“I am delighted and honoured to have been invited by the Prime Minister to join the House of Lords. I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to contribute to debates around defence and security as a member of the Freeman Air and Space Institute (FASI) team at King’s College London over the last five years. I care passionately about the future security of our nation and very much look forward to shaping future legislation as a Labour peer. I also am so pleased that I will remain as part of the FASI team, which will continue to provide important research, policy advice and particularly support to the air and space thinkers of the future which is such a pivotal part of that remit.”
Dr Sophy Antrobus MBE
11 December 2025
Prime Minister appoints King's Senior Research Fellow to the House of Lords
Dr Sophy Antrobus MBE will join the House of Lords as Labour peer
In a Downing Street announcement yesterday the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed 25 new Labour peers to the House of Lords, including Dr Sophy Antrobus MBE - Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Freeman Air and Space Institute (FASI) at King’s College London.
Dr Antrobus will join the House of Lords to debate, shape and scrutinise UK legislation and Government policy.
In her role as Senior Research Fellow Dr Antrobus directly informs and challenges debate around the UK’s Defence. This includes acting as an expert for the 2025 Strategic Defence Review published last June. Her research focuses on contemporary air power in the context of the institutional, cultural and organisational barriers to innovation and effectiveness in modern air forces, with a particular focus on the Royal Air Force.
The Freeman Air and Space Institute was established in 2020 as an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to generating an understanding of air and space power affairs in defence and security. Situated within the School of Security Studies at King's College London, the Institute seeks to inform scholarly, policy and doctrinal debates in a rapidly evolving strategic environment, characterised by transformative technological change, which is increasing the complexity of the air and space domains.
Dr Antrobus joined FASI in 2020 from Portsmouth University’s Business School where she was a Teaching Fellow in Strategic Studies. She completed her PhD at the University of Exeter in 2019. Her thesis researched the early politics of air power and networks in Whitehall in the inter-war years.
Prior to her PhD, Sophy served in the Royal Air Force for twenty years including in Iraq and Afghanistan and a tour with the Royal Navy.
Dr Antrobus will join the House of Lords in January 2026.
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Co-Director of the Freeman Air and Space Institute