Head of Scholarships Unit, Education, Gender and Equality Directorate, FCDO

Continuing Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Emma Hennessey is Head of the Scholarships Unit at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). She is responsible for FCDO’s international scholarships programmes: Chevening (a global programme offering scholarships to graduates in around 140 countries), Commonwealth (open to all Commonwealth countries) and Marshall (for US graduates). She was previously Co-lead, Designations, Sanctions Taskforce at FCDO. Prior to that, she was Deputy Head of US, Canada and Caribbean Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). She served as Acting Head of the Global Economic Issues Department and Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser at the FCO. She was also Head of the FCO/BEIS-funded Science and Innovation Network, providing leadership to the network of around 100 officers in over 50 countries worldwide to ensure they support, and build upon, the UK’s international science and innovation priorities. She was responsible for supporting FCO’s Chief Scientific Adviser, including embedding the use of international science and innovation as a source of UK soft power and for science communications. She managed the FCO’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Team, part of a cross-Government team that delivered a major international Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in October 2018.

Earlier in her career, Emma was head of the CSA’s team in Defra (2009-14), having joined Defra’s predecessor MAFF in 1994. Overall, she has around 30 years of experience of working in government. Prior to that, she did postdoctoral research fellowships at the Universities of York and Sussex, and a DPhil in Biology from the University of York.