Strategic Defence Unit

Main areas of expertise: Sea power and maritime strategy

Prof. Alessio Patalano is Professor of War and Strategy in East Asia in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and leads the King’s Japan Programme in the Centre for Grand Strategy. He is also Director of the Asian Security and Warfare Research Group, and Research Associate at the King’s China Institute. Since 2006, he has been Visiting Lecturer in Naval Strategy and East Asian Security at the Italian Naval War College, Venice.

Main areas of expertise: Security challenges in Europe, military strategy and intra-NATO relations

Dr Alexander Lanoszka is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada, having previously been a Lecturer in the Department of International Politics at City, University of London. Before this, he was a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctorate Fellow at MIT, and a US Foreign Policy/International Security Fellow at Dartmouth College. He has also published books on military alliances and nuclear proliferation.

Main areas of expertise: Strategy, air power and leadership

Ben Goodwin is a fighter pilot with experience in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and Central Africa. He has been posted to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and NATO in Brussels. Previously, he worked at the trading arm of a large bank, focused on foreign exchange and government bonds. He holds a BA in International Relations and History from the University of Sydney.

Main areas of expertise: Defence and security, British defence policy and sea power

Benedict Baxendale-Smith is a doctoral researcher in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London, researching the role of the maritime-air domain in the Indo-Pacific strategies of Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Previously, he worked for a Member of Parliament, and held a position at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC. He holds an MA in International Relations with distinction from Durham University.

Main areas of expertise: Defence industrial policy and British defence policy.

Chris Hague is Senior Policy and Communications Manager at Make UK Defence, leading on government affairs and industrial policy reform to drive economic growth, strengthen deterrence and increase access to Ministry of Defence work for SMEs, mid-tiers and non-traditional suppliers. He also played a key role in the Labour Party’s defence team, working alongside the Rt. Hon. John Healey MP, and worked on the International Policy Team prior to the 2024 general election.

Main areas of expertise: Black Sea geopolitics, Ukraine and European security

Dr Marc De Vore is a Senior Lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, as well as an Associate Fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. His research centres around the Black Sea region, including Ukrainian and wider European security, and the revisionist challenge to the post-Cold War Euro-Atlantic order posed by Russia.

Gabriel Elefteriu FRAeS is a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, where his research focuses on defence space policy and strategy, and the global space power balance. Having also served as Deputy Director at the Council on Geostrategy, he was previously Director of Research and Strategy and member of the Senior Management Team at Policy Exchange, which he first joined in 2014 and where he also founded and directed the first dedicated Space Policy Research Unit in the United Kingdom. Gabriel is also an Associate of King’s College, London, an elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a founding partner at AstroAnalytica, a space consultancy. He holds a BA in War Studies (first class) and an MA in Intelligence and International Security (Distinction), both from King’s College, London.

Main areas of expertise: Defence finance, dual-use technology and national security

Hugo Barker is Chief of Staff at the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB) Development Group, leading strategic operations, high-level stakeholder engagement and policy development. He has a background in economic governance, national security and emerging technologies, having provided expert advice on governmental initiatives and playing a key role in developing NATO’s DIANA evaluation process. He is pursuing a PhD as the inaugural Lord David Sainsbury Scholar at Imperial College London.

John Foreman CBE is an independent consultant specialising in Russia, Ukraine and Euro-Atlantic security. He served as UK Defence Attaché to Moscow (2019–2022), providing strategic counsel to Ministers on Russian military strategy and the war in Ukraine. He was also DA in Kyiv. His extensive military-diplomatic career includes appointments with NATO, the EU, and the United States. A Royal Navy veteran, he also brings expertise from global maritime operations, including the Arabian Gulf.

Main areas of expertise: American national security and policy, UK-US relations, Euro-Atlantic defence and security

Joshua C. Huminski is the Senior Vice President for National Security and Intelligence at the Centre for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. He frequently writes for American and European outlets, appears on international news networks, and serves as national security adviser to Rep. Mike Rogers, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman and current Senate candidate. He is also currently writing a book on the future of Euro-Atlantic defence and security relations after the conflict in Ukraine.

Honorary Fellow Prof. Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Middlesex University London and Interim Faculty Dean for Science and Technology. He has written many books, including Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic (with Mia Bennett) and Border Wars. In the last decade, he has served as a specialist adviser for the Houses of Parliament, worked with NATO’s Strategic Foresight Analysis team, and acted as a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw.

Main areas of expertise: Land warfare, sub-threshold warfare and joint operations

Matthew Palmer is a former British Army officer with deployed operational experience in the Middle East and Europe, including working on Operation SHADER and in the Joint Expeditionary Force. His areas of interest include irregular and sub-threshold warfare, force structure and joint operations. He has a BA from the University of Oxford and is currently undertaking an MSc at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Main areas of expertise: British defence policy, the defence industrial base, armaments production and European security

Paul Mason is an author, journalist and political consultant. Previously, he was the Economics Editor at BBC Newsnight and later at Channel 4 News. He writes weekly for The New European and runs the newsletter Conflict & Democracy, as well as contributing to Frankfurter Rundschau and Social Europe. He is the British champion for the global campaign for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Peter Watkins CB CBE is a Visiting Professor at King’s College London. Previously, he was Director General at the Ministry of Defence from 2014-2018, where he was responsible for strategic policy and planning, deterrence policy, defence industrial policy and defence relations with allies. He has also served as Director General of the Defence Academy, Director of Operational Policy and Director of the Typhoon programme.

Prof. Caroline Kennedy-Pipe is Professor of War Studies at the University of Loughborough and an Honorary Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy. She has held visiting positions at the University of Lille, the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Southern Denmark, and the Rothermere Institute, University of Oxford. From 2018 to 2019, she was a Specialist Adviser to the Defence Committee in the House of Commons.

Dr Rob Johnson is Director of the Oxford Strategy, Statecraft and Technology (Changing Character of War) Centre as well as a Senior Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. He is also a Professor at the Norwegian Defence University Staff College. Prior to this, he was the first Director of the Office of Net Assessment and Challenge in the Ministry of Defence.

Main areas of expertise: Grand strategy and British defence policy

Dr William James is an Assistant Professor in Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, and previously held research fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the University of Oxford and King’s College London. He published his first book, British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony, in 2024.

William Freer is a Research Fellow in National Security. He is a War Studies graduate from King’s College London where his academic work focused on British-American grand strategy in the Cold War and post-Cold War era. His work specialised on how Britain managed military overstretch, economic stagnation, and national security during the withdrawal from ‘East of Suez’ (1957-1971). He previously worked as a consultant for a firm that specialised in research and advisory work (across a wide array of sectors including defence, justice, education, supported employment, and economic inactivity) and government procurement, both in the UK and internationally. He holds a BA in War Studies from King’s College London.