Evie Aspinall – Director Evie Aspinall is the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. Her primary research interests are domestic consent for foreign policy, the UK’s role in the world and challenges posed by the UK’s strategic rivals. Evie holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MSc from King’s College London. She has previously worked at UN Women UK and the Future Leaders Network and was formerly the UK Head Delegate to the Youth7, the G7’s official youth engagement group. She also served as President of Cambridge University Students’ Union. She is a regular commentator in the media on issues pertinent to UK foreign policy. Contact: evie.aspinall@bfpg.co.uk
David Landsman – Senior Advisor David is a Senior Adviser at the British Foreign Policy Group. David is also Chief Executive of British Expertise International, and Senior Advisor at The D Group, two of BFPG’s sister organisations. He is a former British diplomat and senior executive whose main area of interest now is the interface between business, government and geopolitics. His diplomatic career included serving as British Ambassador to Albania and Greece and working on defence and proliferation. He has had executive roles at De La Rue plc and the Tata Group’s holding company in Europe. His other current positions include Chair of Digital Cognate, a deep tech company, and of the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce; Partner at Circklo, which supports early-stage tech businesses; and member of the International Advisory Board of the London Institute of Banking and Finance. He has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Cambridge and is a Chartered Director.
Eliza Keogh – Researcher and Programmes Manager Eliza is a BFPG Researcher and Programmes Manager, supporting the BFPG’s external relationships and managing the BFPG’s programme of events and activities. After studying Political Science at the University of Exeter and the University of Sydney, she went on to join the charity sector in both Communications and Policy and Research positions. Her primary research interests are energy security, soft power, and Indo Pacific relations. Contact: eliza.keogh@bfpg.co.uk
Senior Research Fellows
Helen Ramscar is a leading expert on soft power within international relations and the co-author of Britain’s Persuaders: Soft Power in a Hard World (Bloomsbury / IB Tauris, 2021) and Tipping Point: Britain, Brexit and Security in the 2020s (Bloomsbury / IB Tauris, 2019). Her research interests also include global health security and medical diplomacy. She is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute, where previously she was Director of Development. She has worked in the House of Commons, the Royal Household and the US Embassy in London. She lives in Switzerland and is a Basel board member of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce. She is proud of launching two successful aid initiatives: www.book-relief.org in August 2021 to support Afghanistan refugee children airlifted to the UK, and www.ambulance-relief.org to deliver ambulances into Ukraine for which she was given a Platinum Jubilee award in June 2022.
Dr. Rebecca Harding is a Senior Research Fellow of the British Foreign Policy Group and an independent trade economist, public speaker and sustainable trade and supply chain specialist. She has built three data-based technology businesses in the trade and sustainability space and held senior positions as Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, Senior Fellow at London Business School, and Chief Economist roles at the Work Foundation, and UK Finance. She acted as Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee and advised the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship. She has acted as a trade finance and supply chains expert witness, is a member of the World Trade Board, the ITFA’s ESG Committee and the ICC’s sustainable trade finance technology sub-committee. Between 2004 and 2018 she was a Director and Trustee of the German-British Forum.
Her co-authored books, “The Weaponization of Trade: the Great Unbalancing of Policy and Economics” and “Gaming Trade: Win-Win Strategies for the Digital Era” have defined the trade-based nature of strategic competition in the digital era. She provided the business case for the adoption into UK law the framework to enable digital trade; her work on the “regulatory paradox” of current sustainability reporting requirements has catalysed the establishment of the ITFA’s cross-industry Audit Council to set sustainability reporting and audit standards. She has authored 8 other books on the German economy, global innovation policy, and SME financing and Venture Capital. Her high media profile includes frequent appearances on BBC Television and Radio, Sky News, CNBC, and Times Radio, as well as citations in the broadsheet media.
Professor Jeremy Black is a key thinker about the role of strategy in the modern age, one who brings in not only historical perspectives but also an active engagement with geopolitical issues. Born in London, he studied at Cambridge, where he graduated with a starred first, and then Oxford, before being a Professor at first Durham and then Exeter. He has lectured extensively on strategy for military institutions in America, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore, and also for many businesses. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, US. He has served on the Council of the British Records Association(1989–2005); the Council of the Royal Historical Society(1993–1996 and 1997–2000); and the Council of the List and Index Society(from 1997). He has sat on the editorial boards of History Today, International History Review, Journal of Military History, Media History and the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution (now the RUSI Journal). He has authored over 150 publications, many focused on international relations, British foreign policy and geopolitics.
Victoria Baines is a leading authority in the field of online trust, safety and cybersecurity. She frequently contributes to major broadcast media outlets on digital ethics, cybercrime and the misuse of emerging technologies, including Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence. Her areas of research include electronic surveillance, cybercrime futures, and the politics of security. She also provides research expertise to a number of international organisations, including Interpol, UNICEF and the Council of Europe.
For several years Victoria was Facebook’s Trust & Safety Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Her work focused on operational support to law enforcement, and strategic engagement with policy makers on criminal activity online. Before joining Facebook, Victoria led the Strategy team at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), where she designed and developed the iOCTA, Europe’s flagship threat assessment on cybercrime, and authored Projects 2020 and 2030, scenarios for the future of cybersecurity. Prior to this, Victoria was Principal Analyst at the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). In 2008, the International Association for Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts recognised Victoria’s work with a global award for outstanding achievement.
Victoria is co-host of the award-nominated Cyber Warrior Princess podcast, demystifying cybersecurity for a popular audience, and has been named as one of the top 25 women in cybersecurity. She is also a Freeman of the City of London and Chair of the Security Panel of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. She serves on the Advisory Boards of cybersecurity provider Reliance ACSN and the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), and is a trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. She is a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford and holds a doctorate from the University of Nottingham, UK. She is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University’s School of Computing, a former Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University, and was a guest lecturer at Stanford University in 2019 and 2020.
Directors
Peter O’Kane – Board Member Peter is one of the founders of BFPG, which has been supported from its inception by the Strategy International Group, which he chairs. He was involved in the design and execution of its nationwide, pre-Covid national engagement program which initiated ground -breaking social research amongst key regional citizen, academic and enterprise communities about their attitudes to and needs from UK foreign policy. He has maintained a strong interest in foreign affairs throughout his career, in particular building extensive connections across the Asia Pacific region where he chaired and owned a leading, pan-Asian investment bank. He is active in a number of international forums and networks. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Law from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge.
Tom Cargill – Non-Executive Chairman Tom Cargill is the CEO of Wilton Park. He has worked in various roles in the public, private and NGO sectors, including at the charity for children in care Believe, as well as 10 years at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) followed by 4 years at the engineering, procurement and construction multinational Bechtel. He is the author of numerous reports, chapters and articles on international and foreign policy issues. Tom founded the British Foreign Policy Group in 2016.
Peter Dawson – Director Peter Dawson is a shareholder in Strategy International. Up until 2020 he was a director the former CFO of Bechtel Group, Inc. , a leading engineering, project management and construction company. During his time with Bechtel he also headed up the Global infrastructure division which is based in London, which involved extensive engagement with public and private sector leaders across developed and emerging markets around the globe. Based between London and San Francisco Peter, a UK national, holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in natural sciences from St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge University and currently serves on the Campaign Board for the University and Colleges of Cambridge, and the Board of Cambridge in America. Peter and his wife, Christina have a strong interest in educational philanthropy and have provided cornerstone funding for the University’s Foundation Year programme which aims to give talented students from disrupted educational backgrounds a new route to undergraduate study at Cambridge
Honorary Presidents
Sir Simon Fraser GCMG Sir Simon is a founder and managing director of Flint Global, a business advisory firm. He is also one of the founding trustees of the Patchwork Foundation, a newly established charity which works to promote and encourage the positive integration of under-represented, deprived and minority communities into British democracy and civil society. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). In his public service career, Sir Simon was the Head of the UK Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service, and before that he led the UK Department for Business and held a succession of senior roles in the British Government and the European Commission. He was the UK Civil Service Champion for Inclusion and Diversity.
The Rt Hon Gisela Stuart Gisela joined the House of Lords in 2020 as a Crossbencher, having taken the title of Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston. She was the Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1997 to 2017. She was a Health Minister in the first Tony Blair government. In parliament she served on the Foreign Affairs as well as the Defence Committee. In 2015 she was appointed by the Prime Minister to join the Intelligence and Security Committee and was made a Privy Councillor. In the 2016 referendum, Gisela chaired the official ‘Vote Leave’ campaign. For more than 10 years she was Editor of the weekly political magazine The House. She served as the lead Non-Executive Board Member for the Cabinet Office and was a founding director of the Henry Jackson Society. In 2022 Gisela became the First Civil Service Commissioner, a 5 year non-renewable appointment. The Civil Service Commission regulates recruitment into the Civil Service, ensuring the appointments are made on merit after fair and open competition. She was appointed an Honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve in 2020 and is a Board member of the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. Gisela sits on the advisory board of the Global Strategy Forum, a forum focussing on foreign affairs, defence and international security issues.
Internships and Work Experience The British Foreign Policy Group provides substantive paid internship and work experience placements, largely in the area of Research. Any opportunities will be posted here. We do accept applications to our intern database on a rolling basis and often use this database for recruitment. Please submit your CV and a one-page cover letter explaining your interest in working with the BFPG and any relevant research interests you hold, to hello@thebfpg.co.uk. Please note that only successful applicants will be notified. We kindly request that you please do not contact individual members of the BFPG team with unsolicited applications.