James was awarded his PhD in ‘War and Strategic Studies’ in 2021 from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is appointed the Laughton-Corbett Research Fellow, a title and fellowship created explicitly by King’s and authorised by the Dean of Research, to support his research projects and his role in lecturing and supporting the development of PGT and PGR civilian and military students.

You can find out more and follow James on his substack.

Laughton-Corbett Research Fellow

The Laughton-Corbett Research Fellow educates and encourages the use of the historical methodology––the analysis of experience––to offer insight into past, present and future debate and discussion on strategy, war studies, military history, policy, defence, security, geopolitics, geostrategy, international relations and more with an emphasis on practical, functional, impactful outputs, while also focusing on advancing research into strategic studies and its influence on the world today and tomorrow.

The fellowship is named after Royal Navy Captain Sir John Knox Laughton (1830-1915), one of the founding fathers of military history, including naval history and the use of historical analysis to guide future discussion on defence and security. Civilian Sir Julian Corbett (1852-1922) was one of the world’s leading strategists and strategic theorists covering naval and maritime strategy and broader national strategy and policy.

PhD and Post-Doctoral Research

James’s PhD examined the relationship between the higher organisation of defence and the development of national strategy-making in the UK and the US from ‘seabed to space’. The core theme of developing strategy, practically and theoretically, including national ways of ‘war and peace’ and the interface between organisation, national policy and national strategy continues post-doctoral. Beyond working on multiple future publications, James is engaged in various journal outputs and engagements, such as podcasts, magazines, media, and blogs.

The British Academy supports the Laughton-Corbett Fellowship, including his project to advance maritime strategy as the foundation of space strategy and disseminate his work on defence reform covering organisation, strategy and policy to a broader audience.

James is a U.S. Naval War College Fellow, Royal Historical Society and Royal Astronomical Society. In the UK and US, he is an active member of groups such as the American Astronomical Society, British Interplanetary Society, The Planetary Society and National Space Society and military history associations such as the 1805 Club and Naval Records Society.

James actively contributes to the various research groups, centres and themes at King's. He continues to be a founding member of the Wargaming Network, which aims to advance the theory and application of wargaming as a method of inquiry and as a method of learning and teaching. He is also engaged in various professional organisations, projects, associations and research groups in the UK, USA, Australia and Japan. One of these projects is the international ‘Corbett 100 project’ that James pioneered and marks the centenary of the death of historian, strategist, and philosopher of seapower and maritime strategy Sir Julian Corbett.

Research interests

• The development of strategy, strategic thought, strategic theory, the art of war (Major/Minor Inc. Applied History), strategic policy and doctrine
• National Ways of ‘War and Peace’
• The theory, development and practice of maritime strategy
• National Strategy, National Defence Strategy, National Security Strategy
• Strategic Space Theory, Space Warfare, ‘Astropolitics’ and ‘Astrostrategy’ (Incl. Geostrategy and Geopolitics), Defence Space Policy, Space History, Human activity in space near-Earth and beyond (outer and deep)
• Future development of humanity as a spacefaring civilisation
• Defence Organisation: American Defense Unification (DoD) and British Defence Unification (MoD), such as higher organisation, organisational and strategic culture, jointness, command and control, and civil-military relations
• Wargaming: advancing research into the ‘art and philosophy’ of wargaming, including the development, theory, and practice of wargaming
• Contemporary British and American Defence Policy, Strategy and History
• Contemporary Naval and Maritime History and Naval Warfare: Sea Power, Maritime Power, and Naval Power
• Naval Wargaming: history, theory, and practice

Selected Outputs and Publications

• Forthcoming Monograph on UK and US Defence unification and defence reform and its relationship with strategy-making.
• Forthcoming Monograph on ‘Space Strategy’ (1st Ed.).
• Forthcoming Monograph on the Royal Navy, British Way of War, Defence Reform and National Strategy.
• The Foundations of Space Strategy: The Admiralty, U.S. Navy and Maritime Influences, A New History. USNA/USNWC/USNI Press (2025).
• Press Release: New project will use a maritime approach to advance space strategy
• Public Lecture: The Creation of the U.K. Ministry of Defence & the U.S. Department of Defense: Power, Politics and Agenda. A New History. King’s College London (2022).
• King’s Annual Research Impact Report 2024: ‘Ensuring Security From Seabed to Space’.
• ‘The Art of Admiralty, Maritime Strategy, and the Island Nations: Britain, Australia, and Japan’ (Sept 2023). Australian Naval Institute and the Australian Naval Review (2024).
• Event: From National Strategy to Strategy in Policy: The Evolution of Strategy and Strategic thought and the Interface with Policymaking (2022).
• Smith, James W.E. “Seablindness, the Royal Navy and US Navy after 1964” The Naval Review Journal, March 2024.
• James W.E. Smith (2023), Battle for space: statecraft, diplomacy and defence strategy | Astronomy & Geophysics | Oxford Academic (oup.com), Royal Astronomical Society A&G, 64:2, 2.38–2.40, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/astrogeo/atad012
• Lecture: Defense Unification, the U.S. Navy and the Space Race 1957-1970: Expressions of US Sea Power in the Cold War. USNA/USNWC (2021).
• Keynote Lecture: The Art and Philosophy of Wargaming in the 21st Century? Revisiting fundamental questions of the past, present, and future nature and character of wargaming, A Strategic Studies and History Perspective. King’s College London, Wargaming Week Keynote, 1 June 2023.
• Smith, James W.E. “The Art of Admiralty”, The Naval Review Journal, 2023.
• Smith, James W.E. “Corbett offers more on Space than Mitchell.” War on the Rocks, 11 Dec. 2019.
• Smith, James W.E. “Space Force Creation Warrants Revisiting Defence Unification.” War on the Rocks, 23 Sept. 2020
• Press Release: King's College London led research collaboration enhances 'AUKUS' partnership between U.K., USA and Australia (kcl.ac.uk)
• Press Release: Security Studies hosts international conference on maritime strategist Sir Julian Corbett
• James W.E. Smith (2021) New Research into the History, Theory and Practice of Naval Wargaming, The Mariner's Mirror, 107:1, 100-103, DOI: 10.1080/00253359.2021.1845516.
• Recovering the Useful Past: Naval Historians at the Fore, Churchill College Cambridge, University of Cambridge. (25 Nov. 2022.)
• Falklands 40: War and Defence Studies Perspectives in the 21^st Century led by Dr James W.E. Smith
• Forgetting Corbett: The Decline of Historically-led Methodology and Maritime Influences on Strategy in the Contemporary Era – 2022 School of Security Studies Research Conference “Back to the Future? Continuity and Change in the study of War and Conflict.

You can find a complete log of his outputs on his substack.