Jane Kinninmont

Jane Kinninmont is the Chief Executive Officer at the United Nations Association – UK.

Prior to this she was the Policy & Impact Director at The European Leadership Network (ELN), where she worked to strengthen the influence, policy relevance and impact of the ELN’s research, convening and networks. She remains a Senior Associate Fellow at the ELN. Jane previously worked as Head of Programmes for The Elders, where she focused on identifying opportunities to promote diplomatic and political solutions to conflicts, to strengthen multilateral approaches to peacemaking, and to advocate for the rights and dignity of refugees.

Prior to joining The Elders, Jane was Deputy Head and Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House. She led a research project on generational change in the Gulf Arab monarchies and its impact on Gulf relations with Iraq, Iran and Yemen and worked on various projects that analysed the roots of regional conflicts and brought younger-generation voices from the region into the debates on policy solutions.

Jane’s previous positions also include Associate Director for the Middle East and Africa at the Economist Group and Senior Editor/Economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Jane has contributed articles and analysis to a wide range of publications, including the Economist, Financial Times, Newsweek, Guardian and Prospect, and to consultancies and NGOs such as Oxford Analytica and Freedom House. She appears regularly in the broadcast media.

Jane has a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University, and an MSc in International Politics from SOAS, where she wrote her thesis on the politics of the “war on terror” in 2002-03. Outside of work, Jane is a former music journalist, a published poet, and a mother of two.