We were delighted to welcome Suzanne Raine, Master of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge as guest speaker during a Whitehall Group lunch on Thursday, 20th November. Before entering the world of academia Suzanne served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues. During lunch Suzanne discussed ‘The age of surprise’. We are grateful to Taylor Wessing LLP for hosting this event.
Whitehall Group Lunch – Thursday, 20th November 2025
Venue: Taylor Wessing LLP, 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3TW
Speaker: Suzanne Raine, Master of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge
Title: ‘The age of surprise’
Suzanne graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge in History. She served for 24 years in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on foreign policy and national security issues, including postings in Poland, Iraq and Pakistan. She was Head of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre from 2015 – 2017 and Director of Counter-Terrorism from 2017 – 19.
Since leaving the civil service in 2019 she has engaged with academia through the Centre for Geopolitics in Cambridge and as a Visiting Professor at Kings College London. She writes and lectures on risk analysis, anticipation and warning. She is a member of the Public Interest Board of Ernst & Young LLP and is currently also Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Imperial War Museum and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the world’s oldest think tank. She was elected Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2025.
