Sir Laurie Bristow KCMG is President of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge (from October 2022). Laurie joined the UK diplomatic service in 1990, as the Cold War ended and change swept across Europe. His first posting was to Romania in the spring of 1992. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of the Republic to the Taliban in 2021. He served as Ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. He was Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2004 to 2007, when the major offshore oil and gas infrastructure and pipelines were built. Senior roles in London included Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Director for National Security, and COP26 Regional Ambassador for China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Laurie’s interests include Russia and its neighbours, and a broad range of national and international security issues.