Regional Director South-East Europe,
British Council

Michael Bird was appointed the British Council’s Regional Director for South East Europe on 1st September 2009. Michael studied at Cambridge, Harvard and Voronezh Universities. After joining the Bri- tish Council in 1985, he was posted to Moscow at the time of glasnost and perestroika and developed new education and training programmes in 13 of the 15 then Soviet repu-
blics. In 1991 he moved to Brussels, where he advised UK universities and research organisations on EU research and mobility programmes. In 1993 he set up a new British Council operation in St Peters- burg, with outreach programmes covering much of North West Russia. In 1997 he moved to Kyiv, where as Director of the British Council in Ukraine he co-located the British Council with the Goethe-Institut and developed English language programmes and initiatives to support civil society. He was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Millennium Honours List in 2000. From 2001 to 2005 he was Director of the British Council in his native Scotland, where the devolved Scottish Government has created new dimensions for international cultural relations. From 2005 to 2009 he was Director of the British Council in Germany, where as a member of the British Council’s regional management team for West Europe and North America he contributed to the creation of the British Council’s current strategy for Europe. Michael speaks fluent German and Russian. His wife, Simone, is a fellow Scot. When not working for the British Council he relaxes by listening to music, watching football and climbing moun- tains – he has climbed all 283 of Scotland’s mountains over 3,000 feet (“the Munros”).