Sir Robin Christian Howard Niblett (born 20 August 1961) is a British specialist in

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. He is a distinguished fellow at

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

and at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and a senior adviser at British strategic advisory firm

Hakluyt & Company Hakluyt & Company is a British strategic advisory firm. The company is headquartered in London. Hakluyt was founded by former officials of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). The company has recruited several former British spies and ...

. He was the director and chief executive of Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, for 15 years between 2007 and 2022. He will begin his tenure as the Warden of New College, Oxford in September 2026.

Education and personal life

Niblett is the son of Alan and Christine Niblett. In 1990, he married Trisha de Borchgrave, daughter of

Arnaud de Borchgrave Arnaud Charles Paul Marie Philippe de Borchgrave (26 October 1926 – 15 February 2015) was a Belgian–American journalist who specialized in international politics. Following a long career with the news magazine ''Newsweek'', covering 17 wars ...

, with whom he has two daughters. He was educated at

Cottesmore School Cottesmore is a boarding preparatory school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1894. History Cottesmore was founded by Geoffrey Davison Brown in 1894 in Hove, East Sussex. He named the school after Cottesmore, Rutland, where he was born. The n ...

and

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

. He studied at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, and obtained a BA in Modern Languages in 1984, followed by an

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

in 1993 and

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in International Relations in 1995. His doctoral thesis was entitled ''The European Community and the Central European Three, 1989–92: a study of the Community as an international actor''.

Early career

On leaving Oxford, he was a musician 1985–87 (he lists electric guitar among his recreations in ''Who's Who'').

Center for Strategic and International Studies

He was resident associate at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

, Washington, DC 1988–91 and their Europe representative 1992–97. He was director, strategic planning, 1997–2000; executive vice-president and chief operating officer, 2001–06. During his last two years at CSIS, he also served as director of the CSIS Europe Program and its Initiative for a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership.

Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs)

Niblett was appointed director and chief executive of Chatham House in January 2007. His 15-year tenure spanned major world events, from the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine. Over that period, Chatham House tripled in size as an organisation. It now counts more than 200 full-time staff and 150 associate fellows, working across the full range of topics related to international affairs including geopolitics, the energy transition and technology competition. He announced in October 2021 that he would be stepping down from his role the following year. In April 2022, he was succeeded in the role by

Bronwen Maddox Bronwen Maria Maddox (born 7 May 1963) is a former journalist who has served as the director and CEO of think tank Chatham House since August 2022. Prior to this, she was the Director of the Institute for Government between 2016 and 2022. Madd ...

. Three months later, in July, he was appointed a distinguished fellow and made a lifetime member by Chatham House’s governing Council, in recognition of his "exceptional service to the institute".

Other roles

Niblett has participated as a panellist at conferences and events around the world as an expert on

transatlantic relations Transatlantic relations refer to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes it specifically means relationships between the Anglophone North American count ...

and European order. He has given evidence to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Defence Select Committee about the future of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and European defence, to the

Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign Affairs Committee may refer to: * Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development * Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade * Foreign Affairs Committee of t ...

about the US-UK relationship and the future of UK government policy towards the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, and to the Select Committee on Soft Power and the UK's Influence. He has appeared as an analyst on these topics in major media including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and has written and commented for prominent newspapers including the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''. He is the editor and contributing author of the book ''America and a Changed World: A Question of Leadership'' and has edited and co-authored books on transatlantic cooperation and European integration. Most recently he authored a chapter in the book ''Influencing Tomorrow: Future Challenges for British Foreign Policy''. He has served as a non-executive director of Fidelity European Values Investment Trust since 2010, and is a member and former Chairman of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

's Global Agenda Council on Europe. He chaired the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

forum on language needs for UK public policy making and implementation and is currently Chairman of the Experts Group for the 2014 NATO Summit. He is a non-resident distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Since 2022, he has been a senior adviser on geopolitics and international affairs at the British strategic advisory firm

. In September 2026, he will take up the post of Warden of New College.

Honours

Niblett was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) in the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to promoting the UK as a global centre for foreign policy and

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to international relations and British foreign policy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niblett, Robin 1961 births Alumni of New College, Oxford British chief operating officers Council and directors of Chatham House Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Living people People educated at Charterhouse School