Lara Bird-Leakey
Lara is Senior Foreign Affairs and Defence Researcher for the SNP and a PhD candidate at Kings College London War Studies Department working on UK Government policy and IHL in the context of non-international armed conflict. She holds an LL.M in Public International Law from the LSE and is a member of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple, having been awarded the Queen Mother Scholarship for her Bar studies at the ICCA. She was a Balfour Project Fellow in 2021 and sits on the Executive Committee as well as assisting with Fellowship projects.
Mike Scott-Baumann – Chair
Mike Scott-Baumann is a graduate of Cambridge University and has an MA in Palestine Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has thirty-five years’ experience as a history teacher and lecturer. He has written on the history of Israel/Palestine for students of GCSE and A Level and in 2021, ‘Palestinians and Israelis: A Short History of Conflict’, was published by The History Press. He has travelled widely in the region and has worked in the Jordan Valley under the auspices of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
Martha Scott-Cracknell
Martha Scott-Cracknell has worked for a number of organisations in the peace advocacy, interfaith and education sector. Martha was a Balfour Project Peace Advocacy Fellow 2020-21 and has worked as Programmes Officer since 2021. Amongst other roles, she works alongside Matan Rosenstrauch and John McHugo to coordinate the Fellowship programme. Martha obtained a BA in Religion, Politics and Society from the University of Leeds and a MSt in the Study of Religions from the University of Oxford.
Sandra Hamrouni
Sandra Hamrouni enjoyed a 30-year career with the British Council – as Country Director in Bahrain, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Cyprus and Algeria and Teaching Centre Manager in Tunisia, Syria, Oman and Spain. As Country Director in oPT she led educational, arts and cultural relations programmes and initiated and developed Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians. Now in its twelfth year, HESPAL has enabled over 200 Palestinian academics to follow Masters and PhD programmes at UK universities. She continues to work voluntarily for the Balfour Project and Fobzu (Friends of Birzeit University).
Tim Llewellyn
Tim Llewellyn is a former Chair of the Balfour Project Executive Committee and has been a Committee Member since 2018. Tim was BBC Middle East Correspondent from 1976 to 1980, based in Beirut, and from 1987 to 1992, in Nicosia. He is the author of Spirit of the Phoenix: Beirut and the Story of Lebanon, published by IB Tauris in 2010.