Jonathan Charles is the Director of Communications at the EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development).

Before starting this role in February 2011, Jonathan Charles was a presenter on the BBC television news programmes BBC World News, BBC News, and World News Today

World News Today

World News Today is a current affairs news programme produced by BBC News and presented by Zeinab Badawi. It was originally conceived as a morning television show aimed at American audiences, hosted by George Alagiah, but later expanded to six editions a day aimed at different markets...

. He has also been a world affairs correspondent for 17 years, reporting from many conflict zones, including Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, and Chechnya

Chechnya

The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

, as well as natural disasters.

Charles is fluent in French and German and was educated at the independent Nottingham High School

Nottingham High School

Nottingham High School is a British boys' independent school situated about a mile north of Nottingham city centre. It has around 900 pupils from ages 11 to 18 and there is the adjoining Nottingham High Junior School catering for younger boys and, from September 2008, the Lovell House...

 and at Oxford University, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

During his career as a journalist, Charles has spent 17 years living in several countries including Belgium, France, Germany and the USA. He covered major conflicts around the globe such as the wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and the Beslan school siege, and natural disasters.