War Studies

Following acceptance of his King's Alumni Award, Hermione Dadone, Communications Manager for the School of Security Studies talks to BBC News Presenter Rich Preston about his career in international journalism, his experience of studying at King’s, and the importance of telling complex global stories clearly and accurately.

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In the seventh edition of the King’s College London War Studies War Stories podcast miniseries, hosted by King’s alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (BA War Studies, 2002–2005), we take to the seas with Andrew Young (BA War Studies 2004-2007, current War Studies PhD candidate).

Andrew was a young naval officer, deployed as a specialist educator, whose ships were re-routed to deal with humanitarian crises in Libya in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, HMS Enterprise, a survey vessel, was on patrol in the Mediterranean when it was sent to evacuate over 100 personnel from Tripoli, and again Andrew found himself as the resident 'expert' when HMS Bulwark was sent to rescue over 4,000 migrants from the sea off Libya, in 2015. The ships and their crews had to rapidly adapt to situations that they were not set-up to do - a superb example of military ‘adapt and overcome’.

Expect to learn:

- What it means to live aboard ship, in cramped conditions

- How to adapt in rapid time to a new mission

- How leadership, training and individual initiative drive success or failure under pressure.

What happens when public health, biology and conflict meet?

In this episode of the War Studies Podcast, Dr Julia Pearce is joined by Dr Filippa Lentzos and Dr Gemma Bowsher from King’s College London to explore the changing landscape of biosecurity, CBRN threats and health security in conflict.

The conversation examines how chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disinformation is being used as a weapon of war, with a particular focus on Russia’s narratives around biological laboratories in Ukraine. The episode also discusses the CBRN Disinformation Tracker, the challenge of maintaining trust in public health during conflict, and how Ukraine has become a critical case study for understanding health security under pressure.

They also look beyond Ukraine to the Arctic and other regions, introducing the Matryoshka model: a way of understanding how a core disinformation claim is adapted to different local contexts, like Russian nesting dolls, by examining local histories, mistrust and geopolitical narratives.

The discussion then turns to AI, dual-use science, biological weapons governance, and whether existing arms control regimes — including the Biological Weapons Convention — are fit for a rapidly changing world.

Featuring:

Dr Julia Pearce, Reader in Social Psychology and Security Studies

Dr Filippa Lentzos, Reader in Science and International Security

Dr Gemma Bowsher, physician social scientist affiliated with the King’s Centre for Conflict and Health Security

In this episode of the War Studies Podcast, PhD student Charlotte Bascaule speaks with Admiral Carlos Chagas Viana Braga, Commandant of the Brazilian Marine Corps.

They discuss changes to the Brazilian Marine Corps, new technologies, maritime operations, peacekeeping and the challenges facing Brazil’s armed forces today.

In the sixth edition of the King’s College London War Studies War Stories podcast miniseries, hosted by King’s alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (BA War Studies, 2002–2005), Nick hosts and Rupert takes to the guest seat to speak about his own experience of war. As a young officer with 4th Battalion The Rifles, Rupert deployed to Basra, Iraq, in 2007, where he commanded a platoon given the task of defending the Provincial Joint Coordination Centre (PJCC), an isolated position in the centre of the city. One night in April, Rupert and 24 soldiers found themselves defending the PJCC against an attack by around 200 militia fighters. Over four hours, the defenders fought to prevent the position being overrun, for which the platoon was recognised with three gallantry awards, including two Military Crosses.

Expect to learn:

- What it means to command a mechanised rifle platoon in an urban counter-insurgency.

- How 24 soldiers defended an isolated position against a much larger force during four hours of intense urban combat.

- How leadership, training and individual initiative manifest in the pressure cooker of a defensive battle.

In this episode of the Breaking Cycles of Conflict mini-series, XCEPT's Dr Nafees Hamid talks to Dr Iain McGilchrist – psychiatrist, philosopher, neuroscientist and author of The Master and His Emissary and The Matter with Things – about how the brain's left and right hemispheres attend to the world in fundamentally different ways. They explore how shifts in hemispheric dominance have shaped trust, institutions and the rise and fall of civilisations throughout history, and what this means for how governments, mediators and practitioners build, and lose, legitimacy in fragile and conflict-affected settings today.

This research is part of XCEPT (Cross-Border Conflict Evidence, Policy and Trends), a UK aid-funded programme. King's College London's contribution to XCEPT focuses on the factors that shape violent and peaceful behaviour in conflict-affected populations. Find out more about XCEPT at xcept-research.org.

In the fifth edition of the King's College London War Studies War Stories podcast miniseries, hosted by King's alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (BA War Studies, 2002–2005), Ru and Nick speak with Aravind Rajendran (MA Conflict, Security & Development, 2020–2021). A former commissioned officer in the Indian Army (2009 to 2020), Aravind served with the 3rd Battalion The Mahar Regiment, during counter-insurgency operations in Assam between 2010 and 2012, before later serving in Jharkhand and spending four years with Indian Special Forces.

Expect to learn:

• What it means to be a young officer commander operating in a second language with his troops, while engaging with local communities speaking a range of additional languages and dialects

• What it is to navigate a complex insurgency in a remarkable cultural landscape, using leadership, trust-building and operational adaptability

In the fourth edition of the King’s College London War Studies War Stories podcast miniseries, hosted by King’s alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (BA War Studies, 2002-2005), Ru and Nick speak to Dr. Tiania Stevens (MA War Studies, 2007-2008), who was embedded as an Australian journalist with both US and British forces in Iraq, as well as US forces in Afghanistan through the 2000s, with various news agencies. They dig into the challenges of being a non-combatant on the frontlines, a firsthand witness to combat, from explosive devices to small arms fire, where you are being protected by the teams you live with, retaining as independent a view as you can, against a reporting chain that needs stories for headlines.

Tiania is now a lecturer on Journalism at the University of Sydney.

In the third edition of the King’s College London War Studies War Stories podcast miniseries, hosted by King’s alumni Rupert Lane and Nick Denning (War Studies, 2002-2005), Ru and Nick speak to Rory Moylan (War Studies, 2002-2005), who worked as a humanitarian in Afghanistan, in Mazar-i-Sharif, with first ACTED and then the International Committee of the Red Cross through 2009-2013, and Sloviansk in the Ukraine, amongst others.

They delve into the complexity of operating across conflict lines as an independent humanitarian during an ongoing conflict, where risk is almost as high as that of a soldier in the same environment, yet protection depends on neutrality being respected by all sides. Rory, who is fluent in Farsi and Dari, focussed on dialogue between state, non-state actors and civilians, as well as detention centres.

Further Reading:

Kabul Disco, by Nicolas Wild: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26155829

Key Locations Described: Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan; Sloviansk, Donbas, Ukraine

In this third episode of The Helsinki Brief: Inside Finnish Intelligence and Security, Dr Paul McGarr (King’s College London) is joined again by Hannamiina Tanninen of the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) to explore Finland’s 'comprehensive security' model — a point of reference in international debates on resilience.

They unpack what “comprehensive security” means in practice: an all-of-society approach designed to keep Finland functioning as normally as possible during crises, from major disruptions and natural disasters to heightened security threats. The conversation looks at how the model is embedded across government, the private sector and civil society — and why joint exercises, consultation and coordination are central to making it work.

The episode also looks at the foundations that make this approach work in Finland — including high public trust, the welfare state, a broad-based education system and mandatory conscription — as well as the role of the National Emergency Supply Agency. Finally, the discussion considers which elements of the Finnish model might be transferable elsewhere — and which are rooted in Finland’s specific history, size and social cohesion.

Hannamiina Tanninen is a doctoral researcher at the National Defence University in Finland, researching on modelling the strategic environment of the Finnish security of supply system with emphasis on defining economic intelligence and economic security in intelligence studies. She is also a visiting researcher at Imperial College London.