Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is one of the best-known and most respected civil society leaders, who has led several charities over the last twenty years. He served most recently as CEO of Oxfam Great Britain, and was previously Secretary General of CIVICUS, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, and a trustee of the Baring Foundation, Comic Relief, Disasters Emergency Committee, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, and International Alert. In January 2024, he will take up the role of CEO at the New Economics Foundation.
Dr. Sriskandarajah has also led several research and policy initiatives aimed at strengthening civic freedoms, been a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Civil Society, and a member of the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in the UK. He has been listed as one of Britain’s 25 most influential charity leaders (Charity Times), 101 most influential Asians (GGS), 100 top BAME UK business leaders (Green Park) and as a Young Global Leader (World Economic Forum). Dr Sriskandarajah has been invited to serve on two UN High Level Panels (on Digital Cooperation and on Humanitarian Finance) and as a member of the Lead Group for Scaling Up Nutrition.
Dr. Sriskandarajah has co-written two research books (BRITS ABROAD on British emigration, and DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOVE on migration and development), and authored several book chapters and journal articles. His opinion pieces have been published in newspapers in more than thirty countries, and he regularly appears on broadcast media, including programmes such as the BBC’s Today Programme and Question Time. He has spoken at over 500 events in some seventy countries, including at the United Nations General Assembly, the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings at Davos, and committees of both Houses of the UK Parliament.
He was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Papua New Guinea and Australia, and has lived in the UK since 1998. He holds a first degree from the University of Sydney, and a MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.