Director, Cambridge Governance Labs

John Barker is Director of the Cambridge Governance Labs, a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and a Law Fellow at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. A recently retired judicial officer with professional experience in Africa spanning 30 years, he has worked with governments, international development agencies and non-governmental organisations on the promotion of good governance and the rule of law. Over the course of his career John has worked in public, private, charity and educational sectors, and advised the UNDP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, CIDA and DFID on human rights and transitional justice.

As a former Coordinator of the Governance Education Network, he has worked with a coalition of governance experts to enhance development objectives through the wider application of governance principles. With a background in the physical sciences as well as social sciences, John has a particular interest in the use of emerging technologies to map human experience and redirect international inquiry and investment of development resources. He seeks to promote a more integrated, broad-spectrum understanding of decision-making to impact the lives of citizens in developing countries.