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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

30th May 2012

Indigenous Scholars head for Cambridge and Oxford

Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined us in congratulating three young indigenous scholars who are going off to study at Oxford and Cambridge. I took them over to Parliament for tea with the PM, after hosting an uplifting scholarship ceremony at my Residence.

Charlie Perkins Scholars Kyle Turner, Lilly Brown and Krystal Lockwood with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and HE Paul Madden

The British Government is a key partner in the Charlie Perkins indigenous scholarships, through our Chevening programme, alongside the Australian Government and Rio Tinto.

Together with Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans (himself a former Chevening Scholar at the London School of Economics), I was delighted to present scholarships to: Lilly Brown (to study for an M.Phil in Politics, Development and Democratic Education at Cambridge); Krystal Lockwood (MSc in Evidence Based Social Intervention at Oxford); and Kyle Turner (DPhil Public Health, Oxford).

Lilly will be the first indigenous Australian ever to study at Cambridge. All three were outstanding candidates, both academically and in their wider activities. I really enjoyed chatting to them. They will surely become leaders in their fields in Australia in the years ahead.

The scholarships are named after Charlie Perkins, the distinguished indigenous leader, who became a senior government official here. He was also an outstanding athlete who, whilst living in the UK in the late 1950s, playing football (soccer) for Bishop Auckland, determined that he would strive to go to University on his return to Australia.

Seeing the pride on the faces of the scholars’ family and friends was a heart warming experience. These scholarships will have a wider impact. They send a signal to other young people, particularly from indigenous communities, that there should be no limit on their aspirations.

They should aim to go as far as their talents and energies take them. The British government is so committed to the programme that I was able to announce we are doubling our contribution to £150,000 over the next three years.

View our Flickr gallery of the event.

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About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.

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2012 canberra Charlie Perkins Julia Gillard scholarships