We are delighted to announce that Sir Ivor Roberts, President of Trinity College and former British Ambassador will be joining us for a session on The History and Practice of Diplomacy. This is a joint event, also open to masters students from DPIR and the MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy.

Biography

After reading Modern Languages at Keble College Oxford, Sir Ivor Roberts joined the British Diplomatic Service. In the course of the next 38 years, he was posted to Lebanon to study Arabic and then to Paris as a Third Secretary. Sir Ivor Roberts was subsequently posted to Canberra where, after working as a First Secretary in the political section, he was transferred to the newly independent Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) as Political Advisor during a civil war. He returned to Canberra to become Head of the Economic and Commercial Section and Agricultural Advisor.

On return to London, he became Deputy Head of the Foreign Office’s Press Department and later Head of Counter-Terrorism. A posting as Minister in the Embassy in Madrid followed. Thereafter Sir Ivor Roberts became Chargé d’Affaires and later Ambassador at Belgrade during the Bosnian civil war and the descent into war in Kosovo. His penultimate posting was to Dublin as Ambassador, immediately following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. He was then posted to Rome as Ambassador to Italy, a post he held until his retirement from the Diplomatic Service in 2006. The same year, he returned to Oxford on his election as President of Trinity College.

Image source: Trinity College Oxford

Open to MPP students and masters students from DPIR and the MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy only.