Meet Ian Rigden OBE FRGS

Ian joined the British Army in 1980 and spent 37 years in uniform, retiring in 2017. He spent most of his service in the Brigade of Gurkhas in many places around the world. He has spent that last 8 years working as a humanitarian.

He was the Regional Security Sector Advisor for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue Asia Regional Office and Myanmar Team from 10 July 2017 to 1st April 2022 working on the Myanmar Peace Process, engaging with multiple actors. He then became the Regional Advisor for HD Asia-Pacific, coordinating, mediating and facilitating specific projects on Humanitarian access and human security (particularly Myanmar), but also supporting HD’s wider efforts in South East Asia, including Thailand, Bangladesh and the Philippines, as well as providing security sector advice to HD’s team globally as required. He has taught mediation and negotiation and facilitated multiple dialogues during the last 7 years plus to many conflict parties throughout South East Asia and further afield, with another 15 years negotiation and mediation practical and teaching experience in the UK Armed Forces prior to that.

He is currently the Director of the International Mediation Campus (IMC), the international arm of the mediation and negotiation training organisation, CONSENSUS Group, Germany. IMC is registered in London. He is a member, facilitator and mentor for the Centre of Competence for Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), which is based in Geneva. He holds Master’s Degrees in Defence Studies from King’s College, London (1995), and Strategic Studies from the US Army War College (2008). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.