Jacob brings to MCC Brussels a wealth of experience in conceiving, organising, and contributing to fora for debate, research and discussion. His academic background is in philosophy, having obtained the BPhil in Philosophy from St Cross College, Oxford, specialising in the work of Hannah Arendt. After Oxford, Jacob pursued a career in strategy consulting, where he advised major corporations on how to adapt to the challenges of the 21^st Century. Jacob then joined a major London think tank and charity to expand their work organising opportunities for rigorous public debate and education. There, he organised the Battle of Ideas festival, Europe’s largest festival of ideas devoted to free speech and The Academy, a residential summer school in the UK for free thinkers who want to understand the historical roots of current issues. He spends his spare time writing, travelling and cooking with his wife, and learning Ukrainian. He is author of Beyond the Culture Wars, which looks at how Western societies have become estranged from the basic building blocks of political life. With MCC Brussels, Jacob sees a unique opportunity to break free of the deadening, technocratic discussions that currently dominate the Brussels intellectual scene.