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Richard Milburn
Richard Milburn

Dr Richard Milburn MBE

Teacher

Research interests

  • Conflict
  • Security
  • Environment

Biography

Dr Richard Milburn MBE is a Teacher at the School of Security Studies. He organises the Marjan Research Group’s research concerning armed conflict and the environment, utilising what is termed a ‘war-first’ approach which seeks to use the wider understanding of armed conflict and insecurity to identify the role that a loss of wildlife and biodiversity can have in contributing to insecurity and making the case for the importance and utility of environmental protection to those in the development and armed conflict space. In particular, his research focuses on the underlying drivers of, and how to bring an end to, the global illegal wildlife and timber trades, and on the role of militaries in greening defence and environmental security.

Richard completed his PhD within the Department of War Studies, researching the links between wildlife conservation, security, peacebuilding and development, conducting fieldwork in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

He acts as the UK representative of the Pole Pole Foundation, a multi-award winning Congolese conservation charity and Earthshot Prize Finalist based in Bukavu. Richard is also co-founder of Tunza Games, a game design and education company which uses gamification to enhance learning, better engage people with environmental issues, and raise funds to support conservation projects around the world.

Research Interests

  • Environmental Security
  • Climate Change
  • Illegal Wildlife Trade
  • Greening Defence
  • Conservation, security and development
  • Biodiversity loss and armed conflict
  • Postwar recovery
  • Sustainable development

Publications

Forthcoming:

  • Milburn, R. (2023), ‘Operational Risks and Opportunities from Climate Change on Western Militaries’ Conservation Activities’ in, Ziya Meral, Timothy Clack and Louise Selisny (eds) ‘Hot War: Climate Change & (In)Security’, Routledge Advances in Defence Studies (RAiDS)

Research

MarjanThumbnail
Marjan Conflict, Biodiversity & Military Sustainability Study Group

The links between war and conflict with the environment have been under- explored compared with other branches of both conflict studies and environmentalism.

ESRChero
Environmental Security research group

The Environmental Security research group brings together scholars from the security community and scholars working on issues of environmental security.

_DSC0102
Latin American Security Research Group

The Latin American Security Research Group (LAS) gathers experts working on international relations, defence and security in Latin America.

Features

Exploring the connections between environmental security and COP28 with Dr Richard Milburn

As COP28 commenced, MA student Agne Reketyte interviews Dr Richard Milburn on the key challenges on climate action.

COP28 blog by Agne

Research

MarjanThumbnail
Marjan Conflict, Biodiversity & Military Sustainability Study Group

The links between war and conflict with the environment have been under- explored compared with other branches of both conflict studies and environmentalism.

ESRChero
Environmental Security research group

The Environmental Security research group brings together scholars from the security community and scholars working on issues of environmental security.

_DSC0102
Latin American Security Research Group

The Latin American Security Research Group (LAS) gathers experts working on international relations, defence and security in Latin America.

Features

Exploring the connections between environmental security and COP28 with Dr Richard Milburn

As COP28 commenced, MA student Agne Reketyte interviews Dr Richard Milburn on the key challenges on climate action.

COP28 blog by Agne