Environmental Security Research Group

The Environmental Security Research Group is a forum for collaboration between the security community and scholars working on issues of environmental security from multiple perspectives across different disciplines. It focuses, in particular, on supporting and developing educational, research and policy-related projects and activities on two key themes:

The planetary, international, national and human security repercussions of climate change and biocapacity loss;
The opportunities, challenges and limitations for security forces to help governments and societies manage, mitigate and adapt to these repercussions.

In bringing scholarly and practitioner expertise together on these issues, the research group aims to support security sector reform efforts to create sustainable, rule-of-law based security assistance for the proliferating environmental crises facing the world.

Activities

Sharing and generating timely content and insights on current threats and innovations, to aid members of security forces, from senior policymakers through to entry-level officials;
Supporting high quality, collaborative research projects and publications with academic and policy impact;
Developing multi-disciplinary and evidence-based educational programmes, both within the higher education and security sectors;
Enhancing the reach and impact of current Kings College London research around the theme of environmental security.

Membership

Associate membership is open to anyone engaged in ongoing research that is relevant to the group, or who has an interest in the group's focus of research.

To apply for associate membership please complete the application form.

Related King's Groups

Climate, Law & Governance

Environment and Public Policy

King’s Climate Hub

King’s Water Hub

Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and the Environment

Members

Helen Adams

Senior Lecturer in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

Hillary Briffa

Lecturer in Defence Studies

Warren Chin

Senior Lecturer

Simon Chin-Yee

Research Associate

Thomas Colley

Visiting Research Fellow in War Studies

Vinicius de Carvalho

Director, King's Brazil Institute

Kris De Meyer

Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer

Thomas Fröhlich

ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Adrian Garside

Visiting Research Fellow

Amine Ghoulidi

PhD Student

Duraid Jalili

Lecturer

Amir Magdy Kamel

Lecturer

Emmanuel Karagiannis,

Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer

Jamie Kwong

Doctoral Candidate

Hui-Chen Lai

PhD Student

Joe Maiolo

Professor of International History

Jack McDonald

Lecturer in War Studies (Contemporary Conflicts)

Nicholas Michelsen

Reader in International Relations

Richard Milburn

Visiting Research Associate

Naho Mirumachi

Reader in Environmental Politics

Kieran Mitton

Senior Lecturer in International Relations

David Omand

Visiting Professor

Alessio Patalano

Reader in East Asian Warfare

Julia Pearce

Senior Lecturer

David Roberts

Associate Professor / Senior Lecturer

Maeve Ryan

Lecturer in History and Grand Strategy

Emma Tebbs

Lecturer in Physical Geography and Earth Observation

Rod Thornton

Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer

Maria Varaki

Lecturer in International Law

David Whetham

Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession

Christopher Winch

Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy

Ongoing Projects

Members of the group, either individually or in collaboration with partners, are working on a wide variety of research projects, on subjects including: environmental communications; climate resilience in small states; human migration dynamics; and military sustainability.

ESRC Funding Bid

The group is currently working towards the creation of a multi-disciplinary and cross-organisational funding bid for an ESRC Standard Grant, examining possible systems for communicating environmental security issues and enhancing sustainability across and between global security forces.

Resource Orders and Transitions in Global History

This collaborative project organised by Dr Mats Ingulstad of NTNU Trondheim, and Professor Joe Maiolo examines how changes in the exploitation of natural resources have shaped global politics and the environment, especially in transitions from one ‘resource order’ to another. Past changes have been associated with the industrial revolution and the development of global capitalism as well as shifts in the exploitation of hydrocarbons from coal to oil and gas. Such changes have had pronounced geopolitical, economic, legal and social repercussions, none the least of which is environmental and ecological degradation. The fundamental goal of this project is to analyse how these transitions occur in order to mitigate their negative consequences. The first of three planned workshops on the theme of ‘Raw Materials in International Politics’ will take place in June 2021.

Dr Mats Ingulstad

Professor Joe Maiolo

National Resilience and Covid-19

Dr Rod Thornton and Dr Marina Miron are currently using a British Academy COVID-19 Small Grant along to examine the role of civil defence, paramilitary and military organisations across Europe in mitigating the effects of COVID-19. This research has been developed from ongoing work on states’ domestic resilience measures.

Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, the military input and what it may mean for the future use of biological weapons

Postgraduate Research

The Defence Studies Department encourages postgraduate research on environmental and resource security related topics. Recent PhD research includes examinations of: - The securitisation of contemporary energy security practice; - Mineral security, including EU legislation on phosphate fertilisers; - Antarctic international relations

Zeoni, L. and Jalili, D. (2020) ‘Londra Mette L’artico Nel Mirino’, Limes, Revista Italiana di Geopolitica: 203-211
Zeitoun, M., Mirumachi, N. & Warner, J. (2020) Water conflicts: Analysis for transformation. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mirumachi, N., Sawas, A. & Workman, M. (2020) 'Unveiling the security concerns of low carbon development: climate security analysis of the undesirable and unintended effects of mitigation and adaptation,' Climate and Development, 12(2): 97-109.
Chin Yee, S. (2019) Climate change and human security: Case studies linking vulnerable populations to increased security risks in the face of the global climate challenge. Strategy Paper Eighteen. London: European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS).
Chin-Yee, S. (2016) 'Briefing: Africa and the Paris climate change agreement', African Affairs, 115(459), April: 359-368.
Dickman, A., Johnson, P., Coals, P., Harrington, L., Tyrrell, P., Somerville, K., Cotterill, A. & Whetham, D. (2020) ‘Wars over Wildlife: Green Militarisation and Just War Theory’, Conservation and Society, 18(3): 293-297.
Winch, C., Clarke, L. & Sahin-Dikmen, M. (2020) 'Overcoming diverse approaches to vocational education and training to combat climate change: the case of low energy construction in Europe ', Oxford Review of Education, 46(5): 619-636.
Bevan, L., Colley, T. and Workman, M. (2020) ‘Climate change strategic narratives in the UK: Emergency, Extinction, Effectiveness’, Energy Research and Social Science, Vol. 69.
Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Adams, H. et al. (2019) ‘Climate migration myths’, Nature Climate Change, 9: 901–903.
Chin, W. (2019) ‘Technology, war and the state: past, present and future’, International Affairs 95(4), July: 765–783.
Murphy , R, Pelling, M, Adams, H, Di Vincez, S & Visman, E. (2018) 'Survivor-Led Response: Local recommendations to operationalise building back better', International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, vol. 31: 135-142.
Bushell, S., Buisson, G.S., Workman, M., and Colley, T. (2017) Strategic Narratives in Climate Change: Towards a Unifying Narrative to Address the Action Gap on Climate Change. In: Energy Research and Social Science, Vol. 28: 39-49.
Karagiannis, E. (2015) When the Green Gets Greener: Political Islam’s Newly Found Environmentalism, In: Small Wars and Insurgencies. 26(1): 181-201.
Rapley, C. & De Meyer, K. (2014) 'Climate science reconsidered', Nature climate change, 4(9): 745-746.

Conflict and Environment Observatory

CEOBS was launched in 2018 and provides world-leading research on the environmental consequences of war and the role of environmental factors in triggering or driving insecurity. In doing so, it seeks to challenge the idea of the environment as a ‘silent victim of armed conflict'

Conflict and Environment Observatory Website

PAX for Peace

PAX seeks to help reduce conflict and enhance peace through research, advocacy and policy work, including programmes dealing with the human rights violations and armed conflict that can stem from extraction and use of natural resources.

PAX for Peace Website

Dr Adam Day, Director of Programmes at United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (New York)

Adam is currently supporting a global risk assessment on climate security (led by the Adelphi group), as well as engaging in his own research and policy work on climate security and conflict prevention. He brings to his research practitioner experience in UN peace operations, political engagement in conflict settings, mediation and protection of civilians.

Contact Dr Adam Day

Conflict Prevention in the Era of Climate Change

Climate Change and Security