Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme.

Keir spent the early 1990s in the former USSR. With the BBC Monitoring Service, he reported on political and economic affairs in the former Soviet Union for UK government customers. He also wrote for several years as a Russia correspondent for UK aviation journals.

Other professional experience in Russia includes a period with Ernst & Young working on intricate and constantly shifting Russian business law. 

While attached to the UK Defence Academy's Research and Assessment Branch (R&AB), he wrote and briefed for UK and overseas government and academic customers on Russian military, defence and security issues; Russia's relations with NATO and with its neighbours in Northern Europe; and human factors affecting decision-making in Russia.

In addition to Keir's work with Chatham House, he leads the Conflict Studies Research Centre, a group of subject matter experts in Eurasian security.