RUSI Land Warfare Conference 2024

General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO

Chief of the General Staff

General Sir ‘Roly’ Walker was commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1993, and served with the UK’s Special Forces from 1997. He commanded the Grenadier Guards in 2009, promoting to the General Staff four years later. 

He has commanded at company, squadron, battle group, brigade and SF group levels, variously in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as joint command of operations across Europe, the broader Middle East, Africa and South America. On the Staff he has served in brigade, divisional, army and strategic HQs. 

He was the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Strategy & Operations) at the MOD from April 2021, during which time he was responsible for advising on and directing new operations to support the government’s response to Covid, the death of the late Duke of Edinburgh, the withdrawal from Kabul, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II and coronation of King Charles III, numerous evacuation operations and most recently the Hamas attacks on Israel. In December 2023 it was announced that General Walker was to be appointed as the new Chief of the General Staff, succeeding General Sir Patrick Sanders. He assumed the appointment on 15 June 2024.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin KCB ADC

Chief of the Defence Staff

: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/tony-radakin

The Rt Hon John Healey MP

Secretary of State for Defence

: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/john-healey

Dr Jack Watling

Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare, RUSI

Dr Jack Watling is Senior Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Institute. Jack works extensively with the British and allied militaries on force development and operational analysis. Jack has worked extensively in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, in Iraq during the campaign to defeat Daesh, in Mali, Rwanda and further afield. He is the Co-author alongside Nick Reynolds of War by Others’ Means: Delivering Effective Partner Force Capacity Building (2021).

: https://rusi.org/people/jack-watling

Matthew Savill

Director of Military Sciences, RUSI

Matthew Savill is the Director of Military Sciences at RUSI, focussing on developments and trends in modern conflict, and the use of force in the 21st Century.

Before joining RUSI he spent over 20 years as a civil servant working on defence and security, predominantly in the Ministry of Defence. He joined the MOD in 2003, starting his career in Defence Intelligence as an Iraq analyst before moving to intelligence coordination and support to operations, and later roles in private office, approvals and scrutiny of major procurement projects, before a return to analysis and a secondment to the Cabinet Office. 

He has also specialised in strategy and policy, with roles in: Defence Strategy and Priorities, working on the Integrated Review; the MOD’s Operations Directorate, where he was responsible for operational policy for the Middle East and overseas counter-terrorism; the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat, to cover intelligence oversight and then Middle East policy; the MOD team responsible for the deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group in 2021; and operations and crisis team responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. His final role in the MOD was responsibility for Special Operations policy, covering oversight of UK Special Forces and intelligence operations.

He attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course at the Defence Academy Shrivenham in 2010-11, and the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2020, and has a Masters in Defence Studies from King’s College London. He has had articles published in Defence Studies and on The Wavell Room website.

He has deployed on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and across the Middle East for the military campaign against Daesh.

Matthew was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2008. 

Major General Olly Brown

General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division

Major General Olly Brown commissioned into the Royal Anglian Regiment in 1997. The early part of his career featured multiple deployments to Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he served as Military Assistant to the Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps before Commanding 2^nd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment. As Commanding Officer, he deployed to NE Nigeria in support of operations to counter Boko Haram. As a Colonel, he served as Chief of Staff for 1^st (United Kingdom) Division.

Between 2019 and 2021, he commanded 4^th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Northeast. During this period, he led Defence support in Yorkshire and the wider Northeast under Operation RESCRIPT and prepared a reconnaissance force, which deployed from his Brigade to Mali within the UN's MINUSMA mission.  The final six months of his tenure as Brigade Commander were spent in Kabul as Commander British Forces Afghanistan and the last Commander of the Kabul Security Force. Most recently, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff Operations within Headquarters Field Army.  

Major General Olly Brown assumed command as General Officer Commanding 3^rd (United Kingdom) Division in July 2024.

Matt McKee

C-UxS Product Development and Maritime Autonomous Systems Development

Matt McKee served 23 years in the US Army, with 19 years being in Army Special Operations. Matt commanded multiple Detachments and Special Forces Companies in Garrison and deployed in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Iraq.  Matt graduated from Virginia Military Institute and Naval Postgraduate School.

In 2015, Matt became a technologist and moved to United States Army Special Operations Command and served in the G8 and led USASOC C-UxS efforts from 2017-2023. Matt evaluated numerous C-UAS technologies and UAS, selected to participate in a tiger team to evaluate solutions to the Group 3 problem set in 2021, participated in 4x National Security Special Events for C-UAS with the FBI in urban environments, familiar with niche C-UxS sensors capabilities as they were a hallmark of the passive C-UxS effort, created a passive mobile C-UxS system which was first of its kind from idea development, funding development, creation of the capability and till final operational testing. The C-UxS system is now a Program of record for the US Army.  

Matt retired in March of 2024 and joined Industry, work at BlueHalo where he leads next generation C-UxS product development and Maritime Autonomous Systems development efforts for the company.

Brigadier General Stephanie Ahern

US Army Future Command

Brigadier General Stephanie Ahern is the US Army’s Director of Strategy, Plans, and Policy, within Headquarters, Department of the Army G-3/5/7, Pentagon, having just completed four years as the Army’s Director of Concepts, Futures & Concepts Center, Army Futures Command, in Austin, TX. As an Army Engineer she served overseas in Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. 

As an Army Strategist, she taught at the US Military Academy, spending summers in Iraq and at the State Department; was a Council on Foreign Relations fellow at Treasury; served in HQDA G-3/5/7, Arlington National Cemetery, Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, National Security Council, and for the Secretary of the Army; and was an adjunct professor for six years at Georgetown University. 

She has a B.S. in Engineering Management from the U.S. Military Academy, a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College, and a Master and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.

Professor Anthony King

Director of the Strategy and Security Institute, University of Exeter

Anthony King is Professor of Defence and Security Studies and the Director of the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter. He has published widely on war and the armed forces, including his most 2021 monograph, Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century, the second edition of which will appear next year. He has just finished a book on AI and military transformation which will be published by Princeton University Press in the Spring 2025.

Air Commodore Blythe Crawford CBE

Commandant of the Air and Space Warfare Centre, Royal Air Force

Air Commodore Crawford is the Commandant of the Air and Space Warfare Centre.  He completed tours on 111(F) and XXV(F) Squadrons, and the Tornado F3 Operational Conversion Unit, before promotion to Squadron Leader, where he was posted to the Tactical Leadership Programme, while completing a Masters at Cambridge University before returning to the F3 as a Flight Commander.

He completed Advanced Command and Staff College and an MA in Defence Studies, prior to posting to a strategy role in the Pentagon. He returned to the UK as OC Ops Wing at RAF Leuchars, before deploying as XO to the Commanding General, 1st Infantry Division, in Baghdad on OPERATION INHERENT RESOLVE. Crawford was awarded an OBE in 2015.

Within Joint Forces Command, he led the rollout of ‘Warfare in the Information Age’ and then returned to Washington as the interoperability lead for the Multi Domain Command and Control enterprise, before participating in the development of the USAF’s innovation strategy. 

Appointed Station Commander, RAF Leeming, he drove multiple transformation programmes including setting up the RAFX Innovation Hub. He was awarded a CBE in 2021 before attending Higher Command and Staff College.  He is currently completing a Doctorate in Innovation, Technology and Strategy at Durham University, where he is also a Professor in Practice.

Major General Dan Reeve MC

General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Division

Major General Dan Reeve took command of 1^st (United Kingdom) Division in March 2024.

He has served operationally in Europe, Southeast Asia, North and East Africa, and the Middle East, and has commanded 6^th (United Kingdom) Division, 77^th Brigade and Third Battalion the Rifles. He was Chief Joint Force Operations from 2021 to 2023, commanding the Joint Task Forces that deployed to Türkiye and Sudan.

His staff appointments have included: Military Assistant to the Chief of the General Staff, over a period which encompassed the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review; Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff Operations in the United Kingdom’s Permanent Joint Headquarters; and Chief of Staff to No 10 Downing Street’s Executive Director for Communications. In 2021, he was seconded to the Cabinet Office where he worked on a range of cross government policy initiatives including the Integrated Review.

Major General Alex Turner DSO

Director Army Futures

Major General Alex Turner commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1998. At regimental duty he deployed on operations to Kosovo, Northern Ireland, the Iraq invasion of 2003 and Afghanistan.

Beyond the regiment he served as an infantry instructor, an observer with the UN on the Kuwait/ Iraq border in 2002/3, as an analyst with the MoD’s Defence Intelligence Staff and a stint with the Directorate of Training (Army) where he designed individual training for operations.  He returned to Afghanistan for a year in 2013/14 to assist with the creation of an Afghan National Army Officer training academy in Kabul.

He commanded 1^st Battalion Irish Guards from 2014 to 2017, whereupon he promoted to the General Staff and was employed as an operational planner in PJHQ. After completing the Higher Command and Staff Course, he spent a short period in MoD’s strategic communication unit before promoting into the role of Head of Strategy for the Army. From 2020 to 2022 he commanded the Army’s Information Warfare Brigade (77^th Brigade) and is now Director Army Futures.

A published military historian, he has lectured and broadcast about the First World War and is an active member of an organisation that explores and surveys Western Front tunnel systems. He is also a fellow of the MacDowell Arts Colony in New Hampshire USA for creative writing, and a keen, if cautious, mountaineer.

Alex Cresswell

Chief Executive and Chairman, Thales UK

Alex Cresswell is a strong advocate for the benefits that science and technology can deliver to nations and individuals. Inspired by a childhood passion for flight to study Aeronautics and Astronautics at Southampton University, he retains a life-long passion for the application of science and technology to transport, aerospace and defence.

Alex was appointed Chief Executive and Chairman of Thales UK in 2020, following a 35-year global career within the aerospace and defence sectors. Alex has been a member of Thales Group’s Executive Committee since 2010, and also has responsibilities for Thales in the USA, Australia and Canada.

Directly employing 7,000 people UK-wide and contributing around £2bn to the country’s GDP, Thales in the UK provides safety and security infrastructure and sovereign capability to sectors as diverse as defence, banking, aerospace and transport. Its varied projects range from delivering the digital identity and security that underpins our connected world, to designing the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

Alex joined Thales in the UK in 1992 and worked in many parts of the business before being appointed in 2013 as Executive Vice-President, Thales Land and Air Systems, a global business with €3.4Bn revenues and 11,000 employees.

His achievements and contribution to the growth of the business led to his investiture as a ‘Légion d'honneur’, in 2017.

Dr Gundbert Scherf

co-Founder and co-CEO at Helsing

Dr Gundbert Scherf is co-Founder and co-CEO at Helsing, the UK and Europe’s leading defence AI company, which he co-founded in 2021. Helsing’s mission is to provide AI to serve and protect our democracies by transforming operational capabilities in national security and defence.

Prior to Helsing, Dr Scherf worked as a Special Commissioner at the German Ministry of Defence from 2014 to 2016.  He co-founded the Cyber and Information Domain Command to combat new technological challenges in the Information Domain as a response to the first aggressive war waged by Russia on Ukraine. He subsequently was a Partner at McKinsey & Company leading work in Defence and Tech Security across Europe.

Yoge Patel

CEO, Blue Bear - A Saab Company

Yoge Patel is responsible for business growth strategy, business plan, IP strategy, high-value propositions, client liaison and core capability management at Blue Bear. She has a reputation for tenacious, resourceful and dynamic leadership in fast moving environments and proven, hands-on experience of catalysing and inculcating new practice at company and UK level.

Yoge is a renowned innovator and visionary in field of autonomous and AI enabled systems. She is currently a Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering and previously fellows of QinetiQ and Cranfield University.

Yoge was previously Business and Technical lead for Air Programmes (manned and unmanned) in Government Labs and QinetiQ. There she led UK-Eu and UK-US collaborations with focus on Fast Jets, Unmanned Combat Air Systems, Innovation and Autonomy. She has a reputation for winning business and building multi-disciplinary teams at pace.

Professor Justin Bronk

Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology, RUSI

Professor Justin Bronk is the Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology in the Military Sciences team at RUSI, and the Editor of the RUSI Defence Systems online journal. 

His particular areas of expertise include the modern combat air environment, Russian and Chinese ground-based air defences and fast jet capabilities, the air war during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, unmanned combat aerial vehicles and novel weapons technology. He has written extensively for RUSI and a variety of external publications, as well as appearing regularly in the international media. 

Justin also holds a Professor II position at the Royal Norwegian Air Force Academy, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Scientific and Technical Journal "Weapons and Equipment" at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Arms and Military Equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.  

His PhD examined Balancing Imagination and Design in British Combat Aircraft Development at the Defence Studies Department of Kings College London.  

Justin is also a private light aircraft and glider pilot.

Lieutenant General Mike Elviss CB MBE

Commander Field Army

Mike Elviss commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery in August 1995, joining 29th Commando Regiment RA. He deployed to Iraq twice in 2003 in artillery and infantry roles. In 2008 he deployed to Afghanistan as a battery commander. 

He assumed command of 1st Regiment RHA in September 2011 and commanded the Task Force Helmand Joint Fires and Targeting Group throughout Operation HERRICK 18. 

In March 2014 he was appointed Assistant Head Operations of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Current Commitments Team in the Ministry of Defence. After attendance on the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2015 he returned to the Operations Directorate as Head Operations Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria. 

Elviss commanded 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade between July 2016 and July 2018. He became a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies in September 2018 prior to filling the post of Assistant Chief of Staff Field Army. 

Elviss became General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division in February 2020 and was subsequently Chief of Staff (Operations) at the UK’s Permanent Joint Headquarters between October 2021 and February 2024. 

Lieutenant General Elviss assumed command of the Field Army on 18 March 2024.

Lieutenant General Charlie Collins DSO OBE

Commander Home Command

Lieutenant General Charlie Collins assumed Command as both Commander Home Command and the Standing Joint Commander (UK) on 28 Sep 2023.

Commissioning into The Royal Green Jackets in 1995, he served with them in armoured and light infantry roles. His early service was spent in Northern Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom with deployments to the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq.

He commanded Fifth Battalion, The Rifles, an armoured infantry battalion, in Paderborn, Germany from 2012 to 2014. The Battalion was the last manoeuvre battle group of the Helmand campaign.

From 2016 to 2018, he commanded 7th Infantry Brigade, The Desert Rats, before commanding the 1st (United Kingdom) Division from 2020 to 2022.

On the staff, he has been Military Assistant to the Commander of NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps 2011-2012, Chief of Staff of 1st (United Kingdom) Division 2015 to 2016, Assistant Chief of Staff Plans at the Permanent Joint Headquarters, 2018 to 2020, and the Assistant Chief of the General Staff 2022 to 2023.

He lives in Yorkshire with his wife, a general practice doctor, and their four daughters. He is the Army Race Champion, President of Army Sport and Colonel Commandant of the Small Arms School Corps.

Tom Newman

Chief Executive for Land/UK Aviation Sector, Babcock

Tom is Babcock’s Chief Executive for Land/UK Aviation Sector. He studied Naval Architecture at UCL, graduating with an M.Eng in 2003. He started his career at VT Shipbuilding as a graduate, joining Babcock through its acquisition of VT Group in 2010. He has held a variety of Director and MD roles in a range of industrial sectors including Broadcast and Communications, Aviation, Training and Emergency Services, completing an MBA at Warwick Business School in 2011. Tom is a certified coaching practitioner accredited by Henley Business School.

In 2019 he became MD responsible for the Cabinet Office Strategic Partnering Programme, reporting to the Group CEO and joining the Executive Committee, a role that also saw him lead Babcock’s global response to the challenges of COVID-19.

Tom became Chief of Staff to David Lockwood after his appointment as CEO in 2020 and was appointed Chief Executive, Land, in 2021, taking on responsibility for the UK Aviation business in 2023. He is Chair of the ESG Committee and Babcock’s lead for inclusion/diversity and has championed Babcock’s approach to the implementation of AI based tools to drive better customer insight.

Lieutenant General David Eastman MBE

Deputy Chief of the General Staff

Lt Gen David Eastman commissioned into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1989. He has served in Hong Kong, Nepal, Germany, the Falkland Islands, Australia and across the UK, and has deployed on operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan twice. He was made an MBE following the first UK deployment to Helmand in 2006, during which he was employed as the Deputy Chief of Staff, 16 Air Assault Brigade.

In addition to service with a wide variety of field force units, Lt Gen Eastman has focused on developing his Joint, International and Capability credentials at the Operational and Strategic levels. Roles have included planning the redeployment of British Forces from Afghanistan whilst in PJHQ; Force Development and Strategic Management of the UK military force structure in support of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review as part of the Financial and Military Capability Directorate in MoD; and a stint as a Military Assistant at the strategic level for the Assistant Chief of the General staff.

From an international perspective, he has been the Military Assistant to a German 4-star NATO commander, commanded a globally-deployed Defence Engagement-focused logistic brigade and commanded the UN multi-national contingent on a number of exercises in South Korea. He served as the Head of International Policy and Plans for Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean in the Ministry of Defence, subsequently switching to Euro-Atlantic Security.

He completed the UK Higher Command and Staff Course in 2013 and, in 2019, the Australian War College Defence and Strategic Studies Course in Canberra.

On returning to the UK, Lt Gen Eastman served as General Officer Commanding Regional Command, running the Army’s UK strategic base and concurrently serving as the Deputy Commander and then Commander of the UK’s Standing Joint Command, responsible for support to UK resilience including the Defence COVID Force. He assumed the role of Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Capability and Force Design) in August 2022 acting as the Defence lead for capability strategy and planning, and future force development and design. In May 2024 he was selected for promotion to Lt Gen and appointed as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff.

Lt Gen Eastman is very proud to hold regimental appointments as the Colonel Commandant of The Staff Corps since April 2024, the Master General of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and Colonel Commandant of The Royal Corps of Army Music.

Richard Holroyd

CEO, Capita Public Service

Richard leads the Public Service division which is a strategic partner to government in the application of digital transformation to improve the productivity of operations and to help deliver essential services to millions of customers. 

Richard joined Capita in January 2021 as the Managing Director and Client Partner of the Defence, Fire and Security Sector one of the largest strategic suppliers to the UK MOD. 

After University, Richard commissioned into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and spent the next 20 years on a wide range of operations including Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Iraq and staff appointments in training and HR including a tour at the Staff College and as the Divisional Colonel of the King’s Division with accountability for staffing and recruiting. His final appointment was as Commanding Officer of the Military Corrective Training Centre.  

On leaving the Army in 2008 Richard joined BT Group initially in the Global Services Division and later in the Technology and Service Division where he led Strategy, Transformation and Service. He played a key role in transforming service performance, improving customer experience, and launching new products. 

Prior to joining Capita Richard spent 4 years at Centrica on the Executive Leadership Team of the Consumer Division as the Chief Transformation Officer.

Fred Hargreaves OBE

Director Strategy, L3Harris

Fred Hargreaves joined L3Harris in April 2021 as Director Strategy and Engagement in the Intelligence and Cyber division covering a portfolio of Electronic Warfare, Cryptography, Cyber, Integrated Air and Missile Defence and Robotics, one month after retiring from a 35-year career in the British Army. 

His final military position was a Deputy Director in Strategic Command responsible for Offensive Cyber Strategy, Engagement, Transformation and Force Development. Prior to this he worked in the MOD’s Security Policy and Operations staff where he led a review of how Defence better integrates across maritime, land, air, cyber and space in an era of persistent competition. He is a graduate of the Higher Command and Staff Course, the Royal College of Defence Studies, and the Major Projects Leadership Academy, and has two Masters Degrees. 

Fred has over eighteen years’ intimate engagement with sport and adventurous training for serving and veteran wounded, injured and sick personnel. He is the founder of Battle Back, the UK MOD’s programme which aids the recovery of wounded, injured and sick Service personnel through sport; is a Trustee and former CEO of the Armed Forces ParaSnowsport Team; and now serves on the Board of the British Paralympic Association.

Brigadier Justin Stenhouse CBE DSO

Former Commander 11 Security Force Assistance Brigade, now Head of Capability Plans - Finance and Military Capability, MoD

Justin Stenhouse commissioned into 1^st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) in 1998. His early operational experience included deployments to Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.   

At staff he has held appointments on the Current Operations desk for Afghanistan in the Permanent Joint Headquarters, has been an Instructor on the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land) and was the Lead Resource Planner in Headquarters Field Army. He Commanded 1^st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards from 2017 to 2019, whereupon he promoted to the General Staff and became the Assistant Head Capability Plans in Army Headquarters with responsibility for managing the Army’s Equipment Programme, during his time in this appointment he also attended the Higher Command and Staff Course. 

Promotion to Brigadier followed in May 22 when he assumed command of the 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade which he commanded until June 24.  He recently assumed the role of Head of Capability Plans in the Finance and Military Capability (FMC) Directorate within the Ministry of Defence.

Dr Michael Shurkin

Director of Global Programme, 14 North Strategy

Dr Michael Shurkin is an analyst and researcher with a long career in national security, with a focus on West Africa, France, and Europe.

Currently the Director of Global Programs at 14 North Strategies, a Senegal-based risk advisory, Dr Shurkin is also a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He has served as a political analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency and spent 11 years as a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation.

He holds a Ph.D. in modern European history from Yale University, and a BA in history from Stanford University. He also studied at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France.

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Sean MacFarland

In his 37-year military career, Sean MacFarland led armor and cavalry units at every echelon from armored cavalry platoon to the III Armored Corps.  He served as Commanding General of a JTF in support of US border security, 1^st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, and Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve. He was also Deputy Commanding General of US Forces in Afghanistan/ ISAF DCOS Ops and US Army Training and Doctrine Command.

As a brigade commander in Ramadi, Iraq, he is credited with fostering the Sunni Arab “Awakening” movement, which was instrumental in turning the tide of the war. While commanding the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, coalition forces seized the initiative, recaptured over 40 percent of the enemy’s territory, and set the conditions for its final defeat.  

MacFarland is a 1981 graduate of the United States Military Academy and earned a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. He was decorated many times for his service in peace and war. In 2016, Time Magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.  Since retiring, Sean worked as senior industry executive and now facilitates senior military leader development.

Dr Ziya Meral

RUSI Senior Associate Fellow

Dr Ziya Meral is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute and a Lecturer in International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He is an expert on global trends shaping defence and security, climate change and security, foreign policies of Turkey and Middle Eastern countries, and intersection of religion with global affairs.

Dr Meral is also a Visiting Fellow at the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre, a Senior Associate Fellow of the European Leadership Network. He is also co-founder and an associate of the Climate Change and (In)Security Project, a joint initiative of UK Army and the University of Oxford, exploring impact of climate change on defence and security. He was formerly the Director for Research and Programmes at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research - British Army’s civilian and military think tank based at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. During his time at CHACR between 2016 to 2023, he organised more than 40 conferences and events for 9000 UK defence personnel, commissioning more than 100 academics and researchers and leading release of more dozens of publications, and regularly taught, briefed and supported UK Army personnel at all levels on global developments, on going conflicts and operations.

He is a frequent commentator in international and British media. He travels widely to lecture and delivered talks at leading diplomatic and academic institutions and conferences around the world. These have included expert statements and talks at the UK House of Commons and House of Lords, the U.S. Congress, US State Department, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Ministry of Defence, the EU Commission, the West Point Military Academy, Seoul Defence Forum and the NATO Defense College.

He holds a 1st Class BA Hons from Brunel University in London, a MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics and a PhD in political science from the University of Cambridge. He studied Russian Literature at Ankara University. He has undertaken short-term studies and research in a wide range of countries, including Iran, Egypt, China, Canada, Nigeria, Israel, Turkey, USA and Jordan. During 2010-2011, he was a Joseph Crapa Fellow at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in Washington DC, conducting research on ethno-religious violence. His book, How Violence Shapes Religion: Belief and Conflict in Africa and Middle East, was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2018.