We address statecraft, strategy, and the impect of technology, alongside the changing character of war.

Our research themes have been strongly influenced by confrontations, coercive state actions, the emergence of new technologies, and the armed conflicts that continue to shape events in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and Africa. The seminar series reflects the thematic aspects of the Centre’s interests in state power, coercion and counter-coercion, and armed conflict, from pseudo-state actors like Islamic State to nuclear armed aggressors like Russia, from automated technologies to hybrid warfare, and from the tactical experience of war and the fortunes of conflict resolution.

Central to our research method is an international and interdisciplinary approach which employs the differing perspectives and expertise of a variety of disciplines: history, political science, international relations, philosophy, law, anthropology, engineering, physics, economics, statistics, and computer science.

Current Research Activity & PRIORITIES

Over the next five years, SST-CCW will conduct research, ON the following:

I Net Assessment strategic evaluations, methods, and development.

II Applied Understanding of Change in Statecraft, Technology, and Conflict through support to specialists in the UK, US, Australia, Japan, and NATO defence in workshops and conferences (including applied new technological developments, cross-domain and future operations, state threats, and strategic leadership).This includes AUKUS and GCAP developments and evolution, with the US, UK, and Australian governments, as well as the rapid evolution of combat capabilities in Ukraine.

III Strategic Education for scholars, professionals, and senior officers of the UK Defence Academy, US War Colleges, NATO Centres of Excellence, and NATO Defence College, across diverse themes, from strategic decision making to tactical autonomous systems, exploring the full range of DIME options.This includes: Courses on Net Assessment, Strategic Leadership, and the Changing Character of War, and Staff Rides at the Grand Strategic Level, the Strategists’ Accelerator courses, and AI applications to strategic studies.

IV North Atlantic & Trans-Atlantic Defence symposia with the United States and UK governments, leading think tanks, the Ax:Son Johnson Foundation in Sweden, & the Norwegian Defence University and Staff College, Netherlands Defence Academy, UK Defence Academy, US Navy War College, US Air Force Academy, US Army War College, and the Ecoles Militaires in France.

These will be carried out through sustained research projects, weekly seminar series on Strategy, Statecraft, New Tech, and War, at All Souls College, Oxford with supporting follow on research workshops and conferences. These culminate in publications, by our core staff and research fellows, and the Annual Lecture, open to all members of the university on a subject of importance in statecraft, strategy, leadership, new tech, and armed conflict.