Sir Ivison Stevenson Macadam KCVO CBE CStJ FRSE FKC (18 July 1894 – 22 December 1974) was the first Director-General of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), and the founding President of the National Union of Students.

Born 18 July 1894 at Slioch, Lady Road, Edinburgh, he was the second son of Colonel William Ivison Macadam, (1856–1902), and Sarah Maconochie MacDonald (1855–1941).

But spirit of service permeates the movement and no one can fail to see how direct a bearing this national and international student co-operation must have on the great and pressing problems of reconstruction in Europe.

[8]The NUS's founding constitution[9] stipulated that it must operate as a non-political and non-religious student organisation as the factional differences among nations were felt to have led to the recent world conflict.

[17] Its headquarters remained there until the properties were sold in 2010 to acquire their new building Macadam House at 275 Gray's Inn Road, London.

[19] In 2004, KCLSU President Michael Champion instituted the Macadam Cup, a day of sporting excellence between medical and non-medical students at the college.

[20] He was the first Secretary and Director-General of the Royal Institute of International Affairs serving as its chief executive between 1929 and 1955 based at Chatham House, 10 St. James's Square, London, S.W.1.

The Grade I listed building designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1730s was named on its gifting to the institute after the first of these three Prime Ministers (Pitt the Elder) as Chatham House.

He organised the first Commonwealth Relations Conference at Hart House, University of Toronto, Canada in 1933 (the first Commonwealth conference per se),[23] followed by others at Lapstone near Sydney, Australia in 1938,[24] at Chatham House, London in 1945, at Lucknow, India in 1950, th capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and at Lahore, Pakistan in 1954, the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab.

The Times, 24 December 1974[26]He was the institute’s chief executive for a period of 25 years during which it grew from a promising pioneering experiment into a well established and internationally respected centre for the study and discussion of world affairs.

When asked who founded Chatham House, Ivison would reply with a list of distinguished people, among whom Lionel Curtis took pride of place, and would emphasise the great amount of time that they devoted in shaping the institute’s policy in the early days.

He was a gifted promoter of Chatham House and its objectives, obtaining endowments in Britain and the Commonwealth and also gaining the support of the great American foundations, Carnegie, Rockefeller and later Ford.

Among its most visual activities were the hundreds of different posters it produced throughout the war for use all over Britain on billboards, in the London Underground, in railway stations and elsewhere where people congregated.

Strangely among its most memorable today is one of its first that it is believed Macadam simply scribbled out in the similur manner to the way he thought as 'Keep Calm and Carry On' and told the staff to make it look noticeable and official for use in case of invasion (so a large number were printed in red with a crown at the top in 1939 but never actually used).

Macadam returned to the Royal Institute in March 1941 [32] to continue its war work and oversee the post-war international reconstruction planning there with the additional important support of the US Rockefeller Foundation.

On assuming the role of Editor for the year 1947 he introduced an Advisory Board that he chaired to which various learned societies nominated a representative, such as the Arts Council of Great Britain, The British Association for The Advancement of Science, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Royal Historical Society, The English Association, and included the Editor of The World Today.

[34] Former prime minister Harold Macmillan told Macadam's succeeding editor that he could never have written his memoirs without reference to the Annual Register.

He read these and annotated them with his criticisms or his views on improvements of prior prime minister's speeches or policies written in the margins.

He put the Annual Register on a sound financial footing and strengthened its worldwide reputation by bringing in a wide range of specialist contributors.

His firm kindly manner, his robust presence and his Scottish clarity combined to make him one of the most permanent and respected figures in College life.

[42][43]He was a founding member of the council, King George’s Jubilee Trust (for youth) on which he served from 1935 to 1974,[29] first under the Chairmanship of the Prince of Wales, until he ascended to the throne as Edward VIII; then under the chairmanship of Duke of York, until he ascended to the throne on the abdication of his brother as George VI and then under the chairmanship of the King's brother, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, under whom he served as vice-chairman (1972–74), when the Duke was suffering from ill health, until Prince Charles had finished his naval service and was able to take over as chairman.

Macadam was responsible for devising the concept of, creating, editing and organising the printing and distribution of the official royal programs to be published under the auspices of the King George’s Jubilee Trust.

They were sold on behalf of King George’s Jubilee Trust mainly along the parade routes on the day of the event by the Boy Scouts but also prior to it in newsagents and bookshops.

[43] Other voluntary roles included: When Macadam was only seven, his father was shot and killed by a mentally disturbed gunman in an Edinburgh tragedy in 1902.

Before her marriage, she was Assistant to the US Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson, and the couple met at the IPR's international conference that Macadam had arranged at Banff, Canada in 1933.

After their marriage, she was of invaluable support to her husband in his professional life and in assisting him to raise the substantial funding required for the operations of the RIIA.