THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY IS IRELAND'S LEADING BODY OF EXPERTS IN THE SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann champions research. We identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. We support scholarship and promote awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. We believe that good research needs to be promoted, sustained and communicated. The Academy is run by a Council of its members. Membership is by election and considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.

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Damien Cole

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Damien Cole is currently Director of the Policy Planning Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  He took up that role in 2017. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as Ambassador to Egypt and was also non-resident Ambassador to Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Prior to that he served as Ambassador to Vietnam, and as non-resident Ambassador to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar from 2011-2015. During his career with the Department of Foreign Affairs, he has also served as Director of Bilateral Programmes in Development Co-operation Division, as Head of the Political Section at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in New York, and at Ireland’s Embassy to the Russian Federation in Moscow. Before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1995, he also worked in the Department of Social Welfare and at the Central Bank of Ireland. He is a graduate of University College Cork in History and English, and has a Masters degree in Global Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London.

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