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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261021T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261021T120000
DTSTAMP:20261016T103627Z
CREATED:20260922T121948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261016T103627Z
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SUMMARY:FCDOA Online Talk with Mohanad Hashim\, BBC East Africa 
DESCRIPTION:The war in Sudan: the role of Middle Powers and the struggle for hegemony in the Red Sea and the Horn  of Africa\nSudan has had years of military rule\, humanitarian crises and political upheaval. BBC journalist Mohanad Hashim explains some of the complex history of the country he grew up in. In discussion with Dame Rosalind Marsden\, former UN Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan\, Mohanad  will focus on the Geopolitical realignments and Maritime Hegemony in the Red Sea and the Horn a Strategic Analysis of Saudi\, Emirati\, and Turkish Tripartite Competition and how it is shaping the region. \nSpeaker: Mohanad Hashim is an award-winning London-based journalist\, with two decades covering the Middle East and Africa. He joined the BBC in 2008\, reporting on the Arab Spring and later on ISIS’s rise in Syria and Iraq. He has received several awards\, including a BBC News Award and a Webby Award for investigative reporting. He was nominated in 2024 for the AIB Awards for his reporting on the Sudanese civil war for the BBC World Service. He has covered Sudan extensively since the uprising of 2018-2019 and his most recent visit to Sudan was in March/April 2026. \nModerator: Dame Rosalind Marsden\, Associate Fellow at Chatham House\, former British Ambassador to Sudan and Afghanistan and former EU Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan. \n 
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/fcdoa-online-talk-with-mohamad-hashim-bbc-east-africa/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261029T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261029T133000
DTSTAMP:20261015T125853Z
CREATED:20260907T101957Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261015T125853Z
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SUMMARY:FCDOA Annual Lecture 29 October 2026 by Lord Robertson
DESCRIPTION:How Safe Is the UK?\nLocarno Suite\, King Charles Street \n\nThe Foreign\, Commonwealth & Development Office Association (FCDOA) is delighted to announce that the Annual Lecture 2026 will be delivered by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen\, former Secretary General of NATO and former UK Secretary of State for Defence. \nIn his lecture\, “How Safe Is the UK?”\, Lord Robertson will draw on his extensive experience in government\, international affairs and defence policy to reflect on the security challenges facing the United Kingdom in an increasingly complex global environment. \n\nAbout the Speaker\nRt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT\, GCMG\nLord Robertson became Chancellor of the University of Dundee in 2023. In 2025\, he served as Lead Reviewer of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review. He is currently Senior Counsellor with The Cohen Group in Washington DC\, Co-Chair of the Global Strategy Forum\, Vice Patron of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo\, President of the Council of Military Education Committees\, and a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on International Affairs and Defence. \nA Member of Parliament for twenty-one years\, Lord Robertson served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland before becoming Secretary of State for Defence in 1997. From 1999 to 2003\, he served as the 10th Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council\, leading the Alliance through a period of major international challenges and chairing the first meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in 2002. \nBeyond public service\, Lord Robertson has held a number of senior corporate and non-executive roles\, including Executive Deputy Chairman of Cable & Wireless plc\, Deputy Chairman of TNK-BP\, and Non-Executive Director of the Weir Group plc\, Smiths Group plc\, and Monaco Telecom SA. He has also served as Chairman of the FIA Foundation\, Chairman of Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd\, Chairman of The Ditchley Foundation\, and Vice Chairman of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. \nLord Robertson is an Elder Brother of Trinity House and a Visiting Professor at both Stirling University and King’s College London. He serves on the Board of the Centre for European Reform\, is a Distinguished Fellow of Chatham House\, and sits on the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council. For seventeen years he was Honorary Colonel of the London Scottish Regiment. \nAmong many honours\, Lord Robertson is one of the sixteen Knights of the Thistle and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. In 2003\, he was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom\, the highest civilian honour bestowed by the United States. He has also received Ukraine’s Grand Cross of Prince Yaroslav the Wise and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies.
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/fcdoa-annual-lecture-29-october-2026-by-lord-robertson-how-safe-is-the-uk/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261118T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261118T120000
DTSTAMP:20261015T090311Z
CREATED:20260819T064818Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261015T090311Z
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SUMMARY:The FCDOA Online talk by Sergei Cristo
DESCRIPTION:The Russian Lesson: Building Deterrence against Foreign Political Interference \n\nRussian political interference in the UK has long been a multi-faceted operation\, structured along lines associated with the Gerasimov doctrine of achieving strategic goals by non-military or hybrid means. The UK (as other Western countries) has been vulnerable to such asymmetric attacks while it operates under constraints of law\, and political priorities such as countering direct terror threats. In conversation with Sir David Ormand\, Sergei Cristo will argue that factors such as corruption\, wealthy proxies\, and corporate interests have been weaponised by Moscow and the Russian intelligence services into a deadly threat to British democracy. How well do we understand these asymmetric attacks and the damage they wreak? Cristo and Sir David will explore how  the UK state should respond to these hybrid\, multi-facetted attacks. What measures should be taken to protect ourselves against foreign actors and their proxies? S \nBio \nSpeaker: Sergei Cristo is a PhD researcher in Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham\, and a former BBC journalist\, asset management specialist and Conservative Party fundraiser turned whistleblower on Russian interference in British politics. \nModerator: Sir David Ormand \nSir David is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies\, King’s College London and sits on the advisory board of Paladin Capital\, investing in cyber security start-ups. During his long career in British government service he held senior posts in security\, intelligence and defence.
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/the-fcdoa-online-talk-by-sergei-cristo/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261125T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261125T120000
DTSTAMP:20261006T133929Z
CREATED:20260922T122948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261006T133929Z
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SUMMARY:The FCDOA Online Talk by Dr Daniella Lock
DESCRIPTION:Is Outsourcing a Threat to UK National Security?\n \nDr Daniella Lock is Lecturer in Law at King’s College\, London. \nMultinational private actors such as AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Palantir have in recent years acquired many public sector contracts in countries across Europe\, including the UK. There is evidence that\, increasingly\, countries are pulling out of these arrangements on grounds of national security and sovereignty. It has been reported that the UK’s Security and Intelligence Agencies have been among those contracting such multinational private actors to achieve their missions. \nDr Daniella Lock will examine the impact for the UK’s national security of such outsourcing\, with a view to understanding the potential impact on UK national security protection\, on our democratic processes\, and on policy-making. \nShe will look at four factors: \n(i) UK national security protection; \n(ii) sovereignty; \n(iii) efficiency of public expenditure; and\, \n(iv) compliance with international law including human rights law. \nThe session will be moderated by Mr Tim Dowse who  has over 40 years of experience in security\, defence and geopolitical assessment in HM Diplomatic Service\, the Cabinet Office\, HM Treasury\, and RUSI. He served as   FCO Director of Intelligence and National Security. \n  \n 
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/fcdoa-online-talk-by-dr-daniella-lock/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261202T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261202T120000
DTSTAMP:20261104T104056Z
CREATED:20260922T123603Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261104T104056Z
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SUMMARY:The FCDOA Online Talk by Sir Anthony Seldon
DESCRIPTION:Strengthening the PM\, No 10 and the centre of government for the mid 21st century world \n  \n \nBritain has had an unprecedented seven prime ministers in the last 10 years. It’s been nearly 40 years since it had a truly agenda changing\, world class Prime Minister. Whitehall used to be the Rolls-Royce Civil Service globally: 50 separate countries modelled their government bureaucracies on it. Now it is operating like a Morris Marina. The centre of government is disjointed\, full of infighting\, and broken preferring short to long-term\, the immediate and urgent to the necessary and important\, is swollen with political advisers rather than the deep specialists it needs\, and is riven by self-interest. How can Britain possibly compete internationally\, at least of all against authoritarian states if it continues like it is. The talk will show the way forward.\n\nProfessor Sir Anthony Seldon\nHistorian\, Author\, Educator \nSir Anthony Seldon is a distinguished historian\, author and educational leader\, renowned for his expertise on British prime ministers\, 10 Downing Street and the future of education and AI. \nHe has written or edited over 50 books\, including acclaimed accounts of recent British prime ministers. He has served as honorary historian of 10 Downing Street and Chair of the National Archives Trust. \nFormerly Headmaster of Brighton College and Wellington College\, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham\, he is now Founding Director of Wellington College Education\, focusing on the future of global education and the impact of AI.
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/fcdoa-online-talk-by-sir-anthony-seldon-2/
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261209T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261209T120000
DTSTAMP:20261104T103725Z
CREATED:20261103T111029Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261104T103725Z
UID:10000183-1796814000-1796817600@fcdoa.org.uk
SUMMARY:The FCDOA Online Talk by Tim Marshall
DESCRIPTION:Astropolitics: International Relations in Space\n  \nTechnology has made our Space ‘laws’ as outdated as the Cold War.  Tim Marshall\, author of the  ‘Future of Geography’  discusses the importance of regulating outer space and establishing the norms of the 21century final frontier. \nModerator: Dr Thomas Cheney Professor of Astropolitics at Northumbria \nTim Marshall \,   will highlight how Technology has made our Space ‘laws’ as outdated as the Cold War.  He will argue importance of regulating outer space and establishing the norms of the 21stC’s final frontier\, He has been working on this issue and will  base his talk on the outcome of his research and his latest book on the subject. He argues that  human power struggles are no longer confined to Earth. The race to dominate low Earth orbit\, control strategic satellite corridors\, and harvest lunar resources (like water and rare earth metals) is the next great frontier for global superpowers
URL:https://fcdoa.org.uk/event/fcdoa-online-talk-by-tim-marshall-on-9-december-at-11-12-00/
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