News archive 2010

Professor Theo Farrell elected Chair of BISA

Professor Theo Farrell was elected Vice Chair of the British International Studies Association for 2011-2012, and Chair for the period 2013-2014.

Major new study into public's perception of Armed Forces

The King’s Centre for Military Health Research has been awarded a new grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for £347,000. The research grant for the project titled ‘Are the Armed Forces understood and supported by the public? British Social Attitudes towards the military and contemporary conflict’ will run for two years from January 2011 to January 2013.
The research team will comprise a partnership involving the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR), the National Centre for Social Research (NAT CEN) and the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Research, Robert Gordon University.
Read more.

CSSS awarded grant from King's Business Futures Fund

Dr Christopher Hobbs and Professor Wyn Bowen from the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) have been awarded a grant of £11,500 from the King's Business Futures Fund to develop a range of innovative new projects. These include the development of a course on the ‘Verification of Nuclear Warhead Dismantlement’ in partnership with the Physics Department of King's College London and research into the relatively unexplored area of nuclear security ‘intangibles’.

Prof Holden-Reid spoke at Leiden American Studies Lecture Series

Professor Brian Holden-Reid gave a keynote lecture at the Leiden American Studies Lecture Series, the most prominent of its kind within Europe, held every other year since 1987. The lectures will take place from 1 February to May 10, 2011 at the University of Leiden and will consist of twelve weekly guest lectures by internationally renowned scholars. Professor Holden-Reid will speak on the subject of ‘Robert E. Lee as a military leader.’

Prof Farrell appeared before the House of Commons

Professor Theo Farrell was called to testify before the House of Commons Defence Committee inquiry into 'Operations in Afghanistan' on Wednesday 3 November at 14.30 in Portcullis House.

The US-UK Strategic Dialogue

A day after the Coalition Government released its long awaited Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) on 19 October, the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), Department of War Studies, and the US Naval Postgraduate School co-convened a meeting on US-UK strategic relations on 20-22 October. The US-UK Strategic Dialogue brought together 30 academics as well as retired and serving government officials from both sides of the Atlantic to address a broad range of strategic issues in the context of US-UK strategic relations.
Read more

Postgraduate Conference 2010

This year's Postgraduate Conference at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, hosted a variety of high profile guest speakers, including Professor Christopher Coker from the LSE and Professor Sir Michael Howard (pictured), founder of the War Studies Department. Read more.

General David Petraeus seminar with CDS

Dr John Gearson, Director of the Centre for Defence Studies, Department of War Studies, chaired a seminar, on Friday 15 October, with General David Petraeus, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and graduate students of the Department in advance of a speech by the General at RUSI. General Petraeus discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, the development of his counter-insurgency strategy from the Iraq campaign to the current operation in Afghanistan and took questions from students on the MA in War Studies programme and MPhil/PhD students from the Department.

Anglo-Italian Relations in the Middle East, 1922–1940

Anglo-Italian Relations in the Middle East, 1922–1940 by Massimiliano Fiore, published in November 2010 examins how Anglo-Italian relations broke down over the interwar period and enhances our knowledge and understanding of the factors leading up to the widening of the Second World War in the Mediterranean. Read more

Dr. Chaudhuri's field research in Kandahar and Kabul

As Western power and reach in Afghanistan dwindles, the responsibility for stability will increasingly rest on the role played by regional actors. Indeed, whether this role promises to be constructive, in building capacity and expanding the writ of the Afghan government, is a matter of much debate. Dr. Rudra Chaudhuri discusses the role played by regional actors - primarily India and Pakistan - within the Afghan landscape and ISAF effrots to stabilise Southern Afghanistan. Please see articles' Afghanistan', 'Bijli Hindustani' and 'Kandahar' from the Sunday Guardian attached below.

2010 Symposium on International Safeguards

Dr Christopher Hobbs presented a co-authored paper with Matthew Cottee on ‘Methods for Improving IAEA Information Analyses by Reducing Cognitive Biases’ at the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 2010 Symposium on International Safeguards in November. The 5 day symposium is held every four years and was attended by over 500 representatives from 70 states.

Distinguished advisory panel for Marjan Centre

Sir Crispin Tickell, former British Ambassador to the United Nations and leading environment expert, along with the renowned primatologist, Dame Jane Goodall, as well as the Queen’s veterinary surgeon, Lord Soulsby, and Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, formerly director of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, are among the distinguished names joining the Advisory Panel on the newly-formed Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and Conservation research group. Read more in the attached document below.

Ending Wars: Consolidating Peace, Mats Berdal

Ending Wars: Consolidating Peace by Mats Berdal and Achim Wennmann was published on 1 September by Routledge. The authors seek to inform a more economically integrated and responsive approach to helping countries leave behind their troubled pasts and take a fuller role in constructing their futures. Read more

Cry Havoc by Joe Maiolo

Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941 by Joe Maiolo is published in the US on 28 September. Dr Maiolo shows how the interwar arms race shaped the outcome of World War II before the shooting even began. The book was given a 5 star rating by World War II History. Please see review attached. Read another review by Kirkus here.

Chairman of Marjan Centre appointed

Major General Peter Davies, CB, former director-general of the RSPCA, has taken up a new appointment within the Department of War Studies to lead a ground-breaking initiative. Major General Davies is now chairman of the management committee of the newly formed Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and Conservation (MCSCC). MCSCC will research and alleviate the effects of war and conflict on wildlife, animal welfare, and biodiversity. Read more. Read more on the College news pages.

Dr Philpott wins Tomlinson book Prize & Supervisor Award

'Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century -- The Battle, The Myth, The Legacy', won the 2009 Norman B. Tomlinson, Jr. Book Prize by the US Branch of the Western Front Association. Dr Philpott's book was judged to be the best work of history on World War I in English.Dr William Philpott also received a 2010 Supervisory Excellence Award for his outstanding supervision and support to research students at King’s.

Nature Magazine published an online interview on 27th August 2010 with Professor Mike Rainsborough, director of the newly establishedMarjan Centre for the Study of Conflict & Conservation. Read the article

War Studies student's Iraq memoir published

MA in Terrorism, Security & Society student Kevin Ivison’s first book 'Red One - A Bomb Disposal Expert on the Front Line', is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on the 19 August. Red One is a memoir of his time as a counter-terrorist bomb disposal operator in Iraq. Read more

Prof. Dandeker & Dr Patalano atttend defence talk in Taipei

Professor Dandeker and Dr Patalano attended a Defence talk on 27 and 28 of July in Taipei, organised by the Ministry of National Defense. The main themes of the Defence Talk were: Issues of Military Operations, the Asia Pacific Security Outlook, Military Confidence Building Measure and Force Structure and Organisation Adjustment.

Veterans Aid CEO Dr Hugh Milroy appointed

Veterans Aid CEO Dr Hugh Milroy has become a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies. With effect from 1 July 2010 he will become the only head of a military charity to hold such a position. Dr Milroy will work closely with the King’s Centre for Military Health Research. Read the full press release attached.

New in paperback: Franklin

Frankiln: Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation (Faber) by Andrew Lambert in July 2009 is now out in Paperback. From ‘the outstanding naval historian of his generation’ (David Cannadine), this is a gripping story of the Arctic, propelled by the need to recover the truth about one man’s fatal mission. Read more at www.faber.co.uk

NATO’s Standing NRF Mine Countermeasures Group 2 Visit

On 29 May 2010, the Laughton Naval History Unit organised a visit to NATO’s Standing NRF Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) during a short diplomatic visit of the naval group to London. Some 40 postgraduate students led by Prof Andrew Lambert and Dr Alessio Patalano were granted access to ITS Granatiere, the group's flagship, and ITS Rimini, a mine-hunters, and briefed on NATO's activities in the Mediterranean area.

War Studies Team win the Tolstoy Cup

The War Studies Dept football team won the Tolstoy Cup for the first time. Despite the blistering heat, they emerged victorious against Peace Studies, University of Bradford in a hard fought game claiming a 2-1 win.

KCMHR publish Lancet paper on mental health of UK military

The King's Centre for Military Health Research published a new paper in The Lancet discussing the mental health of UK military personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The study has been reported by the BBC, The Independent and The Guardian andPress TV.Read the full article in The Lancet, 13 May 2010.

Dr Patalano at Italian Naval Staff College

From 17 to 20 May 2010, Dr Patalano taught a module on naval strategy in English at the Italian Naval Staff College in Venice to the officers of the 53rd Command and Staff Course of the Italian Navy.

'The dangers of excessive air safety' by Dr Meyer

Dr Christoph Meyer writes that ban on air travel in response to the ash cloud over Europe illustrates the pitfalls of preventive action inFT - Comment (online) on 20 April 2010.

Wake up call to humanitarians

A new report calls for the Third Pole, the Hindu-Kush Himalaya region and its ten major river basins, to be given the highest priority in the humanitarian agenda. Dr Kent, Director of the Humanitarian Futures Programme, Department of War Studies, is co-author of The Waters of The Third Pole report produced in collaboration with the University College London earth scientist, Dr Steve Edwards, and the Editor of chinadialogue, Isabel Hilton. Please view Professor Beddington’s comments from the launch of the report, at the House of Lords, at:www.humanitarianfutures.org/main/futures/thirdpole

Dr Patalano lectures at Sasebo, Japan

Dr Alessio Patalano was guest of the Commander of the 2nd Flottilla, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, based in Sasebo, Japan, in April. He lectured on Japan’s national security to the officers of the destroyer Yuudachi (DD 103). The lecture was followed by an exchange of views with the officers of the destroyer focusing on key issues of regional maritime security, including the recent sinking of a South Korean patrol boat and Chinese naval activities in the East China Sea.

Templer Prize awarded to Dr Philpott

Dr William Philpott’s recent book, Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century (Little, Brown), has been awarded the Society for Army Historical Research’s Templer Prize for 2009. Dr Philpott received the prize from the Society’s patron, the Duke of Kent, at a reception at the Cavalry and Guards Club on 21 April.

University of North Carolina Conference

Several staff from the Department spoke at the 'War & Military Operations in the Twenty First Century: Civil Military Implications Conference' ,on 8-9 April at Triangle Institute for Security Studies, in North Carolina. The conference ran jointly with UNC-Chapel Hill Triangle Institute for Security Studies and the Department of War Studies. Speakers include, Professors Gow, Dandeker, Holden-Reid and Dr Rachel Kerr. Read more

Professor Jabri lectures at JNU

As part of ongoing links being developed between King’s College London and the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Professor Vivienne Jabri presented a lecture at JNU’s School of International Studies, on the 31st of March, on the subject of Cosmopolitan Wars and the Transformation of Global Politics. For an abstract of the talk, see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/ws/research/groups/cir/events.html.

Next steps for nuclear security

A two-day conference on Nuclear Security co-organised by the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) and The Royal Society was held on the 18-19 February 2010. The event brought together 70 experts to discuss next steps for promoting nuclear security on a global basis. CSSS produced a summary highlighting themes that emerged durung the conference. Please find the summary document attached below.

AXA Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Dr Frank Foley, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department was the successful candidate to win AXA funding for his research project ‘Explaining the Adaptability of Counterterrorist Organisations: France, Britain and the United States facing Transnational Terrorism’. Read more

Professor Holden Reid receives 2010 Moncado Award

Professor Brian Holden Reid has been selected by the Society for Military History to receive the Moncado Award for his outstanding article, 'Michael Howard and the Evolution of Modern War Studies' published in the 73rd volume of The Journal of Military History.

‘Is Afghanistan a Just War?’

The first Sir Michael Quinlan Memorial Lecture was held on 24 March. The event was hosted by the Department of War Studies and the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence & Disarmament and was chaired by The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Lord Harries of Pentregarth. Read more

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Lecture

His Excellency Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, gave a keynote lecture entitled ‘Converging interests of Turkey and the UK in an enlarged EU and beyond’ on the 12th January 2010. The event was hosted by the Caucasus Policy Institute, part of the War Studies Group. Read more. Download the podcast.

The late Professor Dockrill awarded Memorial Medal

Saki Ruth Dockrill was awarded the Karel KramáY Memorial Medal in memoriam at the international conference 'DROPPING, MAINTAINING AND BREAKING THE IRON CURTAIN: The Cold War and East-Central Europe twenty years later'. Read more

Attached files

› World War II History Review Cry Havoc (pdf, 136 KB)
› Distinguished advisory panel for Marjan Centre (doc, 29 KB)
› PRESSRELEAS Hugh Milroy (doc, 706 KB)
› Nuclear Security Conference-Key Issues and Next Steps (pdf, 600 KB)