Honorary members

Andrew Burns was appointed Fleet Commander in September 2021 and commanded all operational arms of the Royal Navy (Surface Flotilla, Submarine Flotilla, Fleet Air Arm, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary). This included their generation for task and operational effectiveness.  He was the Chief Naval Warfare Officer and the Gender Advocate for the Royal Navy.

Andrew joined the Royal Navy in 1989 as a University Cadet, subsequently graduating in geography from the University of Durham. As a junior officer he qualified as a Bridge Watch-keeping Officer, Fighter Controller and Principal Warfare Officer and saw service on operations across the world in destroyers, a frigate and an aircraft carrier.

He has been privileged to command the mine countermeasures vessel HMS Berkeley, the frigate HMS SOMERSET and the amphibious assault ship HMS BULWARK. He was appointed OBE in 2015. Promoted to Commodore, he commanded the Amphibious Task Group, which included a period in command of the US Fifth Fleet Combined Task Force 50 as the Principal Warfighting Commander. More recently, he was Commander United Kingdom Strike Force, the Royal Navy’s deployable 2* operational commander, and Rear Admiral Surface Ships, the head of the Surface Flotilla Fighting Arm.

Shore appointments have included: the National Contingent Headquarters for Operation TELIC; the Multinational Force Headquarters (Baghdad); Directorates of Special Forces and Strategic Plans in the Ministry of Defence; Commander Sea Training; Joint Forces Command as the Principal Staff Officer to the Commander; Assistant Chief of Staff Ships in NCHQ; and latterly, Director Develop, responsible for the future design and capability of the Royal Navy. He was appointed CB in 2021.

He has attended the Royal College of Defence Studies as an Associate Member and is a graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course (MA in Defence Studies, King’s College London) and the Higher Command and Staff Course. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Changing Character of War Programme, Pembroke College, University of Oxford. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from the University of Plymouth and is a graduate of the US Combined Forces Maritime Component Commanders Course and the UK/US Rising Leaders Course. He is an alumnus of the London and Oxford University Said Business Schools. 

Andrew is: a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Managers; a Fellow of the Durham Institute for Research, Development and Invention; a Younger Brother of Trinity House; a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers; and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Master Mariners. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Council on Geostrategy Sea-power Laboratory. He is also President of RN Cricket and a Patron of Plymouth-based Future Fit Junior Field Gun. He has a wide range of other interests and has maintained his enthusiasm for team sports.

Theodora Adekunle (UK) is currently Team Lead in the Operations Division, on the International Staff at NATO Headquarters with current responsibilities for NATO’s Defence Capacity Building programs with seven Partners and the United Nations. Theodora joined NATO in September 2003. Prior to that, she directed the International Crisis Group’s research department, with responsibilities for policy advice, research and multilateral advocacy and outreach. Theodora has travelled extensively to crisis zones including the Western Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and was a visiting Fellow at Science Po, Paris. Theo is a native English speaker, with fluent French, Dutch and holiday Yoruba and Italian.  In her spare time, she enjoys sports, tailoring and walks in nature.

Omar Oscar Ashour is Professor of Security & Military Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (Qatar), Honorary Professor at the Security & Strategy Institute of the University of Exeter (UK), and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (Ukraine). He is the author of How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt (2021) and The De-Radicalization of Jihadists (2009). He is the editor of Bullets to Ballots: Collective De-Radicalisation of Armed Movements (2021).  
  
He has extensively explored how non-state forces fight, and how they shift from bullets to ballots, examining de-radicalization challenges and the efficacy of combat strategies of small states and small(er) forces. His research spans security and military affairs in the Middle East and post-Soviet republics and it is underscored by tens of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and over two hundred op-eds. A frequent contributor to local and international media, Professor Ashour now focuses on comparative combat effectiveness, highlighted by his recent studies on how Putin’s army fought like ISIS in Ukraine and on hybrid defence lessons from Ukraine, Syria and Gaza. 

General Sir Richard Barrons served as Commander Joint Forces Command, one of the six ‘Chiefs of Staff’ leading the UK Armed Forces, 2013-2016. As Co-Chairman of Universal Defence & Security Solutions, he advises on senior leadership, defence and national security matters - especially Digital Age transformation for 21st Century warfare - and is a regular media commentator.

Dr Blair is currently Director, Opimian Strategy, a niche security and strategy consultancy she founded in 2010 with clients across HMG departments, NATO, UN, OSCE and other governments working in and on many of the current global hotspots. She is the Chair of Saferworld, an international peacebuilding NGO working is some of the most challenging contexts. She has had the privilege of being both an honorary professor since 2016 and visiting professor for the 22-23 academic year. Her early career began in Canada where she worked to create the Lester B Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre which followed with tours with the OSCE and the UN in the Western Balkans. She also spent time at the Defence Academy on the Cranfield University Staff as Acting Director of the Centre for Security Sector Management, with UK based and international MSc provision. 

Lieutenant General Sir Nick Borton was commissioned into the British Army in 1991. Over a 34 year career, he has served in UK, Germany, Belize, Bosnia, Brunei, Cyprus, Iraq and Afghanistan.  He has worked in strategy and policy in the UK Ministry of Defence, and commanded at every level from platoon to corps. 

His most recent appointments included: Commander 16 Air Assault Brigade; Commander 3rd (UK) Division, and Chief of Staff UK Permanent Joint HQ, where he was responsible for the daily running of all UK joint operations globally.   His most recent appointment was command of the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, UK’s senior field formation, focused on NATO deterrence in Europe.  

On leaving the Army, he has become a NATO Senior Mentor, and holds a number of board advisory roles. 

Chip is a former head of counter-terrorism, and Senior British Military Advisor to US Central Command. He is a regular ‘talking head’ on TV/radio as an analyst on terrorism, Ukraine and defence issues.  

View SSI lecture: Where there's a will there's a way - The Psychology of War

Rob Bassett Cross MC is one of the UK’s leading pioneers in the development of Artificial Intelligence for Defence and National Security. Rob has applied his experience as a former British Army officer and investment banker to apply advanced emerging technology to complex human analysis and decision-making tasks. He graduated with a degree in law (LLB (Hons)) from Exeter University.

Rob joined the SSI as Honorary Associate Research Fellow in 2024 and is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense practice in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. 

Brigadier Bill Dunham CBE MA BSc served in the Royal Marines from 1979-2015, concluding his career as Deputy Commandant General.  He is a graduate of the Advanced and Higher Staff Course and the Royal College of Defence Studies.  Career highlights include Commandant CTCRM, Chief of Staff to the Multi National Division in Basra on 2005 and to NATO Training Mission Afghanistan in 2011, during which he led operational and strategic planning on behalf of his commands. On military retirement he served for 4 years as the Director of Strategy and Corporate Services for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. 

Dr. Roger Hutton retired from his role as Director International Security in the UK Ministry of Defence in 2020, having previously been the Department’s Director Chilcot, Strategy Director and Transformation Director. Roger’s career encompassed operational and international security policy, strategic planning and resource allocation, and secondments to the NHS, the Home Office, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He has a BSc(Hons) in Physics with European Studies; an MSc in Science Policy; an MA in International Relations; and a PhD in Social and Political Science (with a thesis on UK defence policy). He speaks fluent German.

James Kidner spent three decades in the Diplomatic Service before moving to the much more foreign world of technology, focused on defence and security.  He served on the Senior Directing Staff of the Royal College of Defence Studies, and was Deputy Private Secretary to The Prince of Wales; he also set up and ran the Coexist Foundation, looking at how Christianity, Judaism and Islam impact on globalisation and modern society.  He studied history at Christ Church, Oxford, and lives on a family farm on Dartmoor.

Dr Magda Long holds a PhD in War Studies from King's College London. Her research explores how states employ both state and non-state actors in covert activities to advance their foreign policy objectives, mitigate national security threats, and within the broader context of great power competition and hybrid warfare strategies. 

Dr. Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is the General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair of Military History at The Ohio State University and a frequent commentator in the media on national security affairs.

He assumed his academic position in 2008 after a 26 year career in the U.S. Army that included a tour as a brigade commander in Baghdad in 2003-2004 and that culminated in his service as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the surge of U.S. forces in 2007 and 2008. 

As Chief Constable (2002-2009), Sir Hugh was responsible for implementing the reform program (Patten report) transforming the RUC GC into the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In 2009 he became the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, representing the service at national and international level for 6 years.

Since retirement he has worked internationally advising governments on police reform and been involved in several peace processes in challenging environments. 

Daniela Richterova is senior lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. She specialises in the history of Cold War intelligence, and contemporary issues related to counterterrorism and state-based threats.

She is author of Watching the Jackals: Prague’s Covert Liaisons with Terrorists and Revolutionaries.

Bsky: @drichterova.bsky.social * Insta: @drichterova_kcl * LinkedIn. 

Chiara Ruffa is a professor in political science (specialising in International Relations) at the Centre for International Studies (CERI) at Sciences Po. Before moving to Paris, she was an associate professor at the Swedish Defence University and an academy fellow at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University.

Her research is about multilateralism on the ground, peacekeeping operations, norms, cultures and civil-military relations. In particular, her research agenda revolves around multilateral governance and management of peace and security across different regions. Her two main areas of expertise are (1) multilateralism on the ground, multinational governance and management of peace and security (UN peacekeeping, dynamics of transformations of multinational interventions with increased participation of non- Western contributors, and search and rescue missions at sea in particular) and (2) civil – military relations and the transformation of the state. She has also written about methods, in particular about case studies and what causality means in qualitative research.

Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Commission, the European Commission, the Swedish Research Council, the Royal Swedish Academy. Her work has been published in the European Journal of International Relations, Security Studies, Acta Sociologica, Armed Forces and Society, Security and Defence Analysis, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Comparative European Politics, among others. Her first book Military Cultures in Peace and Stability Operations was published with the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2018. Her second book (with Vincenzo Bove and Andrea Ruggeri) Composing Peace. Mission Composition in UN Peacekeeping was published by Oxford University Press in April 2020. Chiara is an editorial board member of Security Studies (and its ethics committee as well as one of the mentors to increase submissions from the Global South), Armed Forces and Society, the Australian Journal of Political Science, International Spectator, International Studies Perspectives.

 Dr Simona R. Soare is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Technology at Lancaster University, specialising in software-defined defence, digital transformation, emerging technologies, and the future of warfare. Her research focuses on AI safety and human–AI teaming in defence and security. She co-chairs NATO STO panels on AI adoption, interoperability, and safety, and the NATO Lecture Series on AI in defence. Simona is an Honorary Associate Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute, and a Senior Associate Fellow with both the NATO Defence College and RUSI’s Military Sciences programme. Her previous roles include positions with the IISS, EUISS, the European Parliament, and the Romanian Ministry of Defence. She holds a PhD in International Security and has held fellowships with the US State Department and CEPA. 

Sir Hew Strachan, CVO, FBA, FRSE, has been Wardlaw Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews since 2015. 

He is a Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where he was Chichele Professor of the History of War 2002-15. 

His books include The First World War and The Direction of War.   

Air Marshal Johnny Stringer is the Deputy Commander NATO Allied Air Command, serving at Ramstein Airbase, Germany and overseeing NATO Air and Space Power in defence of the Alliance’s 32 nations. A graduate of New College Oxford and Kings College London, he also attended the Royal College of Defence Studies and the UK Higher Command and Staff Course.

Johnny completed initial officer training in 1991 and flew Jaguar and Typhoon fast jets with the RAF, commanded UK air assets in the Middle East and has served in the Ministry of Defence, Permanent Joint HQ, UK Strategic Command and RAF Air Command. 

Richard Wylde served as a diplomat for the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office for a little under 30 years, with postings to Asia and Europe. After retiring from diplomatic service, he became a Director for the risk consultancy, Control Risks, where he was responsible for relations with UK government departments and UK defence firms for 12 years.

He is a well-established Honorary visitor, having been coming to Exeter University for many years.