Elly Nott


Elly established the Foundation with David in 2015 and leads it as Chief Executive.

During her first tenure as Chief Executive Elly led the expansion of the Hostile Environment Surgical Training (HEST) course and organised training in Turkey (for Syrian doctors), Iraq, Palestine, Bangladesh, Libya, Lebanon, Cameroon and Yemen. She also oversaw the scholarship programme which brought doctors from over 30 different countries to be trained in the UK on the Surgical Training for Austere Environments (STAE) course at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. She returned to the post of Chief Executive in November 2021.

Deeply committed to neonatal and obstetric care; Elly is proud to make the provision of better medical care for mothers and babies a priority. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Foundation has been able to purchase two state of the art obstetric simulators and has also financially supported three Systematic Management and Emergency Care in Obstetrics and Midwifery (SMEC-OM) courses, held in Gaziantep for Syrian midwives and obstetricians.

Elly has built a sound financial footing for the charity including securing the first major grant, from the Open Society Foundations. With David, she was recognised on Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers list of 2016 for training doctors working in war zones.

After graduating from the University of Oxford Elly worked for a small social enterprise in south east London. Between 2010 and 2014 Elly worked for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as a Research Associate in London and Bahrain. She has BA in Modern History from St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and a Masters in International Relations from Exeter University. Elly is currently a PhD student in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.