Dr Rod Thornton specialises in the study of the Russian military. He looks at this military as a holistic entity – from how its arms of service conduct kinetic warfare to how it engages in sub-threshold warfare activities.

He originally served for nine years in an infantry regiment of the British Army (1980-88). During his time, he spent four years in Germany and three years in Northern Ireland. He left the Army to go to university in 1988. After a degree in Russian and Serbo-Croat, he subsequently rejoined the Army to serve as an interpreter in Bosnia for a year (1992-93). He was one of only 13 British soldiers based in Sarajevo (Old Town) during the siege across the winter of 1992-1993. He left the Army again and began a career in academia after time spent living in both Moscow and Kiev (Kyiv). He went on to teach, firstly at King’s and then at the University of Nottingham and at the University of Hewler in Erbil, Kurdish Region of Iraq. He returned to King’s in 2013 when he was seconded to teach at the Qatari Staff College. Down the years, Rod has taught on a wide variety of topic areas – including international affairs, guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, terrorism, the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, Russian history and the history of the Middle East.

Research Interests

• The Russian armed forces
• Russian sub-threshold warfare
• Russian cyber capabilities
• UK homeland resilience
• Russian military high-tech systems
• Russian space capabilities

Along with a series of articles and book chapters, Rod has written a book entitled ‘Asymmetric Warfare’ with Polity Press (2007). He is currently working on a book about the Russian armed forces.

This encompasses the study of its army, navy and air force but also its activities in the sub-threshold space. Recently, Rod’s research concentration has been on Russian cyberspace operations. In light of Russian sub-threshold warfare activities, his research also encompasses homeland resilience capacity in the UK. He recently received a British Academy grant to look at UK homeland resilience capacity during the COVID-19 crisis.

Teaching

Rod teaches across a broad range of subject areas related to international affairs and defence and security issues. He is based at the UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham.

PhD students:

• Andrea Rebora (AI and cyber)
• Ewa Cholewa (Insurgents in Nigeria)
• Andrew Jensen (Russian and Chinese cyberspace operations)
• Keng Meng Tan (Offensive cyber)
• Muhammet Serif (Baltic States state resilience)
• Joe Cheravitch (Russian psychological warfare)

Dr Thornton is not in a position to accept more PhD students. 

Recently Published

• ‘The UK view of AI and the future of warfare’. in Jungmi Cha (ed), Global AI Military Innovation and Future of Warfare How Global Military Powers Are Preparing for Future AI Warfare, National Assembly Futures Institute, Seoul, South Korea (ISBN: 979-11-94650-08-9(95340), February 2025. https://www.nafi.re.kr/english/research.do?mode=view&articleNo=9877
• And Marina Miron, ‘Russian military space-related capabilities: The vital deterrence role of counterspace weapons (Part II)’, Freeman Air and Space Institute (FASI) Paper, November 2024. ISSN 2754-0510. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/warstudies/assets/paper-26-rodthorntonmarina-miron-pt2-russian-military.pdf
• And Marina Miron, ‘Russian military adaptations in the Ukraine conflict (2022-?): dealing with the complexity of modern warfare’, in Pentti Forsstrom (ed), Russia’s War against Ukraine. Complexity of Contemporary Clausewitzian War, Series 2, No. 33, Finnish National Defence University, Department of Warfare, Helsinki, October 2024. (ISBN 978-951-25-3455-5). https://doria.fi/handle/10024/189938
• And Marina Miron, ‘The use of cyber tools by the Russian military: lessons from the war against Ukraine and a warning for NATO?’, in Applied Cybersecurity & Internet Governance, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.60097/ACIG/190142. https://www.acigjournal.com/The-Use-of-Cyber-Tools-by-the-Russian-Military-Lessons-from-the-War-against-Ukraine,190142,0,2.html
• ‘Russian Cyber Operations in Ukraine: threat and response’, in David V. Goie and Margaret W. Smith (eds), Great Power Cyber Competition. Competing and Winning in the Information Environment (L: Routledge, 2024.) ISBN: 978-1-032-54526-4
• And Marina Miron, ‘Russian military space-related capabilities: The vital deterrence role of counterspace weapons (Part I)’, Freeman Air and Space Institute (FASI) Paper, June 2024. (ISSN 2754 0510)
• And Marina Miron, ‘The Russian use of space and counterspace assets in the Ukraine war: An appraisal’ in Pentti Forsstrom (ed), War on Ukraine: Strategic and Operational Designs and Implementation, Finnish National Defence University, Helsinki, September 2023. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-25-3400-5; https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/187854

Dr Rod Thornton PURE Profile