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.
Diana Safieh
Diana Safieh has managed Operations and Events for companies and charities for over 15 years. Diana has spent much of her life in the charity sector, fundraising for humanitarian and development projects in Palestine. She has worked in events and fundraising for St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, Galilee Foundation and Welfare Association. She has been invested as a member of the Order of St John for her contribution to the charitable sector. Diana obtained a BA in Environment and Society from Kings College, London and an MSc in Sustainable Development.
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.
Eibhlin Priestley
As Education Officer, Eibhlin Priestley oversees the development and delivery of Balfour Project’s workshop programme for schools. She is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge working on a social and economic history of the Syro-Lebanese community in 20th century Sudan. Prior to this she held roles in communications, research and education for institutions including the EUI, the Italian Ministry of Public Education, the Arab Studies Institute and the University of Sussex.
Lara Bird-Leakey
Lara is Senior Foreign Affairs and Defence Researcher for the SNP and PhD Candidate at Kings College London War Studies Department on the subject of 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.