Simon O'Donnell

Simon is a British Diplomat who has served in the U.K. Diplomatic Service for the last 11 years, specialising mostly in Middle East policy work. For the past three years, he served as the Political Counsellor at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, playing a key role in coordinating the U.K. government’s response to the Gaza conflict and broader regional issues. Simon has also been posted to Beirut and Amman, where he studied Arabic, and worked on the Ukraine conflict and Brexit. Whilst at SPIA, he is looking forward to spending time reflecting on recent challenging professional experiences, learning from colleagues and diversifying his understanding of public policy. In his spare time, he enjoys playing/watching almost all sport, and traveling.