Dr Tom Walsh is an international relations scholar, focusing on the contemporary politics of the Middle East. He specialises in the Saudi-Iranian "Cold War", the war in Yemen, the Iranian women's movement, and sportswashing. Underpinning his work is a desire to raise awareness of the war in Yemen and to examine why the world knows so little about one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. His research focuses on notions of security and securitisation, humanitarian aid, sectarian identity, social media, and visuality as a form of discourse.

Tom is currently teaching on the KCL MA module Foreign Policy Analysis in an Age of Great Power Competition, as well as supervising a number of postgraduate dissertations. Tom also teaches on the University of London/LSE BSc in International Relations, where he teaches on Introduction to International Political Thought, International History Since 1945, International Political Theory, and Power Shift in International Relations. As part of this, he also works as a Chief Examiner and Commentary Author. His teaching interests are guided by a desire to change the Euro-American-centric focus of international relations, considering a much wider diversity of sources. He believes strongly in the importance of interactive, empathic teaching as a guiding principle.

He previously led the MA module at Northumbria Theorising International Relations, Conflict, and Security, as well as teaching on a diversity of modules across foundation, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels. Dr Walsh has also previously taught at Durham and Teesside.

Before joining Northumbria University in 2023, Tom completed his PhD at the University of Durham. His PhD thesis was entitled – The Iranian-Saudi Rivalry: Prolonging the War in Yemen. External Actors, Securitisation, Sectarianisation, and Digital Media.

Tom also worked as the 'external talks' chair and organiser for the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, for which he won the 2022 Student Employee of the Year award. Stemming from a conference he organised in this role, he co-edited a Special Section that was released with Global Policy. He still holds an honorary Visiting Fellowship at Durham’s School of Government and International Affairs.

In 2022, Tom conducted extensive research as part of a large project on the Middle East led by Professor Clive Jones and Professor Rory Miller.

Tom has previously designed an entire course, based on his PhD, during his time working with The Brilliant Club. This charity seeks to rectify educational inequality in the UK - a cause to which Tom is deeply committed. 

Research Interests

• Yemen
• The Iranian Women’s Movement
• The Iranian–Saudi Rivalry
• Sportswashing
• Visuality
• Football
• Sectarian Identity
• Disinformation
• Social Media
• Ontological Security
• Securitisation Theory
• The Law of Blockades
• Indigenous Modes of Thought
• The Environment and Green Theory
• Feminism
• Concepts of Harm and Suffering
• Humanitarian Aid
• The Houthis
• Postcolonial Theory
• Race

Research Articles

• Walsh, T. (2025) The Saudi Savior – Justifying Operation Decisive Storm, In Digest of Middle East Studies 34 (1). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dome.12345
•  Walsh, T. (2024) TikTok as a site of social protest in Iran’s Gen-Z Uprising,
  In Discourse & Society 35 (5). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09579265241234351
• Walsh, T. (2023) Securitisation imperative and the exaggeration of Iranian
  involvement with the Houthi movement by international actors, Global Policy 14 (2), pp. 385-395. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13204
• Walsh, T. and Dogan-Akkas, B. (2023) Discursive Challenges: Power, State
  Legitimacy, and Counter-Narratives in the Arab World, Global Policy 14 (2), pp. 361- 362. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13221
• Walsh, T. (2022) How to analyze visual propaganda in the Middle East: An analysis
  of the “Saudi Strike Force Movie”, Digest of Middle East Studies 31 (2), pp. 96-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12262
• I also received credit as Co-Editor of the Special Section “Discursive Challenges: Power, State Legitimacy, and Counter-Narratives in the Arab World”.

Book Chapters

• Walsh, T. (2024) The Forgotten War: Multipolar Support for the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen,
• Houghton, B. and Durkan, K. (eds.) China, Russia and the USA in the Middle East: Contest for Supremacy. London: Routledge.

Media Articles

• The Iranian Protests: Change may not be immediate but is inevitable, in Global Policy: https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/14/12/2022/iranian-protests-change-may-not-be-immediate-inevitable
• [YouTube Interview] - Yemen - Geopolitics of Crisis - Tom Walsh | 2023 Episode 33, in IR Thinker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhYYzYISmqg
• [YouTube Interview] - Political situation in Yemen, in Middle East Analitika: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw5LyGD-Dfg
• [YouTube Interview] - Tom Walsh: Effects, Obstacles, and Transformations of “Woman, Life, Freedom”, in Iran 1400 Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvUkkHagp1c
• [Spotify Interview] - Why are the UK and US Governments bombing the Houthis in Yemen, in Politics in the Rearview Mirror: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JMq5rVWMTOkuznXFW5f5W

Teaching

• 7SSWN203 Foreign Policy Analysis in an Age of Great Power Competition
• 7SSWN116 Dissertation

PURE Profile