Sir Mark Lowcock is a British economist and accountant who has had a career spanning nearly 40 years in international development. He served as the Head of the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) between 2017 and 2021. In this role he was responsible for coordinating the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, which was the international community’s primary fundraising vehicle to respond to the humanitarian impacts of the pandemic in low- and middle-income countries. Before his work with the UN, Sir Mark served as Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DIFD) from 2011-2017. 

Mark has written two books.  Ten Generations, a social and family history, was published in 2020.  Relief Chief: A Manifesto for Saving Lives in Dire Times was published in May 2022. 

He holds a BA in Economics and History from Oxford University and an MSc in Economics from Birkbeck College, University of London and was made a Fellow of Birkbeck in 2020.