Lyse Doucet

Lyse Marie Doucet (born 24 December 1958) is a Canadian journalist who is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter.

She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and also reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC News in the United Kingdom.

She also makes and presents documentaries.

Doucet was born on 24 December 1958 in Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada, where she grew up in an Anglophone family.

Her father was Clarence "Boo" Emile Doucet and mother Norma.

She is one of six children.

Her sister is Andrea Doucet, a Canadian professor of sociology.

She has Acadian and Irish ancestry.

She graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, where she wrote for the university newspaper.

In her youth Doucet enjoyed curling, was on the curling team for her province and went to the winter games in Canada.

Doucet has been a frequent visitor to Pakistan and Afghanistan since the late 1980s.

She gained a Master of Arts (MA) degree in international relations from the University of Toronto in 1982.

The same year, she undertook a four-month volunteer assignment teaching English with Canadian Crossroads International in the Ivory Coast.

She is currently one of the organisation's honorary patrons.

Doucet is fluent in English and French, in addition to knowing some Dari and Arabic.

From 1983 to 1988, she worked as a freelancer in West Africa for the Canadian media and for the BBC.

This period proved a stepping stone to a longer-term career with the BBC.

Doucet reported from Pakistan in 1988, and was based in Kabul from late 1988 to the end of 1989 to cover the Soviet troop withdrawal and its aftermath.

She was the BBC correspondent in Islamabad from 1989 to 1993, also reporting from Afghanistan and Iran.

She has covered all major wars in the Middle East since the mid-1990s.

In 1994 she opened the BBC office in Amman, Jordan.

From 1995 to 1999, she was based in Jerusalem, travelling across the Middle East.

In 1999, she joined the BBC's team of presenters but continues to report from the field.

Doucet played a leading role in the BBC's coverage of the Arab Spring, reporting from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Her work includes the aftermath of major natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which took her to India and Indonesia.

She is a contributor on rotation with other BBC journalists to Dateline London on BBC News Channel and BBC World News.

In 2014 she made the documentary Children of Syria with film-maker Robin Barnwell, which was nominated in the Best Single Documentary category at the 2015 BAFTA Awards.

In 2015 she made the documentary Children of the Gaza War with film-maker James Jones.

In 2018 she presented two documentaries titled Syria: The World's War for BBC Two and BBC World.

Beginning on New Year's Day 2018, Doucet presented Her Story Made History, a five-part series on BBC Radio 4 featuring in-depth interviews with five remarkable women.

The theme is the relationship between women and democracy.

A second series was broadcast in the summer of 2019 on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.

Doucet reported extensively from Kabul Airport during August 2021, following the coalition withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban offensive in the country.

In the second half of 2021, she recorded a 10-episode podcast for BBC Sounds entitled A Wish for Afghanistan

In February 2022, alongside Clive Myrie, she contributed to the BBC's coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from Kyiv.

Doucet is a former Council Member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

She is a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists' Network along with Lindsey Hilsum and Lady Jane Wellesley, a trustee of the Frontline Club for journalists, and a member of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Trauma and Violence.

She is also involved with Friends of Aschiana UK, which supports working street children in Afghanistan, and is an honorary patron of Canadian Crossroads International.

Doucet takes pride in her ancestry and attends the Acadian World Congress, which is held every five years.

She notes: "It would be hypocritical to spend all my time learning about other tribes if I were to neglect my own."