Dr Matthew Rowland

Biography

Matthew Rowland arrived in Somalia on 4 June 2019 as Deputy Ambassador. He was previously UK Ambassador/ Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Matthew joined the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in 2001. He has worked across Her Majesty’s Government on matters of peace and international security in a range of jobs including Head of Peacekeeping in London (during which time he co-authored the Building Stability Overseas Strategy), some years on secondment to the Cabinet Office, and a tour in Brasilia as Second Secretary Political, Press and Public Affairs.

During his five years as UK Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Matthew chaired the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2017 and led the UK delegation at the 2015 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Before joining the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Matthew worked as a consultant mining geologist. He gained a PhD in geochemistry from Imperial College, London, and an engineering degree in geology from the Camborne School of Mines/University of Exeter.