Olivia O’Sullivan is Director of the UK in the World Programme at Chatham House.

Before joining Chatham House, Olivia worked for over a decade in international development and foreign policy in the UK government, across roles in the Department for International Development, Cabinet Office and cross-government teams.

She was foreign policy lead and deputy head of the Open Innovation Team, a government research unit that translates academic evidence into policy. Her experience includes managing external expert engagement for the 2021 Integrated Review, working on the UK’s funding and policy response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, and overseeing a range of international development and humanitarian funding programmes.