Anthropology, Diplomacy and Impact - POSTPONED
Dr Cornelia Sorabji CBE
Counsellor Strategy & External Expertise, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Professor of Political Anthropology & Public Diplomacy, UCL
Cornelia’s Cambridge University Social Anthropology PhD (Muslim Identity and Islamic Faith in Sarajevo) looked at nationalism, Islam and the politics of religion in the context of Communist Eastern Europe. After postdoctoral work at SOAS, a lectureship at the University of Sussex and assorted consultancy and NGO jobs she joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office as its Balkan research analyst during the wars there. Her civil service career has included stints in the British Embassies in Belgrade and Sarajevo, a fellowship at the Central European University in Budapest, and establishing an FCO research team on Political Islam. From 2008-13 she led a Cabinet Office team covering Asia-Pacific, Sub Saharan Africa, the Near East and North Africa, the Aegean and Balkans. From 2013-2018 she was Head of FCO Research Analysts. She is currently seconded part time from the FCO to UCL where she convenes an MA in Public Diplomacy & Global Communication.