Interested in all things defence? Take a peek inside our
Monthly Members' Newsletter
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For new friends, welcome! We are an interdisciplinary network of Masters, PhD and Early Career Researchers focused on defence, security and military topics concerning policy, strategy, history, culture and society. We hope you find our network interesting, exciting, informative, and supportive.
For old friends, thanks for your continued involvement. It is always worth remembering that we would be nothing without you! After enjoying the summer, we are back with our February newsletter to share thoughts and discussions on 'NATO'. We have a slightly briefer newsletter for a shorter month (!) but there remain numerous researcher spotlights, a round up of what we have been listening to and a new foray into film reviews as well as all our usual features!
Scroll down to get up to date with the news, opinions, events and opportunities from our members...
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Welcome to the Defence Research Network Newsletter!
Hello everyone! In searching for an image to accompany a newsletter with a NATO theme, I came across this photograph of the 1949 foundation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The more I have looked at it the more it has made me think about who we can see around the table, how they got to be the one in the chair and, importantly, who is not there. It is a strikingly white, male image, 'of its time' some might say but I think there is a lot we could learn if we were to really interrogate this founding moment. Over seventy years have elapsed since and, if nothing else, NATO remains high on the global news agenda, it's prominence coming and going over the decades. I hope the insightful commentaries from all those contributing to this newsletter trigger new reflection on NATO's history, challenges and relevance today.
Thank you so much to Veronika for coordinating the theme this month, with help from Ann also. Wishing everyone a good month ahead and we look forward to hearing from you with anything you would like us to share in next month's newsletter.
Thank you,
Hannah West
Chair of the Defence Research Network
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Name: Iryna Bernyk
PhD title: Decision Support System on Cybersecurity Policies for Autonomous Vehicles
University: Cardiff University
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background (including previous study)
I am a PhD student at Cardiff University researching the cybersecurity of autonomous vehicles (AVs) with different levels of automation and their capability to sustain resilient operational performance under varying adverse cyber events. Outside my studies, I am active in teaching cybersecurity modules to masters students. I am also the PGR Student Representative on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the School of Computer Science and Informatics at Cardiff University. As I have always been passionate about teaching, equality and diversity in STEM subjects, I am a DTUII Outreach Officer and a STEM Ambassador who not only strives to be a positive role model for the younger generation but also organise, lead and support various STEM and cybersecurity activities. I am an alumna of Cardiff University with a BSc in Computer Science with Security and Forensics and a MSc in Cybersecurity. Prior to that, I obtained a HND in Computing from the University of South Wales.
What motivated you at first to undertake a PhD on gender and nuclear weapons policy?
As my future career, I have always been very attracted to the academic lifestyle: researching the unexplored while overcoming challenges time after time; expanding and deepening both my knowledge and skillset, as well as sharing them with others. I have always aspired to be a part of something that positively contributes to the well-being of the community. In particular, I have been interested in innovative technologies that could promote life without barriers for people with reduced mobility, thus providing them with freer (independent) movement around and social equity. Even though the topic of my research has nothing to do with gender and nuclear weapons policy, given the autonomous cyber-physical nature of AVs that are hyper-interconnected, regulatory cybersecurity policies that obligate stakeholders to ensure the resilient operational performance of AVs’ safety-critical systems under varying adverse cyber events are a vital must to avoid any potential devastating consequences. Reflecting on the past, I understand that all the challenges I overcame throughout the BSc and MSc programs were leading me to this PhD study.
Please tell us about your research topic and what makes you passionate about this area of study.
As a wheelchair user, I see significant potential in AVs to provide greater independent movement around for people with reduced mobility who cannot drive a vehicle, yet, as a scientist, I cannot ignore the undeniable gaps in both knowledge and experience, nor underestimate the unprecedented automotive threats associated with AVs’ autonomous and cyber-physical nature that AVs may entail. My project looks particularly at means to assess the current cybersecurity state of AVs with a specific focus on ways to improve it. It is essential that prior to being widely adopted on public roads, AVs have an adequate level of cybersecurity, thus enhancing the overall safety of AVs. Given the interdisciplinary nature of my research project, it unifies and realises my passions for automotive, innovative technologies, cybersecurity, cyber resilience, and psychology. Further, it embraces the legislation, in particular regulatory policies and standards, that can legislate positive changes in terms of cybersecurity and safety of AVs.
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Name: Ann Bajo
PhD title: Malaysia’s Role in the Mindanao and Pattani Conflicts
University: University of Portsmouth
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background (including previous study)
I am a PhD student at University of Portsmouth. My research interest is defense and security issues in Asia and the Pacific. In the Philippines, I was a former Division Chief at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU). I managed peacebuilding programs for indigenous peoples in fragile areas. Prior to that, I worked as a Defense Analyst in the Armed Forces of the Philippines for eight years. I am also the founder of a start-up social enterprise called the Coffee Press Co. that supports communities that are victims of armed conflict by selling locally produced coffee from Sulu, Philippines. I obtained my MA in Asian Studies at University of the Philippines and my AB in International Studies at De La Salle University-Manila.
What motivated you at first to undertake a PhD on foreign policy and counter insurgency?
I have always been fascinated with international relations and honed my interest in international security during my internship at the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). When I worked in the Philippine Army as a Defense Researcher, I got the opportunity to be deployed to war zones in Mindanao and conduct research on Moro insurgency. One of the most memorable deployment of mine was during the Battle of Marawi when ISIS-inpired terrorist groups took over the city of Marawi. I was the only civilian who was allowed to stay in the Main Battle Area (MBA). I documented the military operations of the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) as part of my data gathering in relation to my writing of the Joint Special Operations Doctrine. I have great admiration to military servicemen who sacrificed a lot for securing and protecting our people and lands.
Please tell us about your research topic and what makes you passionate about this area of study.
My research is about the role of Malaysia in the Mindanao (Philippines) and Pattani (Thailand) conflicts. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) puts premium in the policy of non-interference in internal affairs. However, when internal conflict affects neighboring states and regional security, external states find themselves involved in the conflict. I will look into the interventions of external state in internal conflicts, taking Mindanao and the Pattani conflicts as case studies. Malaysia in particular plays a key role as facilitator in both conflicts. The research project will be an appraisal on how a non-western state deals with conflict resolution and conflict management in internal conflicts in Southeast Asia.
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Ann has recently joined the DRN Committee too!
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Name: Baris Celik
PhD title: The more the merrier? Overlap and forum-shopping in the EU and NATO crisis management operations
University: University of Kent
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background (including previous study)
I am a Teaching Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield. My PhD dissertation, which I completed at the University of Kent, was on the crisis management operations of the EU and NATO. So my “research home” is international security and defence policies. At the same time, I am also interested in how organisations manage the complexities of the environments under which they are operating. These complexities include the conflicts between the different logics of organisational survival and social responsibility, organisational value judgements, and the level of societal inclusion in organisations. For instance, my most recent publication was looking at how the EU attempted to address these complexities in its environmental foreign policy.
What motivated you at first to undertake a PhD on the crisis management operations of the EU and NATO?
When I was looking at the distribution of the EU and NATO crisis management operations around the world, I was fascinated by how many of these operations were launched in the same places and at the same time, even with very similar mandates. Given that there are many states who are members of both the EU and NATO, I wanted to look at how these overlaps between the two organisations’ crisis management operations come into being and how they affect member states preferences.
Please tell us about your research topic and what makes you passionate about this area of study.
My research is situated within the intersection of international relations and organisational studies. I enjoy using insights from organisational studies to explain different phenomenon in international relations. I have sought to cross-fertilise the insights from these disciplines in the areas of security defence, and environmental politics.
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Baris has recently joined the DRN Committee too!
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News from our community
Edited by Hannah West
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It has been great to hear from so many of you with things you have been writing or things you have read. The breadth of the following list is testament to the wonderful cross section of research the DRN community are working on.
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Our very own Ann Bajo has co-authored a piece in The Conversation entitled 'Philippines sides with US amid rising regional tensions between Beijing and Washington'. Click on the image above to hear what she has to say.
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I found this blogpost by The Angry Staff Officer, entitled 'On Command: A Confession', a really fascinating reflection on the experience of being in command and the extent to which it fulfils its position as the apogee of one's military career.
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I heard Italo Brandimarte, a fellow PGR, speak about this paper, entitled 'Breathless war: martial bodies, aerial experiences and the atmospheres of empire' on a conference panel last year and thoroughly enjoyed what he had to say. I was delighted to note that the article had been published. You can check it out by clicking on the image.
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Megghi Pengili from our committee recommended this book, investigating digital archiving as an integral technology of warfare and how artists respond to these changes. I certainly need a copy of this, it sounds fascinating!
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Francesca Baldwin from the University of Reading has recently published an article, entitled 'A Soldier and a Woman: (Re)Negotiating Gender in Female Narratives of Civil Conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia' which you can find at this link. If you missed her Fairbrother Lecture on 'Faces of War: The hidden stories of female fighters' at the University of Reading last summer, I was delighted to find that it is now available on youtube (click on the image above to watch this).
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What we have been listening to
Edited by Hannah West
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Charlotte Vosper talks to Dr Beth Rebisz about the interesting issue of whether museums tell us the truth or not. Beth explains about her work with the Museum of British Colonialism, and about how this work challenges the traditional narratives which we see in museums about British colonial history. This episode will make you think about whether museums can really be trusted or not!
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Dr Frank Ledwidge (University of Portsmouth) talks about why the Russians failed to establish air superiority, how they are conducting their strategic air campaign, and what measures the Ukrainians have adopted to mitigate the numerical strength of the Russian Air Force.
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This episode explores the revival and rebuilding of Russia's armed forces with Professor Bettina Renz (University of Nottingham). Professor Renz discusses why this military revival took place, what sort of capabilities Russia developed, and how effective it was in modernising their armed forces, providing some really useful context that helps us understand how Russia has been fighting in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
*This episode was recorded in November 2022, so any events that have taken place in Ukraine since then will not have been taken into account.
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Many episodes await at this link covering a real cross section of veteran transition experiences so click on the image to check it out...
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SQUAD is a podcast created by service children (13-18) where they share their own views and experiences of military life. Topics covered include deployment and separation, schooling, moving home, having a serving parent and forming friendships.
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Join members of the Visualising War research group at St Andrews University as they explore how war and battle get presented in art, text, film and music. With the help of expert guests, they unpick war stories from all sorts of different periods and places.
Interviewees include war reporters, artists, video-game designers, museum curators and theatre, film and documentary makers. They also talk to peace campaigners, NGOs and clinical psychologists, to find out how storytelling impacts their work with victims of conflict all around the world. And they interview serving soldiers, veterans, defence trainers and strategists, to find out what narratives of war flourish in their respective worlds and what influence they have.
In addition, they have a range of academics amongst their guests: experts in ancient war poetry, medieval religion, the ‘just war’ tradition, trends in memorialisation, militarism in popular culture, the history of grand strategy-making, human rights, international politics, the psychology of collective action, and processes of identify formation – among many other topics!
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Do get in touch if you have heard a fascinating podcast or you have been involved in one, we'd love to include it in a future newsletter.
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Film Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
Edited by Veronika Poniscjakova
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The new adaptation of the classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque seems to be extremely popular with both movie critics and fans alike. It had been nominated for an Oscar, and last week it won the Best Picture award at the BAFTAs. I want to share my views on the movie, which I admit, are probably biased, as the novel is one of the most favourite books. If you have not read the novel and want to (and you should!) - continue at your own risk, there are major spoilers ahead.
If you have read the novel, you love it, and you have not watched the movie, but have thought about watching it - do not bother. Remarque’s novel is wonderful.
It shows the value and strength of friendship - through the interactions between the main character, Paul Bäumer, and his friends, particularly his mentor Katczinsky, "Kat". When you read the novel, you empathise with Paul, and his friends. Once idealist schoolboys who were essentially tricked by the nationalistic speeches of their teachers to volunteer to join the German army, they fight in a war they do not truly believe in. Their main objective is to survive. The novel shows their disenfranchisement, and anti-war sentiments (e.g. through the character of Albert Kropp). The novel portrays them as a lost generation. For instance, when Paul is sent home for a while, he does not know how to function in a normal society, he feels like no one understands what has been through on the Western Front.
It is a real shame that the movie does not do any of those things. The movie could have been good had it not been called “All Quiet on the Western Front”. The title is the only thing it shares with Remarque’s fantastic novel. When I watched the movie a couple of weeks ago, I was actually really worried I had lost my mind (and memory) as some scenes and characters did not match the original novel. Fifteen minutes into the movie, I resorted to Wikipedia just to confirm my suspicions that the plot and characters were altered.
Visually, the movie is great, the acting is alright too, and overall as an (anti)war movie, it is good. But as an adaptation of the novel, it is an abomination.
In the book, Paul is smart, kind, caring and ultimately likeable, and the reader gets to know him very well through Paul’s inner monologue and conversations with his friends. The movie Paul, well, does not talk much. I did not find a single reason to like him, and towards the end of the movie, when he turns into some kind of a First World War Rambo, I could not wait for him to die, as awful as it sounds.
The already mentioned theme of friendship cannot be found in the movie either. It is again the lack of dialogue and character development that makes it non-existent. Also, many characters from the novel never made it to the movie or were completely different from their book (e.g. Kropp). The movie version of Kropp does not make any anti-war observations. I assume that the movie's supposed anti-war sentiments come from its visuals as there is no dialogue to support it.
Lastly, the movie also contains an additional parallel story that revolves around signing the Armistice. Not only is this plot point something that the original novel does not deal with, but is problematic for another reason as well – it is not quite historically accurate, and rather misleading. Overall, the movie may be enjoyed by those who never heard of the novel. But those who love the book and its strong messages about war and friendships will be disappointed.
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This film review is a new feature for us and we would love to hear from you with your reviews of films relating to conflict/defence/security. New and old films welcome.
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February Twitter Hour: 'NATO'
Edited by Lucy Robinson
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February's #TwitterHour on the theme of 'NATO' happened on Wednesday 15th February. Thank you very much to all who took part. Below, we share the highlights to the four, thought-provoking questions. #DefResChat
Q1: Do you think that NATO is still a reliable and deterrent organisation?
- Yes, otherwise it would not longer exist.
- I think these two aspects of NATO aren't taken for granted. The sheer diversity of its members challenge its reliability due to varying response speed to crises, and this in turn limits its deterrence.
- Perhaps it is more the latter than the former. NATO has thus far deterred Russia from attacking its member states, and militarily it is reliable but politically I am not so sure, the lack of cohesion and unity (esp. Hungary & Turkey) could be problematic in the future #DefResChat
Q2: Should NATO further expand?
- A question idea whose time has come especially with regards to the reflections that the conflict in Ukraine is bringing us to reflect on. There is a relatively straightforward diplomatic and strategic case for enlargement. Europe seems again to be source of instability that might lead to wars. An expansion of NATO would diminish the odds that this region will again become a battlefield.
- I think it should, esp. Finland & Sweden would be great additions, both militarily and politically. They have strong militaries, strategic locations, and both are strong democracies #DefResChat
- To complement @VPoniscjakova's perspective, if we approach expansion in terms of areas of activity, I think NATO should have a second thought before further expansion. This may further its overlap with existing organisations, which isn't always conducive for cooperation.
- NATO doesn’t expand. It’s not an aggressive alliance capturing territory, rather it enlarges by accommodating the wishes of sovereign nations who wish to join, and the sovereign nations already members.
- Irrelevant. Only relevant question is : when a country decides it wants to join, do we want it in or not.
Q3: Is NATO's support to Ukraine enough?
- the lack of cohesion and unity among the member states is evident in this area too; the alliance as a whole should commit themselves to continued support of Ukraine, and keep supplying them with equipment they need #DefResChat
Q4: What should NATO do about uneven burden sharing within the Alliance?
- NATO members pledged in 2014 to increase their defense spending to 2 percent of their gross domestic products by 2024. This target sounds to be a quite considerable distance for being reached/met. Italy is only recently commuting to contribute by rising its GDP. In fact, the Meloni government committed to contribute with other €8 bn before 2028 to innovation programmes.The question is who will provide/ guarantee for EU’s security and it sounds so far that with PeSCo and the EUropean Intervention Initiative (EII) EU members 1 a majority of which are NATO members, too- are thinking about their security as a community. So the question of burden sharing seems to remain unanswered for quite some time now.
- cannot think of any easy solution here. For what it’s worth, we should note that it is expected that most member states are going to spend more money on defence in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine #DefResChat
Thank you to all who took part! #DefResChat
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What we're reading
Edited by Veronika Poniscjakova
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Digital Blood on Their Hands: The Ukraine Cyberwar Attacks
Andrew Jenkinson
This new book is very topical, as it addresses the Russian war in Ukraine and cyber-attacks. Long before the current war in Ukraine started, Russia had launched a cyberwar in Ukraine. Over the past decade, Russia has used cyber-attacks against Ukraine, exploiting its digital vulnerabilities, and having significant impact on the Ukrainian population, government and critical infrastructure. Lastly, the book notes that Russia has been using Ukraine as its testing ground for conducting destructive cyber-attacks around the globe.
You can buy a copy here.
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War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance
The Kyiv Independent
This book is very topical as well, and it was written by, and about, the staff of the Kyiv Independent. Combining articles published with personal accounts, the book gives us a first-hand account of Russia’s invasion. It shows their experience reporting on the Russian war in Ukraine, and how they carried on and continued reporting despite being in a warzone, with threats to their lives.
You can get a copy here.
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Events...
Edited by Andre Carvalho
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"This is for those from the far-off towns that nobody’s heard of. Who sit on busses rolling backwards out of cities and watch everything fall into silence.”
This Town is a modern-day epic narrative poem, performed and written by exciting new talent Rory Aaron (BBC New Creatives, Southbank Poetry Collective).
An ode to home, This Town uses powerful spoken word to transport us to a post-industrialised landscape, weaving together stories of loss, PTSD, and friendship.
This play is being performed at Contact in Manchester in late March. For more information and to book tickets please click the link.
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Spykman Center Hybrid Summer School
The Spykman Center was born around a specific mission: to teach how to do geopolitical analysis. The Spykman Center’s first annual hybrid Summer School follows this path and aims to teach students how to build a geopolitical analysis and is divided into two sections concluding with an assessment.
Section I will consist of a series of lectures on methodological points (geopolitical analysis as research of the factors conditioning political action), on the stylistic construction of an article addressed to the general public (explained by a journalist from The Economist), and on the possible destinations of the article or essay to an increasingly saturated market but at the same time increasingly in need of serious, accurate and understandable analyses.
Section II will involve interactive workshops between students and experienced Spykman Center’s analysts who have already published their work with the Center. It will be a way to move from theory to practice, in a horizontal exchange among students.
Assessment: The participating students will be involved in writing a short geopolitical analysis on a topic of their choice.
For more informations and how to apply, check this link.
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Military History Working Group, Cambridge University
Lent Term 2023
The Military History Working Group, established last term by the Centre for Geopolitics, will continue meeting in Lent Term in the Engelsberg Room in Fitzwilliam House (Mondays at 4pm). The group brings together Cambridge-based scholars working on the history of war and the military to discuss each other’s work and approaches.
This term, the speakers will discuss eighteenth-century British grand strategy, black soldiers in the Caribbean, and twentieth-century military affairs from aerial bombing and mutinies in Africa and the Middle East. The group will also visit the Churchill Archive Centre to learn more about their collections, which include the papers of Sir Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Slim.
The group encourages papers and participation from students, early career researchers, and faculty members. Members of the public are also welcome. To see the full schedule and details on how to participate, check this link.
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Opportunities...
If you would like to advertise any upcoming opportunities, please let us know via email.
Edited by Andre Carvalho
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Colour and Camouflage
Camouflage first appeared in the form of 'dazzle painting' on warships in WW1 - and has since shifted and evolved to adapt to changing war zones.
In this event, our speakers will consider the role and symbolic meaning of camouflage in a range of settings by reflecting on the process of creating camouflage patterns, how it is used in different media environments and what happens when the clothing of conflict becomes 'chic.'
Speakers
Kenny MacRae - Creating Analogue Camouflage
Joe Pattison - Colour & Camouflage in Video Gaming
Louisa Rogers - Make Love Not War: Camouflage in Vogue
For more information and to register click this link.
The event will take place on Wednesday, March 22nd 2023 from 5.30-7pm at Northumbria University School of Design.
Colour Collective UK is an initiative established in January 2018 in Newcastle as an independent, non-profit organisation to form an exciting, forward-thinking group interested in the dissemination of all aspects of colour. Our group is particularly interested in creating cross-disciplinary events which illustrate the magic of colour in all its breadth. With the support of both Newcastle University and Northumbria University, Colour Collective UK is set to evolve into a forum for anyone interested in colour from its perception to its application.
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'A class-based analysis of (former) Regular and Reserve UK Armed Forces personnel'
Deadline: 24th March by 5pm
ESRC North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership Standard PhD Studentship
Applications are invited for a funded 1+3 PhD studentship at the University of Liverpool to start October 2023. Funding will be provided for one initial year to undertake a Masters qualification followed by three years of PhD research. The studentship will be supervised by Dr Ross McGarry, Dr Kirsty Morrin and Dr Peter Campbell, based in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool. Candidates must have qualifications of the standard of a good undergraduate honours degree in a relevant subject at first or upper second class level by October 2023. Funded students, whether UK or international, will be eligible for an award which includes a stipend to support living costs (currently £17,668 per annum - 2023/24 rates TBC), and fees paid at the standard UKRI home fee rate (currently £4,596 per annum - 2023/24 rates TBC) for four years.
For more informations, click here.
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The Centre for Army Leadership (CAL) and the National Army Museum (NAM) announce the launch of the Leadership Essay Prize.
The competition is open to everyone, military and civilian. The idea is to you draw on your own personal experience of leadership or think of someone that has inspired you; they can be a leader in your own life or a historical role model. You may also choose to discuss areas of the theme that you have an interest in or have previously studied. Ask yourself what insight you could provide and what lessons could be learnt from it. You should also use academic texts and materials to support your submission.
Winners will be offered the opportunity to publish their work as an article in the NAM Muster magazine, as a NAM Research Paper, a CAL Occasional paper or a CAL Leadership Insight.
See the details here.
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Webinar "From World War I to the 21st Century: The history of women’s role and activism in peace processes, diplomacy, and human rights in international politics"
In this roundtable, Professor Ingrid Sharp, Professor Nova Robinson, and Dr Jennifer Thompson bring the often-neglected role and activism of women in international politics into the limelight, whilst also contemplating the present and future position of women in global politics. Register here.
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PhD Studentship: The Health and Well-Being of LGBT+ Military Personnel and Veterans at King's College London
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PhD Opportunity - Examining men's experiences of being victims of sexual offences during military service and scrutinising the military response in the UK
This PhD presents an important opportunity to gather novel insights into men’s experiences as victims of sexual violence in the UK armed forces, as well as their accounts of the reporting process, military response, and their experience of the service justice system (SJS). This successful applicant for this project will receive a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship which covers Home tuition fees and provides a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for three years. The interview for this project is expected to take place on Tuesday 2 May.For more details and to download the full terms and conditions, follow this link.
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Call for Papers - Security in a Time of 'Polycrisis'?
The term ‘polycrisis’ has gained prominence over recent years as a way of articulating the sum of the multiple, intersecting crises of our contemporary world. Interlocking environmental disasters, a global pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential for nuclear conflict are happening within entrenched and often entrenching structures of militarisation, exploitation and inequality. We live, according to this discourse, in an age of potential plural catastrophe. This age of polycrisis emphasises the importance of understanding how these multiple crises intersect and affect each other. ‘Security’ as a logic through which to comprehend and respond to this circumstance has been increasingly stretched while also becoming inescapable. As a concept, security rests on the drawing of lines between security/not security and security/insecurity. These lines have been critiqued for producing and reproducing imperial, gendered, racist, violent and exclusionary structures. But does an age of polycrisis dissolve even the ability to make the distinctions on which security as an organising logic relies? The Centre for Global Security Challenges, Leeds and the European Journal of International Security are organising a two-day, in person conference to engage with these issues. We invite papers that address the theme of the conference in security research (broadly understood) across multiple topics and locations. We welcome diverse approaches and methods and particularly invite Early Career Scholars to present.
Please send an abstract of no more than 200 words by 28 Feb 2023. Some financial support for ECRs and staff on short term contracts will be available (please indicate if you’d like to be considered for this on your submission). Email l.considine@leeds.ac.uk with any questions and to submit abstracts.
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King’s Doctoral Workshop on Military Innovation and Defence Reform
Call for Presentation
This two-day Doctoral Workshop aims to discuss military innovation and military reform through a multidisciplinary, pluri-theoretical, and cross-national perspective. It will focus on key explanatory factors such as patterns of civil-military relations, technological advances, advocacy networks, security competition, cultural and ideational aspects, professional networks, and competition among military services. It will also explore how distinct and competing interpretations illustrate how plural, complex, and multidimensional the process of military innovation can be, and how technological advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, hypersonic missiles, and the space realm have moved scholarly discussions of military innovation to the centre stage of international politics.
We welcome submissions on the following areas affecting military innovation:
- Military diffusion and emulation
- Procurement and defence economics
- Defence sector reform and national security strategies
- International organisations and military alliances
- New technologies, emerging warfighting domains, and the future of warfare
- Decolonising military innovation
Authors should send an extended abstract (up to 1,000 words), an entire article (up to 8,000 words), or a thesis chapter (up to 8,000 words plus a 500-word thesis abstract) to militaryinnovationnetwork@kcl.ac.uk.
Further information on the format of submissions and deadlines are available at this link.
Submission deadline: 02 April 2023
Event days: 04 - 05 May 2023
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As always, keep an eye on our Twitter for new events and opportunities posted/retweeted every day!
Planning a future event?
If you are planning a defence-related event and you would like to reach an audience of like-minded researchers, we'd love to come along! Drop us an email and we can include it in our next newsletter.
If you are interested in any of our events but don't want to go alone, or simply want to expand your network, please reach out on Twitter or drop us an email and we can connect you with fellow DRN members who may be planning to attend.
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March theme: Recruiting and interviewing the military community
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We hope you've enjoyed our news, tips and recommendations so far. In case you missed our previous newsletter editions, check out our archive section here!
As usual, we will be looking to showcase some early-career researchers in research spotlights in the newsletter so don't be shy! And we welcome any suggestions for 'in conversation with' pieces with more established academics. And let us know about any relevant events, from book launches to webinars. We'll keep an eye on our Twitter account to keep you posted!
Keep an eye on @DefenceResNet for more information and check out the website for a preview of the questions for the next #DefResChat. You can also find all our previous #DefResChats on the Archive section of our website. Make sure to tag @DefenceResNet and hashtag #DefResChat to join the conversation.
See you soon and many thanks for being part of our network!
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Do you have a blog or publication you would like to promote? Don't hesitate to share it with us via email and we can add it to our newlsetter.
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Thank you so much for joining our network.
Have you recently won an award, had your paper published, launched a book or are you organising an event? We want to hear from you! We are always looking for new content for our newsletter and would love to showcase the great work of our members.
For queries, more information, or just to tell us about yourself, don't hesitate to contact us on Twitter @DefenceResNet or at defenceresearchnetwork@gmail.com
The DRN team
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