Alastair Tancred was a BBC journalist for 20 years, working for the South Asia Regional Unit of the BBC World Service, before serving as the BBC Correspondent in Dhaka (2001 to 2004) and Colombo (1999-2000).

Prior to leaving the Corporation in 2017 he worked as a Senior Broadcast Journalist on the international pages of the BBC News website where he wrote, commissioned and edited news and features in addition to carrying out numerous journalism training classes in different parts of the world. 

In 2018 Alastair began work for UNICEF as a communications officer covering the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox's Bazar. From 2020 to December 2023 he worked for UNICEF in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he specialised in raising awareness about mass displacements and Gender Based Violence. Alastair is now working as the communications lead for the UK-based Marine Conservation Society.