Welcome to the Centre for Conflict & Health Security.

The Centre for Conflict & Health Security (CCHS) is a leading international centre for interdisciplinary expertise, analysis, policy development, and teaching on conflict and global health security. We are a cross-faculty centre of excellence at King’s College London that bridges security studies, intelligence and conflict analysis with global health systems and medicine. The centre builds on over a decade of ground-level global work at the intersection of conflict, insecurity and health. The Centre’s mission is to investigate and understand the relationships between conflict and security (covering human, national and international perspectives) as key determinants of health across fragile and conflict-affected settings.

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

CCHS delivers its strategic goals by

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

Executive Board 

Professor Richard Sullivan	Director, Institute of Cancer Policy;  Co-Director of the Centre for Conflict & Health Security
Professor (Lt Gen (Rtd)) Martin Bricknell	Professor in Conflict, Health and Military Medicine; Co-Director of the Centre for Conflict & Health Security
Professor Peter von Dadelszen	Professor of Global Women's Health
Professor Richard Harding	Herbert Dunhill Chair of Palliative Care & Rehabilitation Exec Dean, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care
Dr Gemma Bowsher	Lead for Global Health Security
Dr Alex Tasker	Associate Prof, One Health, University of Bristol Academic Director (Bristol Policy)
Dr Mac Skelton	Director, Institute of Regional & International Studies (IRIS), American Uni of Iraq

 Education and Training:

The Centre for Conflict & Health Security (CCHS) delivers a wide range of  internal and external education and training, including:

• 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

The Centre has also developed its own educational textbook on conflict & health security: Handbook of Global Health, Security, and War ISBN: 978-1-394-32609-9. August 2025. Wiley

Recent and current PhD students and projects include:

• Dr Charles Beardmore - Military Healthcare Ethical challenges and dilemmas – how may practitioners decide how to act, and what is the protective effect of the Distinctive Emblems and other symbols denoting healthcare?
• Elly Nott - What was the significance of non-state actors in state-building in northwest Syria between 2011 and 2024? The case study of health in northwest Syria.
• Emily McMullen - Humanitarian 4.0: Leveraging New and Emerging Technologies to Sustain Injury Care in Fragile and Conflict-affected States – lessons from community rehabilitation services in Gaza.
• Dr George Bundy - How have the ‘Bucharest Nine’ Countries and their Security Sector Health Systems Responded to the COVID-19 pandemic?
• Arta Uka - Invisible Survivors, Perpetrators and Peacebuilders: Tracing Children’s Lived Experiences during and after the Kosovo Conflict.
• Zahed Katurji - Investigating Medical Evacuation during Siege based on the Syrian Armed Conflict, 2012-2023
• Dr (Col) Simon Horne - The relationship between the military and civilian health care workers across aid, development and peacebuilding, 2021-2025
• Rose Bernard - Health, technology, and intelligence: how the new frontier of global health necessitates regulations and oversight.

In Memoriam: Professor Nicola T. Fear CBE

We join in mourning the loss of our great friend and colleague Professor Nicola Fear, who was one of the founding faculty of the Centre. She was not only a wonderful and brilliant colleague but a huge supporter of our efforts to bridge conflict and health security research across the faculties. Her loss is greatly felt.