The Sir Hugh Cortazzi Lecture: Security in a Changing World

Date
Wednesday 26 November 2025

Time
5.30pm for 6.00pm start
Carriages at 8.00pm

Venue
Chatham House
10 St James's Square
London
SW1Y 4LE

Booking Details
Free - Booking essential

Exclusive event for Members of The Japan Society and Members of Chatham House
(more details on how to become a member of The Japan Society here)

Deadline: Friday 31 October 2025

Members will be contacted to confirm their place. In case of oversubscription, Members will be entered into a ballot and selected randomly.

The Japan Society is delighted to announce our second annual Cortazzi Lecture, which will be held in collaboration with Chatham House. This lecture series honours the life and legacy of Sir Hugh Cortazzi GCMG (1924–2018), a champion of Anglo-Japanese relations, both during his diplomatic career at the FCDO and in his retirement. He served as UK Ambassador to Japan (1980–1984) and was Chair of The Japan Society (1985–1995). 

The inaugural lecture, delivered by Mami Mizutori, former Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Agency, was held in collaboration with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) at the historic Locarno Suite.  

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In this lecture Dame Karen Pierce DCMG, UK Special Envoy to the Western Balkans and formerly British Ambassador to the USA and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, will speak on ‘Security in a Changing World’, including the developing role of the UK-Japan relationship.

The UK-Japan relationship has deepened significantly in recent years and now includes a more substantive security component. The Global Combat Air Programme, an initiative led by the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy to jointly develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter, is part of wider collaboration efforts that also saw HMS Prince of Wales lead the UK Carrier Strike Group’s visit Japan in August 2025. We are delighted that Dame Karen, who brings a wealth of experience and expertise on this topic, will share her insights here.

Dame Karen will be introduced by The Rt Hon Greg Clark, Chair of The Japan Society, and Ms Bronwen Maddox, Director and Chief Executive of Chatham House. Following the lecture there will be a reception and a chance to meet those joining from Parliament and Whitehall, along with members of The Japan Society and Chatham House.

The Japan Society is deeply grateful to Lady Elizabeth Cortazzi and the Cortazzi family for their kind support. We are also grateful to Chatham House for their partnership on this significant event.

Dame Karen Elizabeth Pierce DCMG joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1981. Her first role saw her posted to the British Embassy in Tokyo, between 1984 and 1987. Karen currently serves as UK Special Envoy to the Western Balkans. Karen’s previous roles include British Ambassador to the USA (2020 to 2025), the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (from 2018), and Director General for Political Affairs and Chief Operating Officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (from 2016).   

Karen has also served as the UK’s Ambassador to Afghanistan (2015 to 2016) and the Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UK Mission to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Other International Organisations (2012 to 2015). Karen was the first woman appointed to the United States and United Nations roles, and the second in the Afghanistan role.   

The Rt Hon Greg Clark was appointed as Chair of The Japan Society on the 1st of January 2025. Greg served as a Cabinet minister under three Prime Ministers, including for three years as Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. He was a senior minister for nearly a decade, including as Minister for Science and Universities, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister of State at the Cabinet Office.  

Until the last General Election Greg served as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Japan, Chair of the British-Japanese All Party Parliamentary Group, and Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee. Greg was appointed as Executive Chair of Warwick Innovation at the University of Warwick in October 2024 and serves as a member of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Advisory Council. 

Greg was educated in Economics at the University of Cambridge and was awarded his PhD at the London School of Economics. He is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford.   

Bronwen Maddox took up the post of Director and Chief Executive of Chatham House in August 2022. Before joining Chatham House, Bronwen was Director of the Institute for Government (2016-2022), an independent think tank based in London promoting better government. From 2010 to 2016 she was editor and chief executive of Prospect, the monthly current affairs magazine. Before that, she served as chief foreign commentator, foreign editor and US editor at The Times, after a period at the Financial Times where she ran award-winning investigations and wrote economics editorials. 

Before becoming a journalist, Bronwen was an investment analyst in the City and a director of Kleinwort Benson Securities, where she ran its highly-rated team analysing world media stocks. Bronwen is a Visiting Professor in the Policy Institute at King’s College London, Honorary Governor of Ditchley and an honorary fellow of the British Academy. She writes frequent op-ed columns for the Financial Times and broadcasts widely.

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