Dr Bird joined the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London in July 2004 and is permanently based at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) in Shrivenham. During his time at JSCSC he has been the Director of the MA programme in Defence Studies, the Director of Course Design for the Advanced Command and Staff Course and is currently the Subject Matter Expert for NATO. He was Dean of Academic Studies at Joaan Bin Jassim Joint Command and Staff College in Qatar where he led a KCL academic team that supported the Qatari Staff Course between 2013-2017.

Previously he taught at the University of Birmingham and the University of Warwick. His teaching specialities are Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency and Stabilisation, US Foreign and Security Policy, International Security, US/UK Military Doctrine, the Operational Level of Warfare, National Resilience, NATO, and Military Strategy. He was educated at the University of West England, Southern Illinois University (USA), and the University of Birmingham where he received a Masters degree in Security Studies and a PhD in International Relations. He has also held a number of management positions in the private sector.

From September 2008 – August 2009 Dr Bird was on secondment at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) as part of the team writing the new British Joint Operational Stabilisation Doctrine (JDP 3-40 Security and Stabilisation: the Military Contribution). He is the author (with Dr Alex Marshall) of ‘Afghanistan: How the West Lost Its Way’ (Yale University Press, May 2011) charting the intervention in Afghanistan from 2001. Recently he co-authored (with Dr Tim Benbow and Dr Rod Thornton) an analysis of the Ministry of Defence’s role in National Resilience for DCDC.

Dr Bird has participated in pre-deployment training for units preparing for service in Afghanistan and conducted regular courses for LIFC(A) (Land Intelligence Fusion Cell Afghanistan). He completed, in 2007, the Joint Operations Planning Course (JOPC) at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) in Northwood (one of only two civilian academics to have been allowed to take the course at that point). He has lectured regularly to military units and academic institutions outside of Staff College. Dr Bird has delivered presentations to, among others, US Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk Virginia, US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California, UK Special Forces, the European Security and Defence College in Rome, the Baltic Defence College in Estonia, and the Australian Department of Defence.

Research Interests

• Military Doctrine
• International Relations and Alliances
• US Foreign and Defence Policy
• European Security
• Contemporary Security Policy
• International Relations Theory
• Strategic Thought
• COIN and Stabilisation Operations
• Afghanistan and South Asian Security

MA Special Subject

NATO since 1989

 

Dr Tim Bird PURE Profile