The Department of War Studies (DWS) is an academic department in the School of Security Studies within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Senior government officials, members of the military, diplomats, journalists, academics, and entrepreneurs are among the department's graduates. Amongst them are former Prime Minister of Jordan

Marouf al-Bakhit Marouf Suleiman al-Bakhit (; 18 March 1947 – 7 October 2023) was a Jordanian politician who was twice prime minister. He first served as prime minister from 27 November 2005 until 25 November 2007 and then again from 9 February 2011 to 17 Octo ...

; Special Representative of the

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

for Iraq

Nickolay Mladenov Nikolay Evtimov Mladenov (; born 5 May 1972) is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, who worked for the United Nations. He served as Bulgaria's Minister of Defense from 27 July 2009 to 27 January 2010 and as the minister of foreign affairs in th ...

, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Tom de Bruijn and former Commandant General Royal Marines Sir Robert Fry. It also houses research institutes and centres, including the

Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (LHCMA) at King's College London was set up in 1964. The Centre holds the private papers of over 700 senior British defence personnel who held office since 1900. Individual collections range in size fr ...

. It draws much of its faculty and visiting staff from the Euro-Atlantic intelligence, defence and diplomatic communities. They include former

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primar ...

chief

David Omand Sir David Bruce Omand (born 15 April 1947) is a British former senior civil servant who served as the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) from 1996 to 1997. Background Omand was born on 15 April 1947. His father, B ...

; former foreign secretary Malcom Rifkind; former British ambassador to the US Nigel Sheinwald; ex-national security advisor Mark Lyall Grant; former head of

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

John Sawers; and former chair of the UK’s Joint Intelligence Committee

Peter Ricketts Peter Forbes Ricketts, Baron Ricketts, (born 30 September 1952) is a retired British senior diplomat and a life peer. He has sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords since 2016. Ricketts served as chair of the Joint Intelligence Committe ...

. Since 2023, the Head of Department has been Matthew Moran. The Department of War Studies is located on the 6th floor of the

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed King's Building on the

Strand Campus The Strand Campus is the founding campus of King's College London and is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, adjacent to Somerset House and continuing its frontage along the River Thames. The original campus comprises the Grade ...

of King's College London. It offers a range of undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes and opportunities, as well as a unique three-year War Studies bachelor's degree.

History

A Department of Military Science existed at King's College London from 1848 to 1859. Military science was subsequently approved as a subject for the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science general degrees from 1913, and was taught under the Faculty of Arts and also the Faculty of Engineering. In 1926 the intervention of William Norton Medlicott prevented the Department of History from ridding itself of the lectureship in military history. With

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

support the Military Studies Department was established in 1926 and formed part of the Faculty of Arts, with Major General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice holding the Chair. It became known as the War Studies Department in 1943 but was discontinued in 1948, although the subject continued to be taught under the Department of Medieval and Modern History. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there was an initiative by senior members of

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

notably

Lionel Robbins Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins, (22 November 1898 – 15 May 1984) was a British economist, and prominent member of the economics department at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is known for his leadership at LSE, his proposed de ...

Sir Charles Webster Sir Charles Kingsley Webster (25 July 1886 – August 1961) was a British diplomat and historian. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby and King's College, Cambridge. After leaving Cambridge University, he went on to become a p ...

and Keith Hancock, to revive military studies at the university. In 1953, Sir Michael Howard was appointed to the Lectureship in Military Studies, and by 1962 Sir Michael was able to reinstate the Department of War Studies to offer postgraduate courses. A Bachelor of Arts degree in War Studies was offered from 1992 onwards. The department became part of the School of Humanities in 1989 and the School of Social Science and Public Policy in 2001. In 2022 the department celebrated its 60th anniversary with a series of events.

Ukraine conflict research and analysis

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, academics from the department have played a world-leading role in providing research and commentary on the war. In the first 12 months of the war, staff from the department contributed expertise to 26,120 articles and news broadcasts, including syndicated articles and repeat broadcasts, for outlets such as ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

The Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, major ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, among others. The department received recognition for its contribution to global understanding of the conflict from the

Public Relations and Communications Association The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is a trade association for the public relations sector in the United Kingdom. The association lobbies on behalf of its member companies and also provides a forum for sharing information. ...

, receiving highly commended for its 'Ukraine Explained' series, which brought together over 40 essays from its academics on the crisis. In 2022, the department launched the London Defence Conference in collaboration with current affairs analysis and news site Reaction. In 2023, following the G7 summit in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

, Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

spoke at the conference, where he described the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

as an "epoch defining challenge to us".

Notable alumni and students

Government and politics

(PhD 1990), former

Prime Minister of Jordan The prime minister of Jordan is the head of government of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The prime minister is appointed by the List of kings of Jordan, king of Jordan, who is then free to form his own Cabinet of Jordan, Cabinet. Th ...

* Martin Bourke (MA 1970), former Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands * Tom de Bruijn (MA 1974), Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation * Eoghan Murphy (MA 2005), former Irish Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. *

Tan Chuan-Jin Tan Chuan-Jin (; born 10 January 1969) is a Singaporean former politician and brigadier-general. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), Tan served as Speaker of the Parliament between 2017 and 2023, and as the Member ...

(MA 1999), Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore * Kayode Fayemi (PhD 1987), Nigerian Governor *

Mark Francois Mark Gino Francois (; born 14 August 1965) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rayleigh and Wickford since 2001 and was re-elected in 2024 with a 25,000 reduction in his majority. A member of the Conservati ...

(MA 1987), Conservative Member of UK Parliament * John Freeman (PhD 1984)

Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands The governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's British Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos Islands. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British gov ...

* Christopher Geidt, Baron Geidt (MA 1987), Crossbench peer *

Natalia Gherman Natalia Gherman ( Snegur; born 20 March 1969) is a Moldovan politician who has been serving as executive director of the United Nations' Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate since 2023. Gherman served as minister of foreign affairs and Europ ...

(MA 1999), former Acting Prime Minister of Moldova * John Hillen (MA 1993), former US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs * Dan Jarvis (MA 2011), Labour Member of UK Parliament * Imran Ahmad Khan (BA, 1996), Conservative Member of UK Parliament *

(MA 1996), UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process * Jiří Šedivý (MA 1994), Director of European Defence Agency, former Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to NATO * Keith Simpson (postgraduate research 1972), former Conservative Member of Parliament *

Pritam Singh Pritam Singh (born 2 August 1976) is a Singaporean politician, author, and lawyer who has been the Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) since 2018, and Leader of the Opposition since 2020. Singh has been the Member of Parliament (MP) r ...

(MA 2004), Singaporean Opposition Leader * Shaun Spiers (MA 1985), former Labour Member of the European Parliament * Eleni Stavrou (MA; PhD), Member of the Cyprus House of Representatives * Tsai Ming-yen (diplomat) (PhD), Director-General of the National Security Bureau (Taiwan)

Military, security and diplomacy

* A.T.M. Zahirul Alam (MA 1993), former Force Commander of

United Nations Mission in Liberia The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the ...

* Sir Adrian Bradshaw (MA 2005), former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe and former UK Commander of Land Forces * Paul Crespo (MA 1990), former US Marine captain, risk analyst and activist * Peter Drissell (MA 1994), former Commandant-General of the RAF Regiment * Richard A. Falkenrath (PhD 1993), former Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism at

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

* Sir Robert Fry (MA 1987), former

Commandant General Royal Marines Commandant General Royal Marines is the professional head of the Royal Marines. The title has existed since 1943. The role is held by a General (United Kingdom), General who is assisted by a Deputy Commandant General, with the rank of Brigadier ( ...

* Sir Wira Gardiner (MA 1980), New Zealander public servant * Judith Gough (MA 2012), British Ambassador to Sweden * Syed Ata Hasnain (MA 2006), former Military Secretary of the Indian Army * Md Hashim bin Hussein (MA 1991), former Chief of the Malaysian Army * Ola Ibrahim (MA 2002), former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Nigerian Armed Forces * Martin Kimani (MA 2003, PhD 2010), Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Ahmad Massoud (BA, 2015), President of the

National Resistance Front of Afghanistan The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban fighters loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Its founder and leader is Ahmad Massoud, who mobilized t ...

* Sir Simon Mayall (MA 2003), former British Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff * Sir Tim Radford (MA), Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe * Maroof Raza (MA), Indian strategic affairs analyst *

Ayesha Siddiqa Ayesha Siddiqa (; born 7 April 1966) is a Pakistani political scientist, and an author who serves as a research associate at the SOAS South Asia Institute. She previously served as the inaugural Pakistan Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center ...

(PhD 1996), Pakistani military scientist * Stuart Skeates (MA 1999), British Standing Joint Force Commander * Frank A. Rose (MA 1999), US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance *

Nawaf Obaid Nawaf Essam Ahmad Obaid (Arabic: نواف عصام احمد عبید) is a Saudi Arabian political scientist, and a former foreign policy and media advisor. He currently serves as the CEO of the Essam & Dalal OBAID Foundation (EDOF) in Geneva, a ...

(MA 2011, PhD 2013), political scientist and former Saudi foreign policy advisor

Academia, media and business

* Ali M. Ansari (MA 1990), Professor of History at the University of St Andrews *

Ruaridh Arrow Ruaridh Arrow is a British journalist and film-maker known for his 2011 feature documentary '' How to Start a Revolution'' about Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr Gene Sharp. The film was described as an underground hit with the Occupy movement, w ...

(BA 2001), Senior producer BBC Newsnight, writer and film-maker * Abdul Razak Baginda, (MA 1984), Malaysian political analyst * Brian Bond (MA 1962), Military historian *

Ahron Bregman Ahron "Ronnie" Bregman (; born 1958) is a UK-based political scientist of Israeli origin, as well as a writer and journalist, specialising on the Arab–Israeli conflict. Biography Bregman was born and raised in Israel. He served in the Israel ...

(PhD 1994), British-Israeli political scientist * Paula Broadwell (PhD Student), biographer of General David Petraeus * Matthew Bryden (PhD Student), Canadian political activist *

Gwynne Dyer Michael Gwynne Dyer (born 17 April 1943) is a British-Canadian military historian, author, professor, journalist, broadcaster, and retired naval officer. Dyer rose to prominence in the 1980s with the release of his television series ''War'' in ...

(PhD 1973), journalist * Andrew Exum (PhD 2010), Middle East Scholar * Daniel Ford (MA 2010), author * Ian Gooderson (MA PhD), Naval historian * Andrew Gordon (PhD 1983), Naval historian * Eric Grove (MA 1971), British Naval historian * Rosemary Hollis (MA 1975) British political scientist *

Andrew Lambert Andrew David Lambert (born 31 December 1956) is a British naval historian, who since 2001 has been the Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. Academic career After completing his doctoral ...

(MA PhD), Military historian * Michael A. Levi (PhD 2006), CFR Senior Fellow * Sophie Long (BA 1997), BBC News presenter * Diana Magnay (MA 2016), journalist * Peter R. Neumann (PhD 2002), Terrorism expert *

Peter Paret Peter Paret (April 13, 1924 – September 11, 2020) was a German-born American cultural and intellectual historian, whose two principal areas of research were war and the interaction of art and politics from 18th to 20th century Europe.

(PhD 1960), Military historian *

Philip Sabin Philip A. G. Sabin is a British military historian who is currently Professor of Strategic Studies in the War Studies Department of King's College London. Biography Sabin is a member of the CAS Air Power Workshop, a small working group of sch ...

(PhD 1984), Military historian * Yezid Sayigh (PhD 1987), Middle East scholar *

Gary Sheffield Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for eight teams from 1988 to 2009. After his playing career, he became a sports agent. For most of his c ...

(PhD 1994), Military historian *

David Stahel David Stahel (born 1975 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a historian, author and senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales. He specialises in German military history of World War II. Stahel has authored several books on the mi ...

(MA 2000), historian * Nicholas Stuart (MA 1984), journalist *

Geoffrey Till Geoffrey Till (born in London, England, on 14 January 1945) is a British naval historian and emeritus professor of maritime studies in the Defence Studies Department of King's College London. He is the director of the Corbett Centre for Mariti ...

(PhD 1976), Maritime historian *

Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster The title of Earl of Ulster has been created six times in the Peerage of Ireland and twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1928, the title has been held by the Duke of Gloucester and is used as a courtesy title by the Duke's el ...

(BA 1996), Director of Transnational Crisis Project * Kieran West (MA 2005), Olympic gold medal-winning rower * Colin White (MA 1975), former Director of the Royal Naval Museum

Past and present faculty

* James M. Acton * Robert J. Art * Mats Berdal * John Bew *

Didier Bigo Didier Bigo (born 31 August 1956) is a French academic from Lille and Professor of International Relations at King's College London and at Sciences Po, Paris. He has authored two books, ''Polices en réseaux. L'expérience européenne'' (1996) and ...

Philip Bobbitt Sir Philip Chase Bobbitt (born July 22, 1948) is an American legal scholar and political theorist. He is best known for work on U.S. constitutional law and theory, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaini ...

* Brian Bond *

* Bill Durodié * Nicholas Eftimiades *

Joel Hayward Joel Hayward (born 1964) is a New Zealand-born British scholar, academic and writer. He has been listed in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of The 500 Most Influential Muslims, ''The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims''. He has been the Dean ...

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposi ...

* Vivienne Jabri * Ashley Jackson * Mark Laity *

Lawrence Freedman Sir Lawrence David Freedman, (born 1948) is a British academic, historian and author specialising in foreign policy, international relations and strategy. He has been described as the "dean of British strategic studies" and was a member of th ...

Thomas Gomart Thomas Gomart (born 13 March 1973) is a French historian of international relations (History – Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne) and the director of IFRIInstitut français des relations internationales since 2015. He was previously vice-president for ...

* Barry M. Gough *

Beatrice Heuser Beatrice Heuser (born 15 March 1961 in Bangkok) is an historian and political scientist. She held the chair of International Relations at the University of Glasgow until autumn 2024. Life Heuser has a B.A. in History from Bedford College (London) ...

Richard Ned Lebow Richard Ned Lebow is an American political scientist best known for his work in international relations, political psychology, classics and philosophy of science. He is Professor Emeritus of International Political Theory at the Department of War ...

Anatol Lieven Anatol Lieven (born 28 June 1960) is a British author, journalist, and policy analyst. He is currently a visiting professor at King's College London and senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Background Peter ...

* Colin J. McInnes * Anand Menon * John Nagl * Peter R. Neumann *

Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...

* Friedbert Pflüger * Jonathon Riley * Andrew Roberts *

* John Sawers * Yezid Sayigh * Nigel Sheinwald * Jack Spence * Julian Thompson * Cedric Thornberry *

Guglielmo Verdirame Guglielmo Verdirame, Baron Verdirame, (born 25 August 1971) is a legal scholar, barrister and a member of the House of Lords. He was previously a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, a university lecturer in law at the Universit ...

Kenneth Waltz Kenneth Neal Waltz (; June 8, 1924 – May 12, 2013) was an American political scientist who was a member of the faculty at both the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars in the field ...

Simon Wessely Sir Simon Charles Wessely (born 23 December 1956) is a British psychiatrist. He is Regius Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and head of its department of psychological medicine, vice dean for academi ...

Ken Young Kenneth George Young FAcSS FRHistS (3 January 1943 – 20 February 2019) was a British political scientist and historian who was Professor of Public Policy at King's College London in its Department of War Studies. Earlier he was instrumental in ...

* Peter Zimmerman

Tolstoy Cup

The Tolstoy Cup is an annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match played between the students of the Department of War Studies at King's and the Department of

Peace Studies Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such ...

at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

since 1995. The rivalry between 'Peace Studies' and 'War Studies' was featured on the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' list of "Great college sports rivalries". The competition is named after ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'', the 1869 novel written by the Russian author

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

. The "trophy" is a framed copy of the book. It is kept by the department of the current winners.

References

External links

Official website of the Department of War Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Department Of War Studies, KCL Departments of King's College London Military education and training in the United Kingdom 1962 establishments in the United Kingdom Schools of international relations