The Outlook

A Conversation with Dr. Babu Rahman | 04/08/2024

World Outlook

Julia Stewed, Prescott Herzog, and Nelson Zhang sit down for a conversation with Dr. Babu Rahman. Dr. Rahman has been a British diplomat since 1998. He is a Research Analyst in the Diplomatic Service, specializing in the UN, with a particular focus on conflict and human rights. As a Research Analyst, he provides objective research, analysis, and advice to support policymaking. He has also performed a number of front-line diplomatic roles, including numerous UN negotiations in New York and Geneva, and in 2006 serving at the UK Embassy in Kabul. He has worked extensively on civil-military integration through secondments to the UK’s cross-government Stabilization Unit and working alongside UK, NATO, and African Union forces in the field. Between 2013 and 2015, he took leave from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to serve as Senior Special Assistant to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Somalia, based in Mogadishu. Between 2015 and 2017, he was Deputy Head of Research Analysts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 2019 to 2020, he was the Special Adviser to the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan. He holds a PhD in International Politics from Aberystwyth University in Wales and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Her Late Majesty the Queen in 2015 for services to peacebuilding in Somalia.