James Watt CVO is Chairman of the International Advisory Board for the Research for Health in Conflict project (R4HC). He is furthermore currently chairman of the Council for British Research in the Levant (cbrl.org), a body funded through the British Academy supporting post-doctoral research in the social sciences and humanities in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and with institutes in Jerusalem and Amman. He is also a trustee of the London Middle East Institute, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (soas.ac.uk/lmei). In addition, he is a trustee of the British Lebanese Association (britishlebanese.org) responsible for the masters-level scholarship programme. Separately he works in London as a political risk consultant on the Middle East as a partner in the Ambassador Partnership (ambassadorllp.com) and is a commentator on the politics of the region. His earlier career was in the British Diplomatic Service from 1977-2014, specialising in the Middle East and serving as ambassador to Lebanon (2003-6), Jordan (2006-11) and Egypt (2011-14).