End of Year Review 2023-24
The past academic year has been one of growth for the Society, and one of enjoying the fruits of this growth. Inheriting the leadership of a strong and vibrant student community with the momentum of a young and hungry movement, the Committee this year has been able to explore new avenues and approaches.
In Michaelmas term, President Emerita Rosie Wrigglesworth led, as Project Director, the Society’s collaboration with NATO. This came in the form of four lectures with guest speakers on a different theme, each exploring an emerging challenge which NATO will have to address: Cyber, Space, Climate, and Partners. These lectures concluded with a Grand Final Competition, held in the prestigious Oxford Town Hall, in which students competed against one another in front of a panel of external judges from such institutions as the Ministry of Defence and NATO itself. We were also delighted to welcome H.E. Jukka Siukosaari, the Finnish Ambassador to the UK, who delivered a keynote address which offered a unique insight into the perspective of one of NATO’s newest members.
Michaelmas also allowed the Society to enjoy the final discussions in the ‘Peace Processes of the Future’ series, staged by our Senior Member, Tom Fletcher. Tom has been a leading light for the Society since its inception four short years ago, and again has been an invaluable support to the Society and to me personally this year.
The Society returned to its roots by launching a series of practical workshops this year. Under the capable supervision of Tijmen Severens, the Society’s Head of Events, the Oxford Diplomatic Academy was launched, with a programme of sessions offering skills-training in public speaking, negotiating and other interpersonal capacities. The project concluded with a conference day centred around a Model United Nations competition, adjudicated again by an expert panel. Tijmen himself offered his insights serving as instructor for some of the sessions, and the entire Committee is both proud of and indebted to him for his work in producing such a success.
The bread and butter of the Diplomatic Society’s offering to its members is its range of weekly events, and this has been a year of records. The Society hosted 112 guests across the three terms, who engaged with our members in a range of ways. For the first time, this included Heads of State, a former President, a current President, a former Prime Minister, and a Nobel Peace Laureate. Alongside a scattering of more high-profile speakers, however, our members have had the opportunity to engage in smaller, more intimate settings with practitioners of diplomacy which can often prove at least as productive.
The Diplomatic Dispatch has also come into its first full year of publication, having been launched only in the Trinity Term of 2023. Under the leadership of my co-founder Jack Twyman, it has grown into a platform for nuanced and sensitive discourse on a range of issues, and has adopted a truly global lens. Across its 8 published issues this year, the Dispatch featured 75 guest contributors from a truly eclectic range of backgrounds and perspectives, and there is yet one more edition still to come this year. The blend of student and expert input really embodies what the ethos of the Society is, and I am proud of the fantastic work by the editorial team in the past few terms.
Another undertaking this year which I felt in many ways exemplifies that for which the Society strives was the return of the Gala Dinner. Into the charming, candlelit scene of Hertford College’s Great Hall, we welcomed 17 distinguished guests. With former Ambassadors, serving Ambassadors and diplomats, Directors and CEOs of NGOs and Aid Organisations, former representatives to the United Nations, as well as figures from academia, the Armed Forces, journalism, international law, and government, students were able to mingle and enjoy a delicious three-course formal dinner. In representing a broad interdisciplinary sweep, in allowing members to engage on a practical basis with those who undertake day-to-day diplomacy in all its forms, and in coming together to celebrate avenues of open discussion and communication at a time of increasing polarisation, it represented much that the Society seeks to reflect.
The Society has also continued to develop relations with other groups of similar interest. Not only in Oxford, collaborating with a range of groups such as OxfordSpeaks, OxSID, and STAIR, but also beyond Oxford. The Oxford participation in the London University Diplomacy Summit, headed by Society Secretary, Kara Goldsmith, allowed Oxford students to meet with like-minded peers at other leading universities and engage with a range of fascinating speakers and discussions thanks to the hard-work of the respective theme day committees. Similarly, we were delighted to again be included in the London Diplomacy Ball, bringing students together in a prestigious setting and establishing networks of those keen to engage with the world of diplomacy.
One final area in which the Society really has been privileged in its opportunities is that of trips. With the much appreciated assistance of our Senior Advisor, Rawan Al-Faqir, we were able to continue to develop relationships with Embassy Missions in London, in several instances visiting their Chanceries. This included the Embassies of Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, the United States, and the Netherlands. While much of this focus has understandably been on the Middle East, space has also been given to explore other areas of diplomatic craft. To better understand cultural diplomacy, we visited the British Museum and went behind closed doors to engage with Collection Keepers, and paid a visited to the offices of the Qatari Cultural Attaché. Significantly, we are also lucky enough to visit the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on King Charles Street, an eye-opening experience for many of our members aspiring to a career in governmental diplomacy.
Following from last summer’s international visit to Jordan, members of the Society were also offered the opportunity to visit several other nations. In January, some members travelled to Bahrain thanks to the generosity of the Bahraini Embassy in London; in February, again some members were offered the chance to travel to Pakistan on a guided visit; and in May, the Society directly organised a trip for members to Brussels, visiting the British Mission to the EU and the Headquarters of NATO. With more trips to new destinations already in the pipeline, the future of the Society looks bright.
All in all, it has been a productive and busy year for the Oxford Diplomatic Society. I am hugely grateful to the effort and support of the entire Committee this year, without whom such activity would not have been possible, and of course to all our members for whom we do such work. As I hand over responsibility to the incoming Executive Committee, I can rest assured that the Society is in safe hands, and will only continue from strength to strength.
I look forward to enjoying this in whatever form this comes!
Joey Andrews
President 2023-24