK ambassador to […]

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Varughese John

Religion and Culture in South Asia Varughese John is Professor and Dean of Doctoral Studies at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS), Bengaluru. He received his Ph.D. (Kierkegaard studies) as a Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He was awarded the Kierkegaard House Foundation Fellowship at the Howard & Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library […]

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Bill Reese

Youth and youth development A graduate of Stanford University and a postgraduate at George Washington University, Bill Reese was CEO of the International Youth Foundation (IYF) from 2005 until his retirement in December 2018. During his tenure, IYF grew programs on workforce development and youth entrepreneurship. Prior to IYF, Bill was President & CEO of […]

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Paul Nanson

Leadership Paul Nanson (CB, CBE) was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire and educated at Merchant Taylor’s School Crosby, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, he served 34 years in the British Army during which time he held leadership roles in a variety of capacities and on nearly every continent. […]

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Dominic Armstrong

Senior Associate – Investment, Strategy, Security and Geopolitics After reading History at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Dominic began his career in 1988 as a merchant banker with Robert Fleming in London, before moving to Jardine Fleming in Asia in 1994. There he was posted to Malaysia as Strategist and Head of Research and established the number […]

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Iram Naseer Ahmad

Research Associate – South Asian history, politics and society Dr Iram Naseer Ahmad is an Assistant Professor at Forman Christian University, working in the Department of History & Pakistani-Studies. She has a History PhD from the University of the Punjab. During her doctoral studies, Iram won an IRSIP Exchange Scholarship for a semester at Arizona […]

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Sir John Holmes

Senior Associate Sir John Holmes was educated at Preston Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1973 and served in a wide range of diplomatic roles in London, Moscow, Paris, New Delhi and Lisbon. In 1995, Sir John joined Prime Minister John Major in Downing Street as his […]

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Claire Smith

Senior Associate – Global security, international relations, communication Claire Smith is an adviser and speaker, creating programmes for governments, business and not-for-profit groups. She was a UK diplomat for 27 years, serving in China during Deng Xioaping’s reforms and the negotiations on the future of Hong Kong; Germany and Pakistan, where she was Political Counsellor. […]

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