Professor Nicholas Burns to be Lowy Institute’s 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow

The Lowy Institute is delighted to announce Professor Nicholas Burns as the 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow. Nicholas Burns is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former diplomat. Professor Burns will visit Australia in October 2019 for a series of Lowy Institute engagements in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Professor Burns served in the United States government for nearly three decades and is considered to be one of the finest diplomats of his generation. He was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008; the State Department’s third-ranking official when he led negotiations on the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement; a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel; and was the lead U.S. negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program. He was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board from 2014-2017. He was U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and State Department Spokesman (1995-1997). He worked for five years (1990–1995) on the National Security Council at the White House where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. Professor Burns also served in the American Consulate General in Jerusalem (1985-1987) where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and before that, at the American embassies in Egypt and Mauritania.

The Lowy Institute’s Distinguished International Fellowship aims to deepen the debate on global issues by bringing an internationally recognised intellectual or policy leader to Australia for a series of meetings, speeches and media engagements.

Previous Distinguished International Fellows have included Dr Kurt Campbell – US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Stephen J. Hadley - US National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush; Shyam Saran - Foreign Secretary of India; David Ignatius – World Affairs columnist at The Washington Post; and Jake Sullivan - foreign policy advisor to Hillary Clinton.

The Lowy Institute acknowledges the generous support of Rothschild & Co for the sponsorship of the Fellowship.
 

For media inquiries, please contact:

Erin Bassett

Director of Media and Communications
+61 409 461 795
ebassett@lowyinstitute.org