Dr Eitan Oren is a Senior Lecturer in War Studies Education at the Department of War Studies. His research explores how people and groups perceive security threats, examining the psychological, linguistic and cultural factors that shape their views.

He is the author of Japan's Threat Perception During the Cold War—A Psychological Account, which challenged the idea that Japan was shielded from threats during this period. Dr. Oren's work has also been published in leading journals, including the European Journal of International Security, the Journal of Cold War Studies and the International Relations of the Asia Pacific.

He is currently leading a new research project on the psychology of nuclear crises and war, which involves constructing the largest multidisciplinary dataset on the psychology of nuclear threat to date.

Dr Oren is a fellow of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and a member of ISA and BISA.

Research Interests

I am interested in supervising PhD students on the following:

• Threat Perception in International Relations

• The psychology of specific threats, including but not limited to:

• Nuclear crisis and war

• Human augmentation

• Existential risks

• Ideas (e.g. the threat of racism)

• Antisemitism and International Relations

I am also interested in working with students with expertise using experimental methods.

Publications

Recent Publications:

• Oren, Eitan. “How Leaders Experience Security Dangers: the Neglected Dimension of Unfolding Experience,” European Journal of International Security, 2025.
• Oren, Eitan. “Global International Relations”, in International Relations - Emerging Debates, Enduring Questions, and Contending Voices, ed. by Carmela Lutmar, IntechOpen, 2025.

 Teaching

Dr Oren currently teaches on the following modules:

• Foreign Policy Analysis (MA)

• East-Asian Security (MA)

• Contemporary Strategy in East-Asia (BA3)
• Non-Western International Relations Theory (BA3)