RAND Europe leads the Global Strategic Partnership

The Global Strategic Partnership (GSP) is a research consortium led by RAND Europe that provides a multi-year programme of academic and analytical support to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD)’s Defence Futures organisation. The GSP produces original research and analysis, organises and delivers workshops, wargames and high-level conferences such as the UK Chief of Defence Staff’s Strategy Forum. The GSP consortium spans academia, think tanks and industry, and its members include Aleph Insights, Chatham House, the Council on Geostrategy, King’s College London, the Network for Strategic Analysis, Opimian Ltd, QinetiQ Training & Simulation Ltd and the University of Exeter.

From 2018 to July 2024, the GSP supported the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC), which had been MOD’s internal think tank created as a result of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review. In July 2024, DCDC evolved into a new organisation called Defence Futures, which is part of the Integration Design Authority at UK Strategic Command. The purpose of Defence Futures is to integrate Defence concepts, futures and force design.

Through its support to Defence Futures, the work of the GSP research consortium informs defence strategy, capability development and operations, and provides the foundation for joint professional military education.

GSP Impacts

As part of its partnership with Defence Futures, the GSP also delivers the tri-annual Chief of the Defence Staff’s (CDS) Strategy Forum, hosted by Chatham House. The purpose of the Strategy Forum is to generate discussion and advice on specific policy questions or strategic topics, to inform and influence policy.

The CDS Strategy Fora have so far focused on thematic areas including:

• The rise of China
• The impact of artificial intelligence
• The role of Defence in the Arctic and High North
• The challenges of climate change
• The UK military’s ambitions in outer space
• The threats and opportunities of Grey Zone operations

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Senior Academic Advisor

• Duraid Jalili

  Lecturer in Defence Studies, King’s College London

  

  Duraid Jalili is a Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. He teaches across intermediate and advanced officer courses at the UK Defence Academy and online courses for the King’s School of Security Studies. His research focuses on how to catalyse organisational, behavioural and policy change, particularly in relation to environmental security and educational reform.