Born on 29 December 1952 in Denmark, Mr Barfod received a Master of Arts Degree (Distinction) in Government from Essex University, UK, and an advanced degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, in 1979.

After two years in the Danish Central Administration Mr Barfod joined the UN (FAO) where he worked as a Senior Programme Officer in Zambia and the Philippines respectively. He subsequently joined the EU (then EC) as Economic Adviser within the Delegations in Liberia and Zimbabwe. Mr Barfod was transferred to the EU Commission HQ in Brussels in 1993 where he worked in a series of managerial capacities within humanitarian affairs and development assistance with responsibility for various regions in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and with a regional portfolio of up to €3 billion.

In 2012 Barfod took up duties as EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean states, to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Upon retirement from the EU, Barfod returned to his home country, Denmark, in the autumn of 2017 where he is attached as EU political advisor to a parliamentary party, and is a member of the Board of the European Movement in Denmark. Furthermore, he is associated with an international consultancy company and intermittently lectures on human rights and international development issues.

Mr Barfod is Visiting Professor to the None in Three Research Centre at the University of Huddersfield.

Mr Barfod is married to Maxia D Barfod, a British citizen who was born in Jamaica and with whom he has two grown-up sons and a daughter (studying in the UK).