King’s Scholarship: Strategic Analytical Wargaming & Pedagogy of Play

Dr Aggie Hirst, Play as Pedagogy

Dr Aggie Hirst is Lecturer in International Relations Theory and Methods in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. She is Principal Investigator on a Leverhulme Trust and British Academy funded project exploring the US military's use of wargames for teaching and training purposes. Through an exploration of the phenomena of play and immersion, the project argues that the ‘flow state’ generated by gaming is being used to instil doctrine and to cultivate mental and physical muscle memory in service members. She is currently writing a book titled The Politics of Play: Wargaming with the US Military, and is author of 'Play(ing) International Theory' (Review of International Studies, 2019).

Ms Ivanka Barzashka, Analytical Wargaming & Strategic Conflict

Ms Ivanka Barzashka is the Co-Director and Founder of the King's Wargaming Network. She will discuss the development and application of two strategic analytical wargaming methods to understand escalation and nuclear risk in Europe and to develop a NATO theory for success for grey-zone conflicts with nuclear risks. Ms Barzashka is Principal Investigator on a project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Chair, Prof Philip Sabin, Professor of Strategic Studies and Co-Director, Wargaming Network