{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Short description|British expert on conflict, reconciliation and stability}} {{Infobox person | name = Emma Sky | image = Emma Sky.jpg | image_size = 150px | alt = | caption = Emma Sky | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1968}} | birth_place = England | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|death date†|birth date†}} --> | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = Director of Yale World Fellows<br/>Jackson Institute for Global Affairs Senior Fellow | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq'' (2015) }} '''Emma Sky''', OBE is a British expert on conflict, reconciliation and stability, who has worked mainly in the Middle East. She served in Iraq as the political advisor to US General Ray Odierno and General David Petraeus during the surge. She is founding director of the International Leadership Center at Yale University, overseeing the Yale World Fellows Program and other initiatives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jackson.yale.edu/international-leadership-center/people/|title = People – Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs}}</ref> She is a Senior Fellow at Yale's Jackson School for Global Affairs, where she lectures on Middle East politics and global affairs.
She is the author of ''The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq'' (2015) and ''In a Time of Monsters: Travelling in a Middle East in Revolt'' (2019).
==Early life and education== Sky was born and grew up in England. She attended the Ashfold School and Dean Close School and earned her undergraduate degree in Oriental studies at Somerville College, Oxford University.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |title=In Iraq, a Blunt Civilian Is a Fixture by the General's Side |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/world/middleeast/21emmasky.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=21 November 2009 |page=A6 }}</ref><ref name="timesuk">{{cite news |date=24 February 2019 |title=Emma Sky interview: why the 2003 Iraq invasion changed the world for the worse |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/emma-sky-interview-why-the-2003-iraq-invasion-changed-the-world-for-the-worse-ggcwvkmt0 |work=The Times of London }}</ref> She also studied at Alexandria University in Egypt, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, and the University of Liverpool.<ref name="yale">{{cite web |url=http://jackson.yale.edu/sky |title=Emma Sky |publisher=Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs }}</ref>
==Career== Following Oxford, Sky spent about ten years working for non-governmental organisations in attempts at ‘development and conflict resolution’.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="yale"/>[[File:Flickr - The U.S. Army - www.Army.mil (4).jpg|thumb|right|335px|Emma Sky (second from left) accompanying Gen. Ray Odierno (centre) on a visit to a local market in Khalis, Iraq, January 2009.]] During this period, Sky primarily lived in Israel, working in the East Jerusalem office of the British Council managing projects in the West Bank and Gaza which aimed to help build up the capacity of Palestinian institutions, and to promote co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="harvard">{{cite web |url=http://www.iop.harvard.edu/emma-sky |title=Emma Sky |date=14 November 2024 |publisher=Harvard University Institute of Politics }}</ref><ref name="interview">{{cite news|title=Activist, Advisor, academic |url=http://yalejournal.org/2013/02/26/activist-advisor-academic/ |newspaper=Yale Journal of International Affairs |date=26 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807214428/http://yalejournal.org/2013/02/26/activist-advisor-academic/ |archive-date=7 August 2013 }}</ref> In 2001, Sky returned to the UK and continued working for the British Council in Manchester, where she remained until the launch of the 2003 Iraq War.<ref name="harvard"/>
Although opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Sky volunteered to join the Coalition Provisional Authority and served as the Governorate Coordinator of Kirkuk from 2003 to 2004.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="harvard"/><ref name="guardian">{{cite news |title=Inside Iraq: the British peacenik who became key to the US military |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/15/iraq-emma-sky-us-military |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 July 2012 }}</ref><ref name="guardian1">{{cite news |title=Inside Iraq: 'We had to deal with people who had blood on their hands' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/16/inside-iraq-emma-sky |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 July 2012 }}</ref>
Sky served in 2005 in Jerusalem as the Political Advisor to General Kip Ward, the US Security Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. In 2006, she was based in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Development Advisor to the Italian and British Commanding Generals of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.<ref name="harvard"/><ref name="kings">{{cite web |url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/people/visiting/sky.aspx |title=Visiting Staff: Emma Sky |publisher=King's College London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320114251/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/people/visiting/sky.aspx |archive-date=20 March 2013 }}</ref>
From 2007 to 2010, Sky served as the Political Advisor to US General Raymond T. Odierno when he was the Commanding General of Multi-National Corps – Iraq and Commanding General of US Forces Iraq.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="harvard"/><ref name="guardian">{{cite news |title=Inside Iraq: the British peacenik who became key to the US military |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/15/iraq-emma-sky-us-military |newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 July 2012 }}</ref><ref name="guardian1">{{cite news |title=Inside Iraq: 'We had to deal with people who had blood on their hands' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/16/inside-iraq-emma-sky |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 July 2012 }}</ref> She also advised General David Petraeus on reconciliation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sky |first=Emma |date=2015 |title=The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QHRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |publisher=PublicAffairs |pages=247–248 |isbn=9781610395939}}</ref>
Sky testified before the Iraq Inquiry in January 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/52057/Sky-2011-01-14-S1-declassified.pdf |title=Emma Sky |date=14 January 2011 |publisher=Iraq Inquiry |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102060735/http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/52057/Sky-2011-01-14-S1-declassified.pdf |archive-date=2 November 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Lewis">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/14/emma-sky-arrived-kirkuk-charge-of-province |title=When I arrived in Kirkuk, I was told:'You are in charge of the province' |first=Tim|last=Lewis|date=14 June 2015 |work=The Guardian |access-date=20 January 2016}}</ref>
Sky was a Spring 2011 Fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. From 2011–2012, she was a visiting professor at King's College London and a Fellow at Oxford's Changing Character of War Programme.<ref name="yale"/>
Since August 2012, Sky has been a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, where she lectures on Middle East politics and great power competition.<ref name="yale"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://macmillan.yale.edu/jackson-institute-global-affairs-yale-pleased-announce-2012-2013-senior-fellows |title=The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale is pleased to announce the 2012-2013 Senior Fellows |date=14 August 2012 |publisher=Yale MacMillan Center }}</ref> Since 2015, Sky has been Director of the Yale World Fellows international leadership development program. Sky oversaw the transition of the program to the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.yale.edu/2015/01/08/international-activist-emma-sky-direct-world-fellows-program |title=International activist Emma Sky to direct World Fellows Program |date=8 January 2015 |publisher=Yale University }}</ref> and in 2016 secured a $16 million contribution from the Starr Foundation and Maurice R. Greenberg.<ref>{{cite web |date=16 June 2016 |title=The Starr Foundation names the Yale World Fellows Program |url=https://news.yale.edu/2016/06/16/starr-foundation-names-yale-world-fellows-program |publisher=Yale University }}</ref> She also served as the Director of Yale's Leadership Forum for Senior African Women.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://african.women.yale.edu/leadership |title=Leadership |publisher=Yale University Leadership Forum for Senior African Women |access-date=15 March 2020 }}</ref>
Sky is a former member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/about-us/overseeing-wilton-park/advisory-council/ |title=Advisory Council |publisher=Wilton Park |access-date=15 March 2020 }}</ref> She is a trustee of the HALO Trust.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.halotrust.org/about-us/governance/our-trustees/|title = HALO Trustees - committed to protecting lives}}</ref>
==Books== Sky is the author ''The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq'' (2015),<ref>{{cite news |date=8 July 2015 |title='The Unraveling,' by Emma Sky |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/books/review/the-unraveling-by-emma-sky.html |work=The New York Times }}</ref> which was one of the ''New York Times'' 100 notable books of 2015,<ref>{{cite news |date=27 November 2015 |title=100 Notable Books of 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2015.html |work=The New York Times }}</ref> and shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/news/samuel-johnson-prize-non-fiction-2015-shortlist |title=The 2015 Shortlist |publisher=The Samuel Johnson Prize |date=11 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214191959/http://www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk/news/samuel-johnson-prize-non-fiction-2015-shortlist |archive-date=February 14, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the 2016 Orwell Prize,<ref>{{cite news |date=21 April 2016 |title=Orwell prize shortlist dominated by books on Middle East |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/21/orwell-prize-shortlist-dominated-by-books-on-middle-east |work=The Guardian }}</ref> and the 2016 Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/niall-fergusons-kissinger-1923-1968-idealist-wins-2016-cfr-arthur-ross-book-award |title=Niall Ferguson's 'Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist' Wins 2016 CFR Arthur Ross Book Award |date=5 December 2016 |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations }}</ref> She also wrote ''In a Time of Monsters: Travelling in a Middle East in Revolt'' (2019).<ref name="timesuk"/>
==Awards== Sky was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2008 in recognition of her service in Iraq.<ref name="kings"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sky, Emma}} Category:Living people Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:British people of the Iraq War Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Yale University faculty Category:1968 births