Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

8th July 2016 Los Angeles, USA

Patricia Gruver

by Patricia Gruver

Science & Innovation Officer

FUNDING: Lead Agency Agreement between EPSRC and NSF

This post is meant to highlight a new lead agency agreement between the EPSRC and NSF for international collaboration.  The lead agency agreement model allows researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal with a joint funding decision, informed by a single lead agency review. This review process will follow the usual process for the lead agency. […]

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7th July 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia

Eleonora Zaprova

Eleonora Zaprova

Director of the British Council Macedonia

British Council – 20 years of building cultural relations between Macedonia and the UK

The British Council in Macedonia marks its 20th anniversary in 2016. We celebrate two decades of building cultural and education relations between Macedonia and the United Kingdom. It is the time when we reflect back and see the fruits of our work in creating links and understanding between British and Macedonian institutions, professionals and communities […]

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7th July 2016 London, UK

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by Baroness Anelay

Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights

Climate change: The opportunity of our age

This week, our Ambassadors and High Commissioners have returned to London for Leadership Week. I took the opportunity to speak with them, alongside my fellow peers in the House of Lords, about the agreement reached at the Paris climate Conference of Parties (COP21) and to provide reassurance about the Government’s commitment to tackling global climate […]

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7th July 2016

Simona Prete

Simona Prete

Head of Communications, British Embassy to the Holy See

Ask our Ambassador in the Holy See

On Thursday 14 July at 10:30-11:30 am (UK time), our Ambassador Nigel Baker will be online to bid farewell to the numerous followers of @UKinHolySee Twitter handle, after five exciting years as British Ambassador to the Holy See. You can tweet your questions in advance to #AskHMA about the depth and importance of the modern […]

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7th July 2016 Canberra, Australia

Gareth Hoar

Gareth Hoar

Consul-General, Melbourne

Uncovering lost stories of WW1

For many in the UK, the first day of the Battle of the Somme looms large in our island story – it was the first time a mass, citizen army drawn from the population as a whole, rather than professional soldiers, was committed into an industrialised theatre of war. It was to be a terrible, […]

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6th July 2016 Beijing, China

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by Karen Maddocks

First Secretary and Head of the Beijing Science and Innovation Network

Looking back and moving on

Tomorrow is my last day in the China Science and Innovation Network. It’s been fun. It’s been hard work. It’s been a privilege. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from an amazing team during my three years in what might just have been the best job in the Foreign Office. December 2013: During the […]

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4th July 2016 Berlin, Germany

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by Hannah Sehan

Science & Innovation Officer, Berlin

Late night science in Berlin

What a great tradition to have: the long night of the sciences! London museums have late-night openings, but imagine if it wasn’t just one museum but research institutes, universities and museums all at once. This is exactly what happens in Berlin and Potsdam once a year on the “long night of science”. For inquisitive SIN […]

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4th July 2016 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Bob Last

Head, UK Mission Political and Human Rights Team

Parting Thoughts

Late on Friday evening The Council came to a sweaty and cantankerous finish. Well, it sort of did. Not content with causing disruption and delay through 50 hostile amendments to a range of important resolutions, Russia then forced the Council into extra time by persistently objecting during the appointment of the Special Rapporteurs. Time eventually […]

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