Head and shoulders image of Lindsay Skoll, CMG

Lindsay Skoll, CMG will succeed the current Principal, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, on his retirement from the role.

Published

30 Jul 2025

Jesus College, Oxford announces the appointment of a new Principal

Lindsay Skoll, CMG is the first woman to be elected to the position in the College’s 454-year history.

The Governing Body of Jesus College, Oxford has resolved to appoint Lindsay Skoll, CMG to the position of Principal from August 1, 2026. She is the first woman to be elected to the position in the College’s 454-year history.

The formal election will take place in the College Chapel on October 15, 2025. Lindsay will succeed the current Principal, Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, on his retirement from the role.

Lindsay Skoll, CMG

Lindsay is currently His Majesty’s Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna, a role she has held since 2021. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or FCDO) in 1996, and has an extensive background in international public and cultural relations.

She has held a series of senior FCDO posts, including Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy Moscow (2018-2020), British High Commissioner to the Republic of Seychelles (2012-2015) and Deputy Head of Mission in the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (2004-2006). She was also Head (Climate) of the FCDO’s Climate Change and Energy Department (2010-2012), and led the Government’s international response to the Zika Virus epidemic in 2016.

Lindsay was appointed Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George in the 2019 New Year Honours in recognition of her exemplary service to British foreign policy.

She has a first-class honours degree in History with Russian from the University of Nottingham. She is married to Richard, and has three children.

Elizabethan college

Jesus College, Oxford is home to over 700 undergraduate and graduate students and was founded in 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the only Elizabethan college at the University of Oxford.

Amongst the College’s Fellows, lecturers and tutors are many world-class scholars working at the boundaries of interdisciplinary research in the digital age: deepening our knowledge of the past, tackling the challenges of the present, and innovating to secure the future.

The College strives for the highest standards of academic excellence in teaching and research, and to do so within a friendly, inclusive and supportive community.

Find out more about Jesus College, Oxford.