RAND Europe Associates

Rebecca is the founder of a privacy and security company focused on testing responsible machine learning and AI. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy with a focus on privacy.

Rebecca has over 20 years of experience building and evaluating data-driven technology. She has been in data governance issues since 2010. Throughout her career, she has helped startups, large tech companies, and specialized government agencies define effective strategies for machine learning and privacy. Notably, as a former lead of the Google Privacy Red Team, she played a key role in improving the privacy infrastructure and reducing risks. Her previous work on AI also contributed to advancements in early speech recognition and the development of a framework for responsible face recognition.

Rebecca is a published author of numerous academic papers on usable privacy and security. You can find her discussing privacy red teams in various podcasts and videos. Along with degrees in Software Engineering and Math, she is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E and CIPT) and is trained in AI Governance and Machine Learning.

Tim spent 30 years operating at the heart of the Civil Service, with Parliament and internationally in project delivery, advisory and assurance-based roles. His roles in Cabinet Office as Head of the Government Project Delivery Profession, with the National Audit Office and across defence and security meant Tim regularly operated at the highest levels, including Permanent Under-Secretaries and Ministers and with senior commercial executives.

Tim is a globally recognised thought leader in project delivery and defence acquisition. He has over 20 years broadcast, print media and public speaking experience. He has published more than 30 articles and being a contributing author to several books on project delivery and defence. Tim is a an Honorary Fellow of the APM, a Fellow and Board Member of the International Centre for Complex Project Management, a Chartered Public Finance Accountant and an alumnus of the Government Major Projects Leadership Academy.

Marc Bentinck left the Dutch foreign service in 2014 after a 35 years’ career in multilateral security diplomacy. He is now a Senior Research Fellow at RAND Europe and a Senior Advisor with a Brussels-based consultancy in European and public affairs. He previously served on the EU’s Political and Security Committee as deputy/acting Netherlands representative.

As part of his earlier foreign postings and secondments, he was Head of Section within NATO’s International Staff in Brussels and Political Advisor with the former Multinational Division (MNF) South in Basrah, Iraq. His last diplomatic assignment was Harvard University, where he was a Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

In between his various diplomatic assignments, he has worked as a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and as a Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations Clingendael in The Hague.

He was educated as a lawyer, first at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and later at the Harvard Law School where he received his LL.M. in international legal studies. He is a Private Member of the IISS and a guest lecturer at the Free University of Amsterdam. His research interests focus on the EU’s future as a global actor; Western security issues; and the prospects of liberal internationalism.

Vincenzo Bove is professor of political science in the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) of the University of Warwick and senior researcher at RAND Europe.

His research expertise lies in the fields of political economy and conflict resolution, and he specializes in the application of advanced statistical methods. His current research interests include civil-military relations, defence economics, international migration, military interventions, UN peacekeeping operations and terrorism. His research has been funded by the AXA Research Fund, the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Swedish Research Council.

He has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, the American Economic Journal, the British Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Politics. His latest co-authored research monograph is “Composing Peace. Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping” (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Vincenzo holds a Ph.D. and an M.S.c in economics from Birkbeck College, University of London and a B.A. in political science from the University of Florence. He has held teaching and research appointments at the University of Essex, the University of Genoa, the University of Naples "Federico II", the University of Venice, IMT Lucca and Sciences Po, Paris. He served for 10 years as an officer in the Italian Navy, principally working in anti-submarine warfare.

Dr. Pascal Carlucci is a Lecturer in International Relations at Coventry University and has taught at King’s College London, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and Royal Holloway University of London. His research interests include the relationship between strategy and the international system, statecraft, strategic competition and global economy.

He worked for more than a decade for both governments and international organisations on political and security challenges. He worked in the Cabinet of the Vice President of the European Commission (Freedom, Security and Justice). He was advisor for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Italy in the Directorate for Political and Security Affairs. In this role he was part of the Delegation of the Italian Presidency to the G7/G8 in 2009.

For four consecutive years, he was seconded to the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan in Kabul where he covered the position of Deputy Head of Police Reform, in charge of the coordination of the advising activities at the Ministry of Interior. He later worked as International Cooperation Adviser for EUCAP-Sahel Niger (European Union capacity building mission) where he covered regional challenges on counterterrorism, migration and transnational criminal activities.

Dr. Carlucci holds a Ph.D. in War Studies awarded by King’s College London and is an alumnus of the College of Europe in Bruges where he earned a M.A. in EU International Relations and Diplomacy. In 2010 he was named European Young Leader by the Atlantik-Brücke.

Colin Da Silva is a founding director of Edenwood Advisory Ltd, which provides advice and support to senior leaders and boards on developing effective strategy; performance measurement; risk management and delivering better operating models. He speaks regularly on these subjects and on ‘Leading in Tough Times’ using the experience he gained while serving in the Royal Air Force to promote the value of authentic leadership. He is also a trustee of Lupus UK.

Colin joined the RAF towards the end of the Cold War and spent his early years on fighter squadrons at home and abroad. He enjoyed a variety of senior appointments: he commanded Camp BASTION in Afghanistan, which was the largest overseas UK Garrison since the Second World War; he was the military lead for the Defence Transformation Programme, led by the recommendations of Lord Levene; he was the Defence Attaché to Moscow; the Head of RAF Transformation and, in his final appointment, was Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (in the rank of Air Vice-Marshal) where he was an executive member of the Air Force Board and also a core member of the audit, risk, finance, innovation, infrastructure and people committees. He was appointed as a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2023 New Years Honours List and retired from the RAF in April 2023.

Colin holds a master’s degree in Defence Studies from KCL and has a continuing interest in the language, culture and regional dynamics of Eastern Europe and especially Russia.

Nigel Edwards is an independent health policy expert working as an advisor with WHO, the National Association of Primary Care and the National Centre for Rural Health and Care.

Nigel was Chief Executive at the Nuffield Trust from 2012 to 2023. He has a long career in health policy and working on innovation and change in health care delivery and in providing challenging analysis on health policy. He has a strong interest in using different disciplines to inform health policy.

He has worked for the King’s Fund, KPMG’s global health practice and the NHS Confederation where he was Director of Policy for 11 years. Prior to that he worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he remains an honorary visiting professor. He started his professional life as a graduate trainee in NHS management and worked at hospital and regional level following this.

Nigel works across a range of issues from new models of service delivery, primary care, local health strategy and on wider health care policy in the UK and internationally. Most recently this has included reviewing the strategies for developing a teaching hospital and a rural health system in Wales, supporting WHO Europe in developing its thinking on hospitals, developing a vision for community pharmacy and working on research about the role of District Hospitals in low income countries.

Over a varied Royal Navy service, John Foreman developed new ideas, established national policy, and achieved change across organisational and national boundaries. He deployed globally on operations, led strategic, operational, and business planning, commanded warships, facilitated senior engagement, and delivered individual and collective training in the UK, for NATO, and in Ukraine. He also managed complex acquisition programmes, and led delivery of Board-level outputs in complex organisations.

He has also achieved results in a number of demanding roles with the US, NATO, EU, and in Russia and Ukraine. He has a proven flair for foreign languages, and refined cultural sensitivity after working with the citizens – military and civilian - of many nations and backgrounds. He is a proven international negotiator, achieving consensus through patience, humour, and flexibility. Able to operate at the highest political and military levels, he has delivered strategic advice to very senior leaders, often to extremely tight deadlines.

Since his first visit to Moscow and Kyiv in 1979, John Foreman has had a lifelong interest in Russia, Ukraine, their languages, peoples, cultures, and history. In January 2023, John was appointed CBE after 3 years as UK Defence Attaché Moscow, including for his advice to His Majesty’s Government on Russian and regional military and security matters, particularly in the run up to, and after, Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. He also commanded the Embassy’s crisis response.

Dr. Erik Frinking is a senior research fellow at RAND Europe and an internationally recognized expert in international and national security affairs. For more than 25 years, he has been involved in addressing high-level, complex policy issues in various domains (cybersecurity, science & technology, defence and security) in a large number of European and North American countries, and for numerous international organizations. His responsibilities and activities focus on formulating and analyzing policy options, evaluating policy outcomes, and developing strategies.

Between 2008 and 2018, Frinking was a member of the management team at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and the director of its National Security Programme/Strategic Futures Programme. Prior to that, he was a senior policy analyst at TNO, the largest defence and security research institute of the Netherlands. From 1992 until 2006, he worked at RAND Europe as the director of the Education, Science & Technology, and Innovation Programme. He holds a master’s degree in political science, University of Leiden.

During his career, Frinking has worked with many different types of security organizations in the Netherlands and beyond, such as the policy departments of ministries of Defence, Justice & Security, and Foreign Affairs; crisis management units in the National Police, Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, and Security Regions; and specific cyberpolicy segments of NATO, the Dutch government and the European Commission. In these partnerships, he was a main contributor to the formulation and deployment of the Dutch National Security Strategy (2007) and the first National Cybersecurity Strategy (2011).

David Gioe is a British Academy Global Professor and Visiting Professor of Intelligence and International Security in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. David is also Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and History Fellow for the Army Cyber Institute. David is Director of Studies for the Cambridge Security Initiative and is co-convener of its International Security and Intelligence program. He earned a B.A. in History and Social Science from Wheaton College, an M.A. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a Ph.D. in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Christopher Andrew. He also holds a graduate certificate in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

David’s peer-reviewed scholarship has appeared in numerous outlets including Intelligence and National Security, Political Science Quarterly, the RUSI Journal, the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, and The Journal of Cyber Policy. His commentary and analysis have been published by The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Atlantic, The National Interest, Foreign Policy, War on the Rocks, The Strategy Bridge, Lawfare, World Politics Review and many other outlets. He co-edited a 50th Anniversary volume on the Cuban Missile Crisis. His recent co-authored book, The CIA and the Pursuit of Security, is a history of the Central Intelligence Agency published by Edinburgh University Press. David serves on the editorial board of the Routledge Advances in Defense Studies (RAiDS) book series and is the intelligence and history area editor for the Cyber Defense Review journal.

Before starting his academic career, David was an intelligence officer, beginning with appointment as a Presidential Management Fellow in the FBI National Security Division with responsibility for economic espionage cases and later counterterrorism. Later, he transferred to the CIA as a counterterrorism analyst in the DCI’s Counterterrorist Center (CTC) before earning field tradecraft certification as a CIA operations officer. He served multiple overseas tours in the Middle East and in Europe, handling a wide variety of portfolios from counterintelligence cases to covert action.

David retains his commission as a Commander in the Navy Reserve and has completed over 22 years of combined active and reserve service. He is a qualified Information Dominance Warfare Officer, Foreign area Officer (European Command), and Naval Attaché. He was most recently assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Defense Attaché Service, having served previously in DIA’s Defense Debriefing Service. He also deployed as Director for Human Intelligence and Counterintelligence for the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) with responsibility for military intelligence operations in 13 countries. Other Navy assignments include service as a Division Officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence, as a Department Head in the European Command Joint Analysis Center, RAF Molesworth, UK, and briefly as the Acting Assistant Naval Attaché in the United States Embassy in London. He is a recipient of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, amongst other personal and unit citations.

Professor Michael S. Goodman is Professor of ‘Intelligence and International Affairs’ and a former Head of the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He is Visiting Professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School and at Sciences Po in Paris. He has published widely in the field of intelligence history, including The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Volume I: From the Approach of the Second World War to the Suez Crisis (Routledge, 2015), which was chosen as one of The Spectator’s books of the year. He is series editor for ‘Intelligence, Surveillance and Secret Warfare’ for Edinburgh University Press; and is a member of the editorial boards for five journals. He has spent many years on secondment to the Cabinet Office, where he has been the Official Historian of the Joint Intelligence Committee: Volume II will be published in 2024. He is a current British army reservist.

Jonathan Grant is founding director of Different Angles, a consultancy that focuses on the impact of universities and research.

He was formerly Vice President & Vice Principal (Service) at King’s College London. Service is King's award-winning and unique commitment to social responsibility and covers a range of activities including social reform, research impact, service-led learning, volunteering, and environment sustainability.

Jonathan’s main research interests are in biomedical and health R&D policy, research impact assessment, the use of research and evidence in policy and decision-taking, and the social purpose of universities in the 21st century.

Jonathan’s latest book, The New Power University. The social purpose of higher education in the 21st Century, was published by Pearson in March 2021.

Dr Michele Groppi is a Teaching Fellow in 'Challenges to the International Order' at King's College London, Defence Studies Department. He obtained his BA from Stanford University (Honors) in International Relations with a thesis focusing on trade and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After moving to Israel, he got an MA in Counterterrorism and Homeland Security (Summa Cum Laude) from the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, where he is also a Fellow and Editorial Member at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT).

Michele joined King's PhD Programme in Defence Studies in 2013, concentrating on Islamist radicalisation in Italy. Through extensive field work, he concluded the largest quantitative and qualitative investigation in the field, sparking discussion within Italian academia and governmental institutions.

Michele's main research interests are divided into three main elements: the territorial dimension (terrorism and radicalisation in specific areas, including Italy and Europe); the conceptual domain focusing on theories and mechanisms of radicalisation and terrorism; comparison of drivers amongst terrorists and extremist non-violent populations.

Committed to internationalisation, Michele founded the International Team for the Study of Security - Verona, a cultural association exploring multiple facets of international security, ranging from terrorism to climate change, from great power competition to pandemics, from energy security to space militarisation. As ITSS Verona president, Michele has organised international events, podcasts, and webinar series, bringing together leading experts from the most prestigious institutions.

Shahid Hanif is the Managing Director of the GetReal Institute, an independent, member-led, not-for-profit organisation based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, focused on facilitating the adoption and implementation of real world evidence in health care decision-making. He is the Founder and Director of Avenzoar Consulting Ltd, a life science consultancy supporting data, digital and policy projects, and co-founded Science Policy Think Tank to bring together a diverse group for thoughtful deliberation of key issues as it relates to accelerating innovation for the benefit of patients. Additionally, he is an Affiliate Member of the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh.

Shahid has worked with many different types of life science organisations, including commercial, research, not-for-profit and trade associations. He has worked at GlaxoSmithKline within Global R&D IT and at a marketing agency to deliver digital health strategy and patient support programmes. Shahid worked with pharmaceutical trade associations in UK (the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry) and Europe (the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations), including public-private partnerships, on policy, advocacy and communications related to health data, digital health, and health outcomes. He was often consulted to facilitate collaborations amongst life science stakeholders and was part of a successful team that established the Health Data Research Hub for Respiratory Health.

Shahid holds a Doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, a Master’s degree in Information Technology and Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Kweilen Hatleskog is a seasoned advisor in defence, space and secure-tech. With more than a decade of experience in supporting executives and Boards across both commercial industry and private equity, Kweilen matches deep sector expertise, with a broad business acumen and an understanding of the geo-political context.

As managing partner of K2 Advisory Partners, Kweilen works with blue-chip and venture companies; supporting management with growth options development, market entry strategy and transaction planning.

Prior to starting K2 Advisory Partners, Kweilen was a member of the regional executive at Northrop Grumman, heading corporate development, business planning and government relations for the EMEA business. Previously, Kweilen spent twelve years as corporate development executive and investor; serving variously as a Director for Group M&A at BAE Systems plc, a partner at C5 Capital, and VP of Strategy and Planning in Inmarsat’s Global Government Business.

Kweilen is passionate about the emergent union of techno-democracies and the opportunity to leverage technological innovations to defend and advance democracy. A personal advocate of the Special Relationship, Kweilen is focused on supporting innovative approaches to investment and on growing disruptive businesses to ensure that allied governments can benefit from the technological transformations underway.

An American by birth, Kweilen started her career at the Pentagon, working on inter-agency operations and counter-terrorism policy. There she was awarded both the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Exceptional Public Service and the Secretary of the Navy Award for Superior Public Service.

Now running his own health consultancy, for the past 15 years, as Vice-President Health and Chief Medical Officer, Richard led the global health agenda for multinational energy corporation bp’s. He has previously held corporate HSE and risk management leadership roles with AstraZeneca.

Richard trained as an internal physician in the UK and New Zealand before specializing in Occupational Medicine. He is past-President of UK Faculty and Society of Occupational Medicine, a Fellow of the RCP (London and Edinburgh), American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.

He is currently serves on the National Health Service of England (NHS) Expert Advisory Group for staff health and wellbeing, the UK National Wellbeing Forum and co-chairs IOMSC, an association of 47 National OH Societies.

Richard acts as an expert advisor on health matters for the World Economic Forum (ESG, Health Equity and Mental Health) and as Global Health and Wellbeing advisor to Cognacity psychology consultancy. He is a member of the Global Wellbeing Advisory Board for Champion Health.

He is also an honorary professorial fellow of International Business and Health at Nottingham University medical school with specialist interests and publications on leadership; health, work and organizations; and work-related mental health.

John Kendall is a Senior Research Fellow at RAND Europe with experience in the areas of technology, cyber, future and unconventional warfare; Russian and Chinese strategy; and operational and strategic war-games. He has worked on UK Ministry of Defence, NATO and overseas projects, as well as having a background in the tech industry. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies’ strategy and strategic leadership course.

John has over a decade’s experience in using technology and techniques to improves businesses; has spoken on cyber at NATO’s Science and Technology Organisation and at industry events; and worked on a tech demonstrator for technology strategy and policy options. He has also worked on an industry-government partnership to develop cyber-defence skills. He has analysed future warfare and written the unconventional doctrine for a non-European government blending emerging technology with proven practice and both civil and security techniques.

In military education and wargaming, John has supported or led exercise control and development for around 35 operational and strategic exercises. Predominantly run for the UK’s senior military and government leadership courses but also includes advising on the development of a new NATO scenario.

Russian work has included Russian engagement options; the use of Russia as a proxy in exercises; and academic work on the strategic context and threat of Russian sub-threshold operations. Academic work on China has focussed on cyber as a strategic deterrent in the context of the Chinese rejuvenation strategy. John has also co-authored unconventional operations doctrine and written on future war for an overseas government with a focus on countering Iran.

In the resilience field John has red-teamed Olympic elements of emergency response planning; led a study into the US response to Hurricane Sandy; and supported NHS analytical and planning groups during the first COVID peak.

John uses red-teaming techniques including the Premortem in education and on live problems. Other academic study includes a research into authoritarian dictatorship; utility of military reserve personnel; and analysing State intervention motivations using historical analysis.

A former Royal Air Force officer, Paul Kendall is a director of Blackdown Consultancy, which provides expertise in wargaming, military technology, command and control, and multi-domain integration for defence customers including DSTL, QinetiQ and the MOD.

He joined the Royal Air Force after graduating from Imperial College. His early career was spent flying helicopters in the battlefield support, special forces and combat search and rescue roles. He has served operationally in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and in UK, U.S. and NATO headquarters including directing air operations for the Libya conflict and the London Olympics. Other appointments have covered airworthiness, instructing at the Defence Academy, geospatial intelligence, and 3 years in the Pentagon as an exchange officer developing the U.S. Air Force’s strategic master plan and assessing future capabilities. His last appointment in the Service was as a strategic analyst in the Ministry of Defence working directly for the Minister for the Armed Forces.

His academic work has included research into rogue leaders, doctrine development, strategic leadership and the causes of conflict. He is a graduate of the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College and the U.S. Air War College with Master’s degrees in Defence Studies (KCL) and Grand Strategy (Air University). A member of the King’s College wargaming network and the British Army’s Fight Club, he has extensive experience of wargaming at all levels as a participant, facilitator and game designer.

As a defence consultant he has worked on numerous projects covering the application of artificial intelligence to military planning, multi-domain integration, command and control capability development, doctrine development, and wargame design and delivery.

Craig Lawrence CBE was commissioned into the Gurkhas in 1983. After studying engineering science at Durham University, he joined his regiment in Hong Kong and then spent the next thirty-three years either serving with Gurkhas or filling a variety of appointments in various military headquarters, including the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Whilst in the Army, he deployed on numerous overseas tours and commanded his Gurkha battalion on operations in the Balkans and in Africa. His final deployment was to Afghanistan where he led the development and implementation of a joint NATO/Afghan strategy to reduce risk to the 2014 Presidential and Provincial Elections.

His last appointment as a serving major general was as the Director of Joint Warfare, where he led the development and delivery of the UK military’s highest-level joint training, as well as a strategy for transforming the MOD into a learning organisation. In 2016, he left the military to join the staff of the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) in London, spending the first two years as the lead for strategy-making before stepping up to Course Director. He left RCDS in December 2020 and now runs his own consultancy business, which helps organisations develop strategy and refine their senior leadership skills.

Craig has an MA in Conflict, Security and Development and an MSc in the Design of Information Systems. A Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, he was awarded a CBE in 2013 and is the author of five books, including a book on strategy and strategic leadership.

Dr. Jeffrey Michaels is the IEN Senior Fellow in American Foreign Policy and International Security at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the King’s College London Centre for Science and Security Studies and the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre. In 2023-2024 he was the Senior Eisenhower Defense Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome. Earlier in his career he was a Senior Lecturer in Defence Studies and Research Associate in War Studies at King’s. He also served as an official with NATO and the U.S. Department of Defense.

He is the co-editor with Tim Sweijs of Beyond Ukraine: Debating the Future of War (2024), co-author with Lawrence Freedman of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, 4th Edition (2019), co-editor with Lawrence Freedman of Scripting Middle East Leaders (2013), and author of The Discourse Trap and the US Military: From the War on Terror to the Surge (2013).

His research covers the fields of war studies, nuclear strategy, deterrence, U.S. foreign policy, NATO, intelligence, and Cold War history. It has been published in The European Journal of International Security, The Journal of Cold War Studies, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Political Science Quarterly, International Politics, Diplomacy and Statecraft, the RUSI Journal, Contemporary Security Policy and Orbis. He was awarded the Christopher Coker Prize by the journal International Politics and the Amos Perlmutter Prize by the Journal of Strategic Studies.

Carl Miller is the co-founder of the Centre for the Analysis of social media at Demos and CASM Technology and has spent the last decade researching social media intelligence (SOCMINT), extremism, online electoral interference, radicalisation, digital politics, conspiracy theories, cyber-crime, and Internet governance.

In 2021 CASM co-launched the counter-disinformation capability Beam with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue which won the U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge. His debut book, The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab (published by Penguin, Random House) looked at the realities of power in the digital age and won the 2019 Transmission Prize. Carl has written for The Economist, The Sunday Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the Literary Review, Wired, New Scientist, The Telegraph, the Atlantic, and the Guardian.

He’s a Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, a member of RUSI’s States Threats Task Force, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an Associate of the Imperial War Museum, a member of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, a member of the advisory board of the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, and a member of the Challenging Pseudoscience group at the Royal Institution.

Colin Miller is a dynamic and innovative senior business leader demonstrating an extensive track record of strategy development and project and operational delivery. He brings a wealth of military experience in the air, afloat and ashore having recently transitioned from a 33-year career in the Royal Navy. His early career involved the conduct of Anti-Submarine Warfare, initially at the sharp end in Sea- King helicopters before an industry secondment to deliver the Merlin Mk1 into active service and to conduct the first in-service operational performance and acceptance trials. Following executive roles conducting front line operations he commanded the Merlin Mk1 Training Squadron and has undertaken a range of staff roles at increasing seniority including; Chief of Staff to the UK Maritime Commander, Planning Captain within the Resources Division of Navy Command and a series of rewarding positions leading capability development and delivery within RN Aviation, ultimately as the 1* ACOS (Carrier Strike and Aviation) in Navy HQ. He has proven skills across the whole spectrum of programme and project management and identifying and deploying resources to optimal effectiveness. Disciplined, energetic and personable, with a passion for coaching and mentoring of talent, Colin is also a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and offers considerable expertise across maritime and aviation domains.

Peter Neumann is Professor of Security Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and served as Director of its International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) from 2008 to 2018. In 2017, he was the OSCE’s Special Representative on Countering Violent Radicalisation.

Neumann’s latest book in English is Bluster: Donald Trump’s War on Terror which was published by Hurst and Oxford University Press in early 2020. Prior to this, he authored Radicalized: New Jihadists and the Threat to the West (IB Tauris, 2016), which originally came out as Die neuen Dschihadisten (Ullstein 2015) in German, and has been translated into several other languages. Other books include Old and New Terrorism (Polity Press, 2009); and The Strategy of Terrorism (with M.L.R. Smith) (Routledge, 2008).

Gerry is the Director and Founder of OACOM Ltd., a strategic communications advisory company based in the UK. He is also a senior advisor to the McChrystal Group for its UK and Europe based activities.

Gerry’s extensive and varied career gives him a unique perspective on the need to link communications, strategy and leadership in the modern era. As a partner in the McChrystal Group’s London Office, he was responsible for the day-to-day delivery of all European operations and the delivery of transformation projects based upon the renowned Team of Teams approach. Prior to this, Gerry led government and defence business development at M&C Saatchi, during which time he also established OACOM Ltd. to provide innovative strategic communications research and advice to government and commercial organisations.

Gerry’s 26-year Army career included tours as a special forces helicopter pilot, commanding officer, deputy Defence attaché, Sandhurst instructor and senior Information Operations staff officer - leading behavioural change programmes in the Baltic States, South Caucuses and Middle East. He published his approach to placing communications at the heart of strategy (the OACOM model) for the NATO Georgia PDP.

Gerry holds a Master of arts in military studies from Cranfield University and a Bachelor of Science in management studies from the University of Wales. He is an alumnus of the Windsor Leadership Trust, an advisor to the Board of the Georgian Centre for Strategy and Development and an active ambassador for veteran and mental health charities in the UK.

Bronwyn brings over 15 years of strategic leadership and transformation experience within sector-leading research institutions, including Cancer Research UK and King’s College London, where she served as Director of Strategy, Planning & Analytics. During her time at King’s, Bronwyn oversaw a comprehensive strategy refresh and brought definition to a multi-million-pound investment portfolio, driving impactful research initiatives and fostering collaboration across sectors.

As an independent consultant, Bronwyn has provided strategic counsel to science and research focussed organisations such as the Ada Lovelace Institute and Cambridge University Health Partners, facilitating evidence-based decisions.

Quentin Phillips is an international security advisor and risk consultant with extensive experience of government and international affairs, and a particular interest in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe, including the Balkans.

Quentin has worked for 18 years at UK Embassies in European countries, in Budapest, Moscow, Kyiv, Istanbul, Paris and Vienna (where he had a regional role), and another 14 years in central government positions in London, primarily focussing on national security and foreign affairs. For four years he was at NATO Headquarters in Brussels in a senior security role.

Quentin has observed at close quarters many of the most important events in recent European history, including the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the Balkan Wars, terrorism and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He speaks the languages of many of the countries he has lived and worked in and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Quentin has also worked extensively on the personnel security challenges faced by government and the private sector, especially around threat and insider risk. He is a member of the American Society for Industrial Security.

Tom Plant is the founder and Principal at research, strategy and consulting firm Liminal Minds Limited, which supports governments, and non-profit and philanthropic organisations in their work on a range of global security issues.

Until January 2022, he was Director of RUSI’s Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme, and Director of the UK Project on Nuclear Issues. He remains a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI. Prior to joining RUSI in June 2017, he was responsible for technical oversight of arms control verification research programmes at the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment, including collaborations and exchanges with counterparts in China, Norway, Sweden, and the US. He also worked at the UK Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a range of non- and counter-proliferation issues, particularly in relation to North Korea and Iran, as well as on the UK nuclear weapons programme.

His current research interests include the ethics of nuclear weapons, the relationship between the state and the individual, future technology and complexity, and game design for research and education. Tom is available to mentor emerging scholars and professionals in defence and security, particularly those from less-advantaged backgrounds.

Patrick Porter is Professor of International Security and Strategy at the University of Birmingham. His research interests are great power politics, realism, foreign and defense policy in the US and UK, and the causes and consequences of power shifts.

He has written four books. His book Blunder: Britain's War in Iraq was shortlisted for the British Army Military Book of the Year Prize, 2019. His most recent book is The False Promise of Liberal Order: Nostalgia, Delusion and the Rise of Trump. He also wrote The Global Village Myth: Distance, War and the Limits of Power and Military Orientalism: Eastern War through Western Eyes.

His work has appeared in journals including International Security, Security Studies, the Journal of Strategic Studies, International Affairs, the Washington Quarterly, The National Interest, Politico, The Critic, The New Statesman, Unherd, and the Australian Financial Review.

He has appeared as an expert witness before the UK’s parliamentary Defence Select Committee, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee, and the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

Dr Samir Puri is a Research Fellow at RAND Europe. He is also a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London and Adjunct Professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

In his time working with RAND Europe he has contributed to projects for the UK MoD and US DoD on a range of defence and security topics. A list of his RAND publications is available online. In 2018-19 he worked with RAND while serving as an academic advisor to the MoD's think tank DCDC.

He has previously worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where his assignments included counter-terrorism strategy and policy support to a number of peace processes. In 2014-15 he was seconded for a year to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in east Ukraine.

Dr Puri was awarded his Ph.D. by Cambridge University. His thesis has been published as a book, Fighting and Negotiating With Armed Groups. His latest book, The Great Imperial Hangover, was published in July 2020.

Maeve Ryan is a senior lecturer in history and grand strategy at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, where she co-directs the Centre for Grand Strategy. At the heart of this centre is an ‘applied history’ approach, which aims to bring more historical and strategic expertise to statecraft, diplomacy and foreign policy. Maeve directs the centre’s major research projects and policy-engagement activities, including the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy, the Forum on Future British Strategy, the World Order Study Group, the Engelsberg Programme for Applied History, Grand Strategy and Geopolitics; the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme, ‘Interrogating Visions of a Post-Western World'; the Maymester Summer School, and a Philip Leverhulme Prize-funded project on the origins and future of the idea of ‘world order’. She also co-directs the centre’s new Indo-Pacific Programme.

A former Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Maeve’s research interests include British foreign policy, diplomacy, grand strategy and applied history; global histories of slavery, empire, and humanitarian governance; and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of world order in the 21st century.

Maeve leads a number of high-impact policy engagement projects, including an ESRC Impact Acceleration-funded project in collaboration with the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat. Maeve has also acted as a co-PI on the King’s Together-funded project “Advancing the enforcement of anti-slavery legislation in Mauritania: lessons learned from other African countries”.

Before joining King’s, Maeve was a postdoctoral researcher in the department of history at the University of Leicester. She also helped to found the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Geopolitics. She holds an M.Phil. in international relations from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in history from Trinity College Dublin.

Olivier Schmitt is professor of international relations at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark (SDU). He has worked for the French ministry of defence (military mission in Berlin and policy planning staff), the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the NATO Operations division. Between 2019 and 2022, he was on leave from SDU and working as director of research and studies at the French Institute for Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN), and he regularly works as a consultant for the French joint staff. He holds a Ph.D. in war studies from King’s College London.

His research deals with alliances and security cooperation, modern warfare, military transformation, and economic security. He is the author or editor of Allies that Count, Junior Partners in Coalition Warfare (Georgetown UP, 2018), French Defence Policy since the End of the Cold War (Routledge 2020, with Alice Pannier), WarTime, and Temporality and the Decline of Western Military Power (Brookings Institution Press 2020, with Sten Rynning and Amelie Theussen). Since 2018, he has directed the project “Military Transformation in the 21st Century” at SDU and is currently writing a book based on the project’s results.

He has published in academic journals such as International Affairs, the Journal of Strategic Studies, the European Journal of International Relations and Cooperation and Conflict. He has received several awards for his academic work, including the Patrica Weitsman award and the Alexander George awards from the International Studies Association, as well as the award for the best article published in International Affairs in 2020.

Michael Stephens is a Development and Security consultant focused on the Middle East and North Africa and Pakistan. Michael works primarily with Global Health actors to build partnerships in the Middle East with public and private sector funders. Prior to this Michael led RUSI's Middle East programme from 2010-2020, and as Head of RUSI’s Leadership Centre Michael implemented training and capacity building programmes for governments and business clients. From February to June 2017 Michael was seconded into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, serving as the Senior Research Analyst for Syria and Lebanon.

Michael’s research has focused on topics ranging from nuclear security in the Middle East, to terrorist threats posed by non-state actors. In 2021 Michael Co-authored a volume with Dr Christopher Phillips entitled “What next for Britain in the Middle East? Security, Trade and Foreign Policy after Brexit” (I.B. Tauris), which focused on British policy toward the Middle East following Britain’s exit from the European Union in January 2020. As a frequent commentator on Middle East affairs, his writing has appeared in many news outlets and he is also a regular broadcast commentator. Michael is also an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). He studied at King’s College London and undertook three years of post-graduate research in the Middle East and is proficient in both Arabic and Hebrew.

Martin Szomszor is Chief Scientist at Electric Data Solutions LTD, a research analytics consultancy providing private, public and third sector organizations with valuable insights into how research is created and used effectively. He holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southampton and has extensive experience in data analysis, knowledge engineering and natural language processing.

Previously, he was Director at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate where he was responsible for the strategic development of the Web of Science and its associated products. During this time, he led efforts to include a range of new visualization features, developed new metrics implemented state-of-the art classification schemes, and demonstrated how the bibliographic database can be used to identify and track emerging research topics. He also created new analytical techniques to spot citation manipulation activity, helping Clarivate to maintain the integrity of its annual Highly Cited Researcher list.

He was named a 2015 top-50 UK Information Age data leader for his work in creating the REF2014 impact case studies database for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and in his previous role as Chief Data Scientist at Digital Science, he created the Global Research identifier Database (GRID) – a project to establish valuable scholarly data infrastructure on research attribution that was ultimately subsumed into the community-led Research Organization Registry.

Martin was also Deputy Head of Centre at the City eHealth Research Centre where he led research on the use of social media for epidemic intelligence and created an epidemiology information sharing platform for the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC).

Richard Warnes is a Research Fellow at RAND Europe. His interests lie in the fields of counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, policing, intelligence and the military, with a doctorate on ‘The Significance of Human Factors in Effective Counter-Terrorism’.

He has worked on a number of EU FP7 projects relating to domestic security, counter-radicalisation and counter-terrorism as well as EU Impact Assessments relating to the security of explosives, precursors and CBRN materials. In addition, between 2008 – 2013 he conducted extensive field research in Iraq and Afghanistan for a Government client project reviewing capacity building amongst local police and security forces.

Prior to joining RAND in 2007, he served in the Metropolitan Police for nine years, including Special Branch and Counter-Terrorism Command. Before his police career, he served in the Army Intelligence Corps as a reservist for seven years and full time for two and a half years, including a tour of Bosnia. Between completing his first degree and military service, he worked for seven years in international relief. He is on the Steering Committee of the European Experts Network on Terrorism Issues (EENeT) and has been Commissioned as an Officer in the Army Reserves.

Dr. Nicole Wheeler, a group leader at the University of Birmingham and a consultant for NTI | bio, is an accomplished scientist dedicated to advancing computational biology and safeguarding global health. Her expertise lies in developing computational methods for detecting emerging biological threats, bridging the gap between research and real-world applications.

Dr. Wheeler's group at the University of Birmingham is a dynamic team of researchers with diverse backgrounds, including bioinformatics, computer science, mathematics, and microbiology. Together, they harness the power of computational approaches, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to analyse vast amounts of biological data. Their research focuses on developing early warning systems that can rapidly identify and characterize emerging pathogens, enabling timely responses and containment measures.

Dr. Wheeler has provided valuable contributions to international surveillance and policy efforts. She is actively involved in shaping the governance of emerging technologies related to health security, advocating for responsible development and implementation. Beyond her research and consulting work, Dr. Wheeler is passionate about science communication and public engagement. She believes in fostering a dialogue between scientists, policymakers, and the public to build trust and understanding of complex scientific issues.

Alex’s main areas of practice are comparative sub-threshold strategy and also resilience. His other areas of research include the politics of NATO and European security, US strategic policy and sub-threshold warfare. His recent engagements have involved a multi-year lecture series in Latin America to senior command audiences in Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay on behalf of the UK MoD. He is a visiting professor at the National Defence University in Argentina. His latest monograph is “Dragon Slaying: Meeting the Challenge of Grey Zone Competition for Global Britain.”

Alex writes and comments regularly for the press and professional defence audiences. He has served as the defence and security editor for the comment website, ‘TheArticle’ He was previously senior strategic communications adviser at the BBC, where he later served as a producer on the ‘World at One’ and ‘PM’ and the defence analyst for BBC News and current affairs. Whilst at the BBC, he worked with Shell’s pioneering scenarios team, in order to bring scenario planning techniques to the BBC.

He holds his M.A. from the University of Cambridge, his MSc from the London School of Economics; where he also completed his Ph.D. examining the development of U.S. grand strategy during and immediately after the Cold War. Alex has held fellowships at Harvard University and the American Political Science Association and most recently at RUSI.

Dr. Erez Yerushalmi is a reader in economics at Birmingham City Business School and Director of the Centre for Applied Finance and Economics (CAFÉ) at BCU. He is a senior research fellow at RAND Europe. Erez has over 20 years of professional experience in economic research and consultancy and has produced many high impact academic papers and research reports at local, national, and international level. Erez’s research focuses on applied policy analysis and development economics, on topics covering labour economics, environmental economics, health economics, cost-benefit analysis, infrastructure and transportation assessment, energy modelling and forecasting. He is a specialist in applied computable general equilibrium (CGE) models and has extensive experience in quantitative economic modelling and econometric forecasting.

At Birmingham City University (BCU), Erez teaches Industrial Economics, Advanced Economic Theory, and Macroeconomics. He attained his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Warwick, UK He then worked as a research fellow at the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick, before joining BCU.