Dr sean Andrews

sean.andrews@politics.ox.ac.uk

Dr Sean Andrews, Adjunct Fellow, is a retired naval Captain with extensive operational and command experience. His research adopts an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate the character and strategic utility of naval power and to examine the global operating system, which he argues is fundamentally a ‘sea-based phenomenon’.

Colossal, alluring, powerful, and unpredictable, the oceans shape geopolitics even when absent from political discourse. After a four-decade hiatus, maritime competition has re-emerged, placing the sea back at centre stage. This reality directs research toward global competition, alliances and agreements such as AUKUS, and the evolving dynamics between allies, partners, and revisionist powers.

Dr Andrews is currently the Five Eyes Fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. He has previously served as Senior Maritime Fellow at the National Security College, Australian National University, Visiting Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre (2023, 2025), and Associate Member of King’s College London. Earlier, he was Director of the Sea Power Centre – Australia and founder of the Indo-Pacific’s Six Nation Maritime Working Group. Commissioned in 1990, he is a Principal Warfare Officer and Under Sea Warfare specialist with extensive service in destroyers, frigates, and patrol boats, alongside a wide range of operational and joint appointments. In recognition of his leadership as Commander of the Australian Headquarters in the Middle East, he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2024.

He regularly writes and presents internationally on policy, strategy, and the economic dimensions of maritime affairs. His publications include Naval Constabulary Operations and Fisheries Governance (2024) and the forthcoming Under the Meridian’s Gaze: The Utility of Power, the Principle of Strategy, and the Purpose of War in the Maritime Domain (2026).