Press Release - IPIE Appoints Sir Julian King to Foundation Board of Trustees

July 6, 2026 - Zürich, Switzerland— The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sir Julian King to its Foundation Board of Trustees. Sir Julian brings decades of senior leadership experience spanning diplomacy and security policy, strengthening the IPIE’s capacity to advance its global mission.

Sir Julian King is a British diplomat and civil servant with more than 30 years of experience working on international and multilateral issues across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1985 and held senior postings across Brussels, New York, Paris, Luxembourg, The Hague, Lisbon, and London, including serving as the British Ambassador to Ireland (2009-2011) and British Ambassador to France (2016).

From 2016 to 2019, Sir Julian served as the United Kingdom’s European Commissioner, holding the newly created Security Union portfolio under Commissioner President Jean-Claude Juncker. He became the final British official to serve within the European Commission following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Sir Julian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Theology from St. Peter’s College, Oxford, and studied at the École nationale d'administration in Paris.

On the appointment, Sir Julian said:

I am delighted to join the IPIE’s Board of Trustees at such a consequential moment for the global information environment. The challenges posed by AI and the erosion of information integrity demands rigorous, independent scientific scrutiny. I look forward to contributing to the work alongside such a distinguished community of researchers and leaders.

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Professor Phil Howard, President of the IPIE, welcomed the appointment:

Sir Julian's career has been defined by navigating some of the most complex security challenges of our time, at the highest levels of government and international diplomacy. That experience is exactly what the IPIE needs as we work to translate scientific evidence into meaningful action on disinformation, AI, and the future of the information environment.

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ENDS

More about the International Panel on the Information Environment:

• Read more about Sir Julian King
• The full membership of the Foundation Board of Trustees
• Latest news and announcements
• Most recent scientific research outputs from the IPIE

Further details can be found at www.IPIE.info.

For media inquiries, please contact Press@IPIE.info.

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About the IPIE

The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) is an independent and global science organization providing scientific knowledge about the health of the world's information environment. Based in Switzerland, the IPIE offers policymakers, industry, and civil society actionable scientific assessments about threats to the information environment. The IPIE is the only scientific body systematically organizing, evaluating, and elevating research with the broad aim of improving the global information environment. Hundreds of researchers worldwide contribute to the IPIE's reports.