RUSI Europe Advisory Board

Baroness Ashton of Upholland served as the EU's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission (2009–14). In this role she created the European External Action Service, overseeing 140 diplomatic missions and 8 military operations. On behalf of the UN Security Council, Lady Ashton chaired the P5+1 negotiations that produced the Iran nuclear agreement, and negotiated the Brussels Agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, earning a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Previously, she served as EU Commissioner for Trade in 2008, the first woman to hold that post. 

Lady Ashton studied at Bedford College, University of London. Lady Ashton’s career began in civil society before she entered British politics, serving as a government minister in the House of Lords under the Labour government, including as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education and as Leader of the House of Lords (2007–08). Lady Ashton was admitted to the Order of the Garter in 2023 and was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 2015. Lady Ashton was created a life peer in 1999. 

Lady Ashton is a member of the House of Lords European Affairs Committee and chaired an inquiry in UK engagement with space. Lady Ashton is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre and a Senior Policy Advisor to Chatham House.

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/ashton-upholland-lg-gcmg

Dame Deborah served as British Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2020-2023). Her tenure in Moscow spanned the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  She subsequently took up the role of Director General Europe at the FCDO until 2025. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission and joint Chair of the UK Group. 

Previously, Dame Deborah served as FCO Chief Operating Officer (2014–16) and Director General Economic and Global Issues (2016–19). She was also Trustee of the British Council (2014-2019). Earlier postings included time in Brussels in the Cabinet of Commissioner Kinnock (1995–99), as Economic and Trade Counsellor in Moscow (2002–05), FCO Director for Prosperity and G8 Foreign Affairs Sous-Sherpa (2008–11), and as Ambassador to Zimbabwe (2011–14), the first woman to hold that post. Dame Deborah has a Masters from UCL in the Political Economies of Russia and Eastern Europe and her first degree is in Mathematics from the University of Bristol.

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/bronnert-dcmg

Jim Cloos is a Luxembourg diplomat and senior European official. Mr Cloos serves as Secretary General of TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and Senior Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute, Brussels. 

He served as Director responsible for transatlantic relations, the UN and counter-terrorism at the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (2001-2006), Director for General Policy Questions (2006-2010) and Director General for General and Institutional Policy (2010-21). 

Previously, he held senior positions in the European Commission as Head of Cabinet to the Commissioner for Agriculture (1993-95) and Head of Cabinet to European Commission President Jacques Santer (1995-99), also serving as EU Sherpa for G7/G8 summits.  

Mr Cloos holds a first-class degree in Russian and Linguistics from the University of Reading, a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies in Soviet and Eastern European Studies from Sciences Po Paris, and further qualifications in international trade from the University of Paris.

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/cloos

Sir Julian King GCMG KCVO served as EU Commissioner for Security Union from 2016 to 2019.

Sir Julian joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1985. Sir Julian has held various positions, including: UK Ambassador to France (2016); Director General Economic and Consular (2014); DG of the Northern Ireland Office London and Belfast (2011); UK Ambassador to Ireland (2009); EU Commission Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner for Trade (2008); UK Representative on EU Political and Security Committee, (2004).

Sir Julian is a graduate of Oxford University and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, Paris. 

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/king-gcmg-kcvo

Mariot Leslie is a former British diplomat who has been UK Permanent Representative to NATO (2010-14), FCO Director General for Defence and Intelligence and a member of the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee. She has also headed the FCO’s Policy Planning Staff and been ambassador to Norway. Her earlier career included a two year secondment to the French Foreign Ministry as well as postings to Germany, Italy and Singapore.

Mariot is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, co-chair of the Advisory Board of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs, and a member of the the Advisory Board of the Centre for European Reform. She is also a director of the Scottish American Investment Company.

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/leslie-dcmg

NATO Spokesperson (2010-2023), and the first woman and first journalist to hold the post. She directed alliance communications during the most turbulent period in a generation, providing strategic advice to two Secretaries General – Jens Stoltenberg and Anders Fogh Rasmussen. As the official responsible for NATO’s public messaging and chief speechwriter, she played a critical role in NATO’s approach to Russia and China, the accession of Finland and Sweden, and operations from the Western Balkans to Afghanistan and Libya. She coordinated NATO’s 24/7 media operations, directed all media aspects of NATO summits, and engaged with media around the world. She was awarded a NATO Meritorious Service Medal in 2023.

She joined NATO after working for 25 years at the BBC World Service, where she covered EU and NATO affairs for radio, television and online in several languages. Born in Romania under communism, she  joined the BBC in 1985. As European affairs correspondent in Brussels and Berlin, she reported widely across the continent, focusing on EU and NATO enlargement, the economic crisis and migration. She is currently a Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels, Chair of the International Advisory Board of the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn and a member of the International Advisory Board of the 12th GSSC Vilnius Forum. 

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/lungescu

Lord Ricketts spent 40 years as a British diplomat. He was closely involved in international crisis management throughout his career, particularly during the conflicts in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. He was UK Permanent Representative to NATO (2003-6), Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCO (2006-10), the UK’s first National Security Adviser (2010-12) and Ambassador to France (2012-16).

He became a cross bench (non-political) member of the House of Lords in 2017 and chaired the European Affairs Committee until earlier this year. In addition to his role at RUSI, he is a Visiting Professor at King's College London, a Non-Executive Director of Eurotunnel, and Honorary President of the Trust which built and now runs the British Normandy Memorial. 

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/ricketts-gcmg-gcvo

Prof Dr Paul Timmers is a Dutch policy expert and academic. Prof Dr Timmers served as Director at the European Commission's DG CONNECT (2011-2016). His work focused on legislation, regulation and funding for programmes on cybersecurity, e-identity, digital privacy, digital health, smart cities and e-government. 

Prof Dr Timmers was also a member of the Cabinet of European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen and a member of the European Commission's regulatory scrutiny board. Prof Dr Timmers holds a Physics PhD from Radboud University and an MBA from Warwick University, as well as an EU fellowship from the University of North Carolina and cybersecurity qualifications from Harvard. 

Prof Dr Timmers joined the University of Oxford's at the Department of Politics and International Relations and Oxford Internet Institute, as Visiting Fellow and Research Associate from 2018-2024. Currently he is a professor at KU Leuven and the European University Cyprus, focusing on geopolitics and technology. He is co-author of the EuroStack report on digital sovereignty for Europe. He is Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre in Brussels and the regulatory thinktank CERRE, was Chair of the Supervisory Board of the eGovernance Academy in Estonia (2019-2025) and is member of the advisory council of Common Good Cyber Fund.

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/timmers

Ambassador João Vale de Almeida is a European diplomat of Portuguese nationality who served as EU Ambassador to the United States (2010–14), EU Ambassador to the United Nations (2015–19), and first EU Ambassador to the UK following Brexit (2020–22).  

Previously, he served as Head of Cabinet (Chief of Staff) to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso (2004–09), acting also as the EU's Sherpa for G8 and G20 Summits, and as the President's Personal Representative for the negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty.  

Ambassador Vale de Almeida studied History at the University of Lisbon and joined the European Commission in 1982 after a career as a journalist, having reached the highest grade in the EU hierarchy as Director General for External Relations.  

Upon retirement, he joined the University of Cambridge as a Visiting Fellow and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs as Adjunct Professor.  

He is the author of 'The Divorce of Nations' (2025), a personal account of 21st-century diplomacy and the unravelling of the post-war international order. He is a member of foundation and corporate boards in Portugal and in the UK. 

Website:

www.rusi.org/people/vale-de-almeida