Diplomatic career
In 2006,Arnold joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). [1] From 2006 to 2007,she was assigned to work on Prevent,a counter terrorism strategy. [2] She then worked in the Political,Press &Public Affairs office in Muscat,Oman (2007–2008) and in Baghdad,Iraq (2008). [2] In 2009,she received language training in Persian and was posted to Tehran,Iran. [1] [2] Then,from 2011 to 2013,she was the Head of Communication and a spokesperson in Kabul,Afghanistan. [1] In 2013,she returned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London where she had been appointed Head of its Emerging Powers Initiative. [2] In 2014,she worked on a joint FCO and UK Trade &Investment (UKTI) initiative titled "Philanthropic Investment". [1]
On 23 March 2015,it was announced that Arnold would be the next British Ambassador to Mongolia in succession to Christopher Stuart. She took up the appointment in May 2015. [2] In March 2018 she was replaced by Philip Malone. [3] From 2018,she served as head of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Unit at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, [4] and then led the United Kingdom's successful bid to chair the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference,COP26.
In the New Year Honours of 2019,she was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).
Academic administration career
On 7 March 2019,it was announced that Arnold had been elected as the next Master of St Edmund's College,Cambridge. She took up the appointment on 1 October 2019:she was the college's 15th master,and its first female head. [5] By March 2020,the college was subject to lockdown owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and,since it caters entirely to mature and graduate students,many of whom had no other home to which to travel safely,she unexpectedly found she was (for a short spell) head of the largest Cambridge college,based on numbers of students living onsite. [6] She stepped down in October 2024,after five years in charge, [7] and was succeeded as master by Professor Chris Young. [8]
