The Andrew Carnegie Lecture Series Ambassador Barbara Woodward DCMG OBE and Ambassador Bob Rae PC CC OOnt ECO KC

Join us as we welcome Ambassador Barbara Woodward DCMG OBE and Ambassador Bob Rae PC CC OOnt ECO KC for the next Carnegie Lecture.

Dame Barbara Woodward (MA 1983) is the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Barbara was British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from February 2015 to August 2020 and her talk is titled, The UN at 80: more than
‘an air castle within our grasp'?

She joined the Board of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Director General Economic & Consular in October 2011 where she worked on economic diplomacy and emerging powers. Dame Barbara has worked on economic and security aspects of foreign policy in China (where she was also Deputy Ambassador 2007-2009) and Russia (1994-1998), as well as in the EU and at the UN in New York and Geneva. From 2009 to 2011, she was International Director at the UK Border Agency.

Dame Barbara graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MA in History in 1983, and from Yale University in International Relations in 1990. She was awarded an OBE in 1999 for her part in securing the release of two British hostages from Chechnya, was made a CMG (Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) in 2011, and a DCMG (Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) in 2016.

Bob Rae is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York, a post he has held since 2020. His talk is titled ‘Where the light gets in: the importance of a principled and pragmatic response to the crises of our time'.

Mr Rae served as Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995, and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011-2013. He was elected to federal and provincial parliaments 11 times between 1978 and 2013 and has been honoured by the alumni of both bodies for his distinguished service.

An alumnus of the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, Mr Rae was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1980 and named a Queen's Counsel in 1984.

He is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario, and has numerous awards and honorary degrees from institutions in Canada and around the world.

Doors open 5.45pm, all welcome.