As Director and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study for War and Strategy, we would like to welcome you to our website.
The Institute was established by the University of St Andrews in 2016 to provide an interdisciplinary home for all members of the university with an interest in war, conflict and the making of strategy. We are a wide-ranging interdisciplinary Institute with members from International Relations, History, Computer Science, Physics, Philosophy, Classics, Geography, Management Studies and other university schools. Our members have research specialisms covering all time periods and parts of the globe.
Since its creation the Institute has become a thriving research hub, running a fortnightly seminar series, hosting visiting scholars and running a taught masters degree (the M.Litt in Strategic Studies). We have run a number of major conferences including: Strategy and its Making in Early Modern Europe (2016); The Present and Future of Air Power (2018); The British Home Front 1914-1918 (2018); and Afghanistan: Lessons Learned (2019). We have also brought academics, practitioners, representatives of government, industry and NGOs to the university to discuss their research and experiences. Our speakers have so far included General David Petraeus, Peter Watkins, Sir Michael Fallon, General Sir Nick Carter, Professor David Reynolds and Professor Andrew Lambert.
We also have ambitious plans for the future. A group of us are putting together a ‘Strategy Project’ to study how ideas of strategy have developed in both the management/business sphere and the world of the state and militaries. We are also starting a new effort to examine crisis simulations and war gaming. Anyone interested in these areas and who wants to know more, please do get in touch.
Phillips O’Brien
Guy Rowlands