Personal Background

Born in Israel to British and Australian parents, and having lived in the UK since aged two with spells working in Belgium, South Africa and Australia, I consider myself something of a ‘Citizen Of The World’ !

Following years of extensive formal study and personal interest in the areas of the Middle-East and terrorism, I have been working as a professional in these areas – in the capacities of lecturer, advisor, consultant, writer and commentator – since 1999.

My work takes me all over the globe - each year I lecture to, consult/advise and brief a variety of corporate and public sector clients and organisations from Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America to Africa and the Middle-East. These includes corporations, companies and business clubs, as well as bodies as diverse as counter-terrorism police, strategic/security bodies, Chambers of Commerce, Foreign Correspondents Clubs and business leaders organisations. (See the Consultant page of this site for specific details).

I additionally am widely used as a keynote speaker at leading corporate conferences across the globe, of as diverse areas as oil and gas, project finance, investment/alternative investment/trading, transport security, emergency preparedness and corporate resilience. (See the Keynote Speaker page of this site for specific details).

In a personal/lay capacity I have also been actively involved in interreligious and interfaith dialogue since my late teens, especially Muslim-Jewish initiatives.

Finally, I am not to be confused with the other Hagai Segal, a far-right West Bank settler activist who has actually been convicted for involvement in a terrorist attack back in the 1980s (when I was a boy) !

References to him, that could be confused with myself, can be found all over the internet, as he also writes and commentates on the Middle-East/Israeli-Palestinian matters (see here for an example of a link that is a reference to him, not myself - Hagai Segal - at cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=5990
(biographical details) ).

We are however most definitely different people, and his views, activities and affiliations could not be more opposed to my own. All we have in common is the (unfortunate) fact that we share the same name !