Peter Brown, Director, British Council Scotland
Tuesday 12 September 2023

 

British Council Scotland has today announced the appointment of Peter Brown as its new Director. Peter will lead global education and arts programmes and will sustain and grow the British Council's current network of relationships across Scotland. He will support engagement around culture, education, and cultural relations with a network of over 100 international offices, taking the best of Scotland to the world and vice versa.

Peter will join the team in Edinburgh, moving from Serbia where he has been Director for the Western Balkans for the past three years. In Belgrade, Peter led the British Council’s work across the Arts, English, and Education – most recently on the UK government-funded 21st Century Schools programme, reaching 1 million 10-15 year old children in 4000 schools between 2019 and 2022.

Peter is excited to return home to Scotland and says about the new role:

“I’m absolutely thrilled to join the team in Edinburgh and to head up the British Council in Scotland. I’ve been with the British Council for over 30 years and have worked around the world making global connections and building relationships with the UK. I’m looking forward to carrying on this work in, and for Scotland”.

Peter adds about activity coming up:

“The British Council has brilliant and well-established arts and education programmes connecting across the country and I’m excited to help create more opportunities for Scottish creatives, students, and organisations to build worldwide connections. More broadly, I will look at how we help amplify the cultural assets of Scotland such as its leadership in creative showcasing and education partnerships.

“We’re working with the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities to offer the global EARTH Scholarship programme focused on creative approaches to the climate crisis. We’ll be working with Creative Scotland on the UK-France 2024 Spotlight Fund, and the British Council Connections Through Culture Grants are now open - linking the UK with East Asia. In November, a highlight for Edinburgh will the Going Global Education conference”.

Peter brings with him a wealth of international experience, having led policy and education work across the Western Balkans and has held Country Director roles in Mozambique, Venezuela, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Welcoming Peter into the Director role, Seona Reid, Chair of the British Council Scotland advisory committee, said:

“We are delighted to welcome Peter into this important role. Peter has longstanding connections with Scotland and has a reputation for delivering work internationally and creating lasting value. I have no doubt he will make a very significant contribution to the internationalisation of education and arts in Scotland in the coming years, working alongside valued partners including the Scottish Government.”

-Ends-

Notes to Editor

Peter Brown has been with the British Council for over 30 years, following a brief period in banking with RBS in Edinburgh.  Prior to taking up post as Director Scotland in September 2023, he held Country Director roles in Mozambique, Venezuela, Uganda and Ethiopia, and the cluster lead role in the Western Balkans role in March 2020, where he covered Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.  

He was born in Musselburgh, brought up in Dunfermline and studied German Language and Literature at the University of St. Andrews.  He has an MBA from Heriot-Watt University and a Diploma in Translation (Spanish to English).  He’s married to Carmen with two grown-up children, Alexander and Carmen, and a Serbian dog called Milo.

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.