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Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Part of Global Science and Innovation Network UK in Sweden

15th January 2013

The Virtues of Sin…

The SIN (Science and Innovation Network) is a UK government venture, which builds opportunities for the UK scientific community to enter into partnerships with policy, business and academic counterparts around the world.  Located in about 30 countries around the world, the network is made up of about 90 staff.

Their goal is to highlight innovation by bringing the ‘best of the best’ scientific brains of the host nation together with those in the UK to help create jobs and thus promote prosperity in addition to encouraging collaborative working, so that global challenges such as food and water shortages, cures for cancer and new and exciting technology can be explored and developed to be delivered to all peoples around the world.

As you’ll see from the new SIN Report we are not averse to ‘SINning’ in northern Europe either!

In 2011 SIN Sweden ran a workshop for small companies, UK researchers and large companies from Denmark, Finland and Sweden to boost collaboration in ICT. Nordic countries are particularly recognised for their expertise in this area and the result of this meeting was that the Heads of Research and Development in BT and Ericsson are now working much closer with one another, bringing the two countries closer in terms of both technology and business.

Also, as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the Embassy in Stockholm ran a biomass investors meeting attended by HRH Prince Charles. Several existing and potential Swedish investors to the UK and hi tech companies pioneering biofuels for companies like Virgin Atlantic attended.

SIN Finland organised a UK–Finland partnering event for 50 UK participants from the Helsinki Sustainable Buildings 2011 event with Finnish green buildings contacts. Issues such as the sustainable buildings’ effort behind the London Olympic park were discussed. As a result, the Technology Strategy Board and the Finnish innovation agency TEKES, are discussing potential ways to work together more closely. So in this respect at least SIN has its virtues! My colleague Susan Stradling-Day is head of the Nordic SIN network if you’re interested in following up.

About Paul Johnston

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially. He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide…

Paul Johnston joined the UK Civil Service in 1990, working for the Ministry of Defence initially.

He has served in Paris and New York and has also had a wide range of political and security roles in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Paul joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993 as Desk Officer for Bosnia. As part of this role he was also Private Secretary to EU negotiator Lord Owen and his representative on Bosnia Contact Group.

His first foreign posting was to Paris in 1995-99 as Second Secretary Political. He was Private Secretary to the Ambassador and latterly part of the UK delegation to the Kosovo Rambouillet negotiations. Then he returned to London as Head of the Kosovo Policy Team, leading work on post-conflict policy in the EU, NATO, UN and G8.

Before his second overseas posting to New York in 2005, Paul held a variety of other EU policy and security appointments in London, such as Head of European Defence Section between 2000-01 and Head of Security Policy Department between 2002-04.

As Head of the Political Section in UKMIS New York, he advised on major policy issues for the UK on the Security Council and the UN World Summit, including the UK EU Presidency in 2005.

Paul returned to London in 2008 as Director, International Security for the FCO. He was responsible for policy on UN, NATO, European Security, arms control and disarmament, human rights and good governance.

Paul was British Ambassador to Sweden from August 2011 to August 2015 and then was Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.

He was UK Ambassador to the EU for Political and Security affairs from 2017 to January 2020 and became Ambassador to Ireland in September 2020.

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Science and Innovation Network SIN Report