Trinity Hall is hosting an event featuring alumnus, Ross Allen, and the Master of Trinity Hall, Mary Hockaday, which is open to friends of the Centre of Geopolitics.
Ross Allen (1997) has been UK Ambassador to Estonia since the summer of 2021. In conversation with the Master, he will talk about the collective NATO response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the UK’s growing defence presence in Estonia and contribution to NATO, and building a post-Brexit bilateral relationship with a European partner.
The UK’s largest overseas military presence is in Estonia and in 2023 over 3,000 UK personnel will deploy there at different times. Estonia also has a thriving tech sector and the UK and Estonia are developing a Tech Partnership.
Ambassador Allen and the Master will also discuss the joys and challenges of life as a globe-trotting diplomat and how a degree in theology relates to a career as a public servant.
More about the speaker:
Ross Allen has been Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Estonia since June 2021. Prior to that he has served in a variety of roles within the UK civil service and on secondment to the private sector (cv below). Ross is married and has a daughter born in 2015 and two sons born in 2017 and 2019. Ross speaks Arabic and some German and French, and is learning Estonian. Follow Ross on Twitter @rceallen.
2016 – 2020 Deputy Consul General New York and Deputy Trade Commissioner, North America
2015 – 2016 UK Trade and Investment (now Department for International Trade)
2014 – 2015 Head of Consular Assistance Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
2013 – 2014 Secondment to Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, London
2010 – 2013 Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Office
2008 – 2010 First Secretary, British Embassy, Washington DC
2007 – 2008 Press Officer to the Minister for Europe, FCO
2003 – 2006 Her Majesty’s Consul, Political, Jerusalem
2002 – 2003 Full time Arabic language training
2001 – 2002 Non-proliferation department, FCO
2001 First class BA (Hons), Theology, Trinity Hall, Cambridge
