Stuart MacDonald is a research consultant to Governments, higher education, and multilateral organisations in International Cultural Relations. His business (ICR) is based in London (UK) and bridges theory and practice. He is active in higher education as a Research Associate at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, University of London; as an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in the College of Science at Swansea University, and through his long-term engagement with the University of Edinburgh, where he proposed, developed and ran the Centre for Cultural Relations until 2016, and in his current roles as a founder member of the Digital Influence and Intelligence Lab, an interdisciplinary consortium with the University’s Neuropolitics Research Lab and M&C Saatchi World Services dedicated to building understanding of digital influence, and as a Board Member of the Academy of Sport. He is a Trustee of Arts Cabinet, an arts organisation dedicated to artistic research, and writes on aspects of international cultural relations. Prior to founding ICR, he worked as a senior policy adviser in the UK Civil Service, advising Ministers on a wide range of policy areas, including international relations, cultural and educational policy, research and evaluation, senior staff training, and the digitisation of Government services.