BARONESS VALERIE AMOS CH PC

In 1963 Valerie and her family emigrated from Guyana to the UK where she completed her primary education in Belvedere, Kent before passing the 11+ and going on to Bexley Technical High School for Girls, now Townley Grammar School for Girls. Described by her sister as a ‘goody-goody’, Valerie was a quiet and academic student who became a prefect and eventually Deputy Head Girl.

Valerie made the most of her university experience, studying Sociology for her undergraduate degree at the University of Warwick. She went on to complete a Masters in Cultural Studies, working with one of her mentors Stuart Hall, at the University of Birmingham before doing applied research on the subject of ‘Black Girls and the Transition from School to Work’ at the University of East Anglia.

After university Valerie worked in various local authority posts in London before taking up the role of Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission. She then spent several years as an adviser, working with various Ministries in the Mandela Government. In 1997 she entered the House of Lords as a Labour Life Peer.

She was a Minister in the Foreign Office and became the first black woman in a British Cabinet when she was promoted to Secretary of State for International Development and later became Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council.

Valerie went to Australia as British High Commissioner in 2009 and in 2010 was nominated for the role of Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations. Valerie spent five years at the UN coordinating the humanitarian response to complex conflict and natural disaster situations around the world including Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Nepal and Pakistan working for the United Nations.

Valerie took up the role of Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London in 2015. She spends her days surrounded by young people with different perspectives on the world who engage critically with global issues. What Valerie enjoys most about her role is being part of a place that is about learning, being curious, knowledge exchange and challenging conventional ways of thinking.