Our People .

Director of Research, Engagement and Innovation, United Kingdom Division Michael Shaw

Michael has spent much of the past decade working in conflict-affected environments, mostly as an adviser for FCDO and USAID OTI programs in locations including Uruzgan and Syria. He also served as the civilian stabilization adviser to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Syria/Iraq Stabilization Review in 2017. In 2020 he led the startup team for the FCO’s CSSF Elite Deals and Political Bargains community engagement program in Mali, and is currently Project Director of the FCDO’s flagship Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends research program. Michael also works as Project Director of the Research and Perceptions in the Donbas (RAPID) stabilization research project for FCDO. Over his career in development Michael has also consulted on short assignments in Helmand and Bamyan in Afghanistan, in the Federal Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, in Lebanon, Tunisia, and in Mogadishu, Somalia.  Michael has a B.A. in Politics and International Relations and a JD-equivalent LLB from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Alongside his work with Chemonics, he is also a Deployable Civilian Expert with the UK government’s Stabilisation Unit.