• what is a diplomat?

  • Despite popular misconceptions, diplomacy is not all glamorous dinner parties and soirées. It’s an amazing job with lots of opportunities that cannot be had in any other occupation, but it’s still a job. And it's a very demanding job.

  • This theme explores the other side of the diplomatic life, the one that isn’t discussed in the glossy recruitment websites and that becomes harder to ignore as we progress in our careers.
     

• competition

  • It is very competitive to get into the Foreign Service, or other job, to work overseas. Thousands apply and small numbers are accepted. Diplomats represent some of the best and brightest of their country. Once in, the competition does not end. There’s competition for attention, postings and promotions.

  • This theme investigates how this competitive culture can affect diplomats.

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• resilience

  • Diplomats are not only smart people in snappy suits. We must be resilient and continually adapt to ever-changing political and social landscapes and recover from stresses that don’t happen in many other jobs, all while living and working in societies and cultures different to our own.

  • What effect does this need to be constantly resilient have on diplomat and those with them?

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• loneliness

  • Loneliness is a well-studied global epidemic with significant side effects on our physical and mental health that can develop in our later years. If it's a global epidemic, why do we find it so hard to admit that we might be lonely? What is loneliness and how can loneliness affect diplomats and those with them?

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• connection

  • Connection is the commonly prescribed antidote to loneliness. One must simply connect in order to feel part of something larger. Oh, if it was only as simple to do as it is to say! Especially when we have so much work to do and, possibly, a family to care for and spend time with…

  • This theme explores how diplomats and those living the diplomatic life can connect with themselves first, then with those around them and the wider community before calling people forward to take action.