News story

Victoria and Albert Museum appointment

The Prime Minister has appointed Kavita Puri as a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum for a period of 4 years commencing 2 July 2018.

Kavita Puri

Kavita Puri

Kavita Puri is an award-winning journalist and radio broadcaster. In her landmark three-part series Partition Voices for BBC Radio 4, she documented the untold stories of Colonial British and British Asians who lived through the Partition of India 70 years ago, and assessed its legacy in Britain today. The programmes won the Royal Historical Society’s Radio and Podcast Award and its overall Public History Prize. The testimonies are being archived by the British Library Sound Archive. Her book based on the BBC series is due out in 2019. Her two critically-acclaimed Radio 4 series, Three Pounds in My Pocket, charted the migration of South Asians to post-war Britain, and she writes and lectures on these subjects.

Kavita works for BBC Current Affairs as the editor of Our World, a foreign affairs documentary programme. Recent awards for its coverage include the Royal Television Society and the Foreign Press Association and she was named Journalist of the Year by the Asian Media Awards. Prior to this, Kavita worked at Newsnight as a political producer, film producer and assistant editor. She studied Law at Cambridge University.

The role is not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Kavita has declared no such political activity.

Published 12 July 2018