Who we are
St. James’s Foreign Policy Group is a geopolitical risk advisory that provides bespoke, strategic solutions for key decision-makers and leading businesses across the world.
Today’s geopolitical landscape is increasingly complex, deeply divided, and yet profoundly interdependent. Leading thinkers have characterised modern times as an inflection point in history and the dawn of a new epoch. Emerging challenges like global realignments, reorientation of supply chains and technological disruptions are reshaping the world order and making it ever more challenging to navigate. The rise of hybrid warfare and new alliances of hostile actors are presenting unprecedented risks in the 21st century.
St. James’s Foreign Policy Group was founded in the heart of London’s geopolitical decision-making – St. James’s - in response to these evolving challenges, to help governments and businesses navigate, anticipate and shape the future.
LEADERSHIP
Founder & CEO, Aliona Hlivco, is a political scientist and a foreign policy expert. With dual master’s degrees in Political Science and Public Administration, Aliona has extensive experience in international affairs, strategic communications, and geopolitics. Her career in Ukraine spanned roles in Ministry of Infrastructure, National Parliament of Ukraine, and one of Ukraine's most influential political parties (2004-2018). She was also elected as a member of Chernivtsi Regional Parliament. Recognised for her role during the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, she has received several government awards, including the Order of Merit for her contribution to defending democracy in Ukraine.
Since relocating to London in 2018, Aliona has contributed to academia, consulted on political and war risk, and held a managing director role at a leading Westminster foreign policy and national security think tank. She is also a sought-after media voice, regularly featured on BBC, Sky News, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera and Monocle, with publications in Foreign Policy, The Telegraph, The Spectator, LBC etc. Aliona has delivered lectures and keynote speeches at global institutions like Harvard University, Georgetown University, NYU, Cambridge University, King’s College London, London Business School, London School of Economics etc.
Aliona is a regular contributor at Chatham House and an Advisory Board Member at the Coalition for Global Prosperity. She is also a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.
Aliona’s research focuses on emerging geopolitical dynamics, the new European security architecture and transatlanticism, the evolution of contemporary warfare, with particular attention to political, cyber, informational, and covert instruments of conflict.
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Andy Pryce
STRATEGIC ADVISER
Andy is an experienced diplomat and a globally recognised expert in cognitive defence, strategic communications, and geopolitical risk, with extensive experience advising governments and organisations on how to manage crises, counter information manipulation, and build resilience in complex information environments. He has led major UK national-security programmes focused on countering hostile activity — including key successes following the Salisbury attack and during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — shaping how the UK understands and responds to influence operations and hybrid pressure.
Andy previously served as the UK’s Head of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. and Brussels, placing him at the forefront of public diplomacy and high-level political engagement. In these roles, he built a strong reputation for influencing policy, shaping strategic narratives, and building coalitions on national and international stages. His diplomatic postings across the Americas, Europe, and Asia further refined his approach to political foresight, strategic influence, and international risk management.
His contribution to national security has been recognised through annual UK Government awards for innovation and resilience, and his diplomatic work in the United States led to him being awarded the Key to the City of Austin — becoming the first Briton since Sir Paul McCartney to receive the honour.
At SJFPG, Andy advises clients on achieving strategic effect in complex environments — strengthening cognitive resilience, shaping communication and engagement strategies, managing crisis and reputational risk, and conducting scenario-based geopolitical analysis. He supports organisations in navigating uncertainty, influencing outcomes, and protecting their interests in an increasingly competitive strategic landscape.
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Dr Jade McGlynn
STRATEGIC ADVISER
Jade is a leading expert on Russia’s war against Ukraine, information warfare, identity politics, and occupation dynamics, Dr McGlynn brings deep academic rigour and frontline policy relevance to SJFPG’s advisory work.
Dr McGlynn leads the Ukraine and Russia programme at the Centre for Statecraft and National Security at King’s College London and is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies, also at KCL. Her research since 2014 has focused on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, with particular emphasis on propaganda, historical memory, identity construction, and the lived realities of war. She is currently conducting in-depth research on Russian occupation policies and Ukrainian resistance in temporarily occupied territories.
She is the author of Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Putin’s Russia (Bloomsbury, 2023) and Russia’s War(Polity, 2023), alongside a wide body of scholarly and journalistic work. Dr McGlynn holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where her doctoral research examined the reconstruction of Russian identity between 2012 and 2018 — a period critical to understanding the ideological foundations of Russia’s current war.
Alongside her academic work, Dr McGlynn regularly briefs and advises European governments and military institutions on Russian war aims, information operations, and resistance to occupation. She is also a Senior Research Fellow in the Europe Programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a Non-Resident Fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Tallinn.
At SJFPG, Dr McGlynn advises clients on understanding and countering Russian information warfare, assessing the political and societal dynamics of occupation and resistance, and interpreting how narratives, identity, and historical memory are weaponised in modern conflict. Her work supports organisations seeking to anticipate Russian strategic behaviour, strengthen resilience against propaganda and coercion, and develop informed policy, communications, and engagement strategies in high-risk geopolitical environments.
St. James’s Foreign Policy Group is proud to welcome Dr Jade McGlynn and looks forward to the impact of her expertise across our work on Russia, Ukraine, strategic communications, and geopolitical risk.
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Professor Yossi Mekelberg
STRATEGIC ADVISER
Yossi is an award-winning scholar of International Relations and an experienced research analyst. Professor Mekelberg brings decades of expertise in geopolitics, conflict resolution, diplomacy, and international negotiations, with a particular focus on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.
Professor Mekelberg began his academic career at King’s College London and has since taught at SOAS, Webster University, and Regent’s University, where he served as Head of the Department of International Relations and Politics for more than a decade. He currently teaches at the University of Roehampton, specialising in crisis management and the interface between theory and practice in international relations.
He has been affiliated with Chatham House since 2002 and currently serves as a Senior Consulting Fellow in the MENA Programme. Previously, he was a senior adviser to Pax Ludens, a Dutch organisation specialising in international conflict and crisis-management training through advanced simulation exercises. Since 2020, he has also been a member of the Advisory Board of Trends Research & Advisory in the United Arab Emirates.
Alongside his academic and advisory work, Professor Mekelberg has consulted extensively for governments, international organisations, and civil society actors on Middle East geopolitics and conflict dynamics. He has been invited to speak at leading institutions in the UK — including Oxford, Cambridge, the LSE, Edinburgh, and Exeter — as well as internationally, including at NATO’s Defence College in Rome, and in the United States, Switzerland, Israel, and Mexico.
For more than two decades, Professor Mekelberg has been a prominent media commentator on international affairs, appearing regularly on BBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, Al Jazeera, Sky News, France 24, Monocle, and DW. He previously wrote a weekly English-language column for Al Arabiya (2013–2017) and has contributed twice weekly to Arab Newssince 2017, alongside opinion pieces for the Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, iPaper, and The World Today.
At SJFPG, Professor Mekelberg advises clients on geopolitical risk assessment, conflict resolution strategies, crisis management, and diplomatic engagement, with particular emphasis on the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, and complex multilateral negotiation environments. His work supports organisations seeking to navigate volatile political landscapes, manage escalation risks, and translate strategic analysis into effective policy and engagement outcomes.
St. James’s Foreign Policy Group is proud to welcome Professor Yossi Mekelberg and looks forward to the contribution of his expertise across its advisory work on geopolitics, diplomacy, and international security.
