FCDO Editorial

30th January 2017 London, UK

Alex Beard CBE

Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House

Bringing the very best of both opera and ballet to an international audience

The Royal Opera House, home to two of the world’s great artistic companies – The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet – thrives, indeed depends, on the international. With almost 20 nationalities represented within The Royal Ballet, many international guest artists performing with The Royal Opera each Season, and nine nationalities represented within the world […]

27th January 2017 London, UK

Barbara Woodward

HM Ambassador to China

Happy New Year of the Rooster!

Chinese New Year is one of the biggest celebrations in the world. There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, starting with the Rat, including the highly auspicious Dragon and finishing with the Pig. I’m an Ox, which next comes around in early 2021. Here in Beijing, in the last few weeks, red lanterns have […]

25th January 2017 London, UK

James Macsween

Managing Director at Macsween

Macsween and Burns Night

James Macsween, Managing Director at Macsween, tells us about the importance of haggis to Burns and how Macsween has benefited from it. January 25th is one of Scotland’s most celebrated dates and an annual tribute to our National Bard. When Scottish writer, Robert Burns wrote his poem ‘Address to a Haggis’, he could never have […]

23rd January 2017 London, UK

David Sproul

Senior Partner and Chief Executive, Deloitte

The UK is number one for inward investment

Now is the time to Invest in GREAT Britain is the clear message that the Department for International Trade set out in their new marketing campaign, launching this week. As the number one destination for inward investment, the campaign will use exciting and little known facts about the UK to demonstrate why so many overseas […]

22nd January 2017 London, UK

Vivienne Stern

Director of Universities UK International

2017: What does it hold for universities and international opportunities?

UK universities have astonishing international networks: it’s not just about recruiting international students to study in the UK, there are nearly 650,000 students on UK courses around the world; half of our research publications are produced with at least one international partner; our universities are working with industry partners in China, India, all over Europe, […]

19th January 2017 Austria, Vienna

Alex Hammond

Digital Communication Officer, BE Vienna

How and why we hosted an Instagram event

A photographer is on his knees, stealthily taking pictures of Ambassador Leigh Turner from behind a Christmas tree. Another stands in the corner, facing the wall. Unnoticed by the other guests, she points her camera at the ceiling and triggers the shutter. Has the Ambassador’s residence in Vienna been infiltrated by foreign agents? Not quite. […]

19th January 2017 London, UK

Sir David Bell

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading

This is the decade for UK universities to be bold, brave and ambitious.

This is the decade for UK universities to be bold, brave and ambitious. We are going through the most challenging period since the huge expansion of higher education in the 1960s – and it requires a fundamental rethink to how we operate. That includes everything from our culture and outlook to how we market ourselves […]

18th January 2017 Science and Innovation Network

Hadas Levmore

Science and Innovation Officer, British Embassy, Israel

When Great Minds Think Alike – and Save Lives

A unique investment in medical research teams up British and Israeli scientists to look for cures to the world’s most challenging diseases One in 500 people in the UK suffer from Parkinson’s disease and 175,000 Brits suffer heart attacks each year. But these numbers may drop significantly in the pretty near future thanks to Britain’s […]

16th January 2017 Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia

Dr Philip Goodwin

Chief Executive of VSO

Volunteering for development: the double benefit

In December last year I had the thrill to meet Hiwot and her six month old baby boy in Hosanna hospital in Ethiopia. Hiwot had complications in her pregnancy that were life threatening for her son and for her. Luckily, VSO volunteer health specialists had worked with Ethiopian medical staff to establish a specialist care […]

16th January 2017 London, UK