Mr Chris Lockyear

Christopher Lockyear is an Executive-in-Residence at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) — a negotiator, humanitarian, commentator, and qualified mediator with over two decades of experience in conflict environments, international diplomacy, and senior institutional leadership.
Chris is working on the intersection between humanitarian negotiations and political mediation. He teaches on humanitarian diplomacy, complex emergencies, and peace mediation.
Chris most recently served for seven and a half years as Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders, an independent medical humanitarian organisation of nearly 70,000 staff across more than 70 countries. He has led political and diplomatic engagement across conflicts in Palestine, Israel, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, South Sudan, and Chad, negotiating access and the protection of civilians with state and non-state actors. He has twice briefed the United Nations Security Council, authored peer-reviewed articles and opinion pieces, and is a regular commentator on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, RTE, France 24, and Le Monde.
Chris has worked across the full spectrum of actors in contemporary conflict — armed forces, non-state groups, governments, UN agencies, civil society, and the private sector.
Prior to MSF, Chris served as Director of Operations at Action Contre la Faim and as a member of the UN Emergency Directors Group. He is a Yale World Fellow and has taught on complex humanitarian emergencies at Yale University.
Chris has led major organisational development processes in complex international settings, including strategic planning, financial governance reform, operational restructuring, fundraising strategy, and programmes of remuneration reform and diversity, equity, and inclusion — consistently aimed at shifting decision-making closer to staff and the people organisations serve.
He holds degrees in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Ethics from the University of Exeter, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from Exeter, awarded in 2025. Before the humanitarian sector, he worked in the oil and gas industry across the UK, United States, and India.