Welcome to the Centre for Conflict & Health Security.

The Centre for Conflict & Health Security is a new cross-faculty centre of excellence at King’s College London that brings together the faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, the faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy (including the School for Security Studies), the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience with a with a wide range of national and international partners. The centre builds on over a decade of experience in research, education and care at the interface of conflict, insecurity and health across the world.

The Centre’s mission is to investigate and understand the relationships between conflict and security (covering human, national and international perspectives) as a key determinants of health, especially in fragile and conflict affected settings.

Executive Board 

Professor Richard Sullivan	Director, Institute of Cancer Policy;  Co-Director of the Centre for Conflict & Health Research
Lt Gen (Rtd) Martin CM Bricknell CB OStJ PhD DM MBA MA MedSci	Professor in Conflict, Health and Military Medicine; Co-Director of the Centre for Conflict & Health Research
Professor Nicola Fear CBE	Professor of Epidemiology
Professor Peter von Dadelszen	Professor of Global Women's Health
Professor Richard Harding	Interim Executive Dean, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care at King's College London
Dr Gemma Bowsher	Senior Research Associate; Lead for Global Health Security, Centre for Conflict & Health Research
Dr Alex Tasker	Visiting Fellow
Dr Mac Skelton	Visiting Fellow

 

Our Vision

The Centre for Conflict & Health Security is  a leading international centre for interdisciplinary expertise in research, analysis, policy development, and teaching on understanding and mitigating the impacts of conflict and insecurity on health. We do this through global  collaborations between experts in biomedical sciences, social sciences, psychological sciences, policymakers and practitioners to improve policy and practice in the prevention, mitigation, treatment, and recovery from transnational threats to the health of individuals and populations.

Our faculty and partners work on a wide range of historical and contemporary conflict, security and health programmes with direct links to policy and practise. We work with partners at the highest level within international organisations (such as the UN, WHO and NATO) within UK government (such as the National Security Council, Ministry of Defence, Department of Health), international governments, and academic centres worldwide.

Our objectives are to:

• conduct cutting edge research and evidence development into the short, medium, and long-term outcomes of conflict and insecurity on affected populations,
• improve the understanding of transnational threats to health,
• improve policy choices for the mitigation of consequences of conflict and insecurity across both civilian and security sectors.
• undertake applied research to support health systems to deliver appropriate and responsive care to population needs in conflict and other emergencies

Our core themes are:

1. Cancer and Palliative Care in Crisis and Conflict – led by Professor Richard Sullivan and Professor Richard Harding
2. CBRNe & Cyber Health Security – led by Dr Gemma Bowsher
3. Conflict and Mental Health – led by Professor Nicola Fear
4. Healthcare during Conflict/Crisis – led by Professor Martin Bricknell and Professor Richard Sullivan
5. Healthcare Ethics during Conflict/Crisis – led by Professor Martin Bricknell and Professor David Whetham
6. One Health Security – led by Professor Richard Sullivan and Dr Gemma Bowsher
7. Women and Health Security: the Soteria Initiative – led by Professor Peter von Dadelszen

Key Publication:

Handbook of Global Health, Security, and War ISBN: 978-1-394-32609-9. August 2025. Wiley. Available at:  https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Handbook+of+Global+Health%2C+Security%2C+and+War-p-9781394326099

Educational Outputs:

Members of the CCHS convene or teach on:

• Conflict and Health: a module within the iBSc and Msc in Global Health delivered by FoLSM. Module code 6NNYGH05 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught-courses/global-health-msc and Module code: 7MRLGH14 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/global-health-ibsc
• Global Health, Security and War: Module code: 7SSWN346. An optional module for any MA programme delivered by the Department of War Studies https://www.kcl.ac.uk/abroad/module-options/global-health-security-and-war