People
The Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC) is staffed by experts from the Departments of Politics, the School of Law, Surrey Business School, and the School of Economics. We host a network of experts from around the world, providing regional insight into the dynamics of global power competition and lending CGPC a truly global perspective.
Meet the team
Directors
Dr Nicholas Kitchen
Senior Lecturer in International Relations; Director, Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC)
Biography
I joined Surrey in 2018 from the London School of Economics, where I had been Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the United States Centre, Executive Director of the LSE Diplomacy Commission, and Head of Analysis at LSE IDEAS.
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS, and Treasurer and Acting Convenor of the US Foreign Policy Working Group of the British International Studies Association.
Dr Joshua Andresen
Associate Professor of National Security and Foreign Relations Law
Biography
Joshua (JD, Yale; PhD, Northwestern) is an international lawyer working in national security and human rights law. His areas of expertise range from the law of armed conflict and international human rights law to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, including sanctions compliance and the regulation of cryptocurrencies and exchanges. Joshua’s recent writing has focused on legal questions that arise in modern conflict and counterterrorism operations due to power asymmetries, the geography of the battlespace, and technological developments, with influential pieces appearing in the Yale Journal of International Law, the Harvard National Security Journal, and an anthology by Oxford University Press. Given the practical focus of his work, Joshua has been called upon to advise states, provide expert opinions for international tribunals, and contribute to the work of UN Special Rapporteurs.
Experts
Dr Mikolaj Barczentewicz
Associate Professor in Law
Biography
Mikołaj Barczentewicz joined the School of Law in 2017. His research spans technology law and policy, applications of technology in legal practice and research, UK and EU public law, and legal philosophy. Mikołaj approaches those topics combining traditional methods of law and philosophy with computational methods, building on his experience as a professional computer programmer.
Mikołaj is also a Research Associate of the University of Oxford Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, a Research Associate of the University of Oxford Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government, and a Fellow of the Stanford Law School and University of Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum.
Before joining Surrey, Mikołaj taught law at the University of Oxford. He was also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Melbourne. Mikołaj is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Mikołaj published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Modern Law Review, Law Quarterly Review, Public Law, Connecticut Law Review and in other journals and edited collections (for details see his personal website).
Professor Bonnie Buchanan
Director of Sustainable and Explainable FinTech (SAEF) Center, Immediate Past Head of Department of Finance and Accounting and Professor of Finance
Biography
Professor Bonnie Buchanan is the Director of the Sustainable and Explainable FinTech (SAEF) Center at the Surrey Business School (SBS) and a Professor of Finance. She is the Immediate Past Head of the Department of Finance and Accounting at SBS (2019 - 2023). Professor Buchanan is also a fellow of the University's Center of Sustainability, the Center for AI and the Centre of Digital Economy (CoDE).
In 2018-2019, Professor Buchanan served as the USA Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair of Business and Economics at the Hanken School of Economics, Finland. Prior to this, Professor Buchanan worked at Seattle University where she was the Howard Bosanko Professor in International Finance and Economics and the George Albers Professor. She also served as the MSF program director and MBA program director at Seattle University.
Professor Buchanan has published in leading international journals including the Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Business Ethics, American Business Law Journal, Journal of International Financial Markets and Institutions, International Review of Financial Analysis, Oxford Review of Economic Policy and European Journal of Finance. Her research on shareholder proposals has been recognized with the Hoeber Memorial Award for Outstanding Article in American Business Law Journal and her work has been cited in the Financial Times. She has research expertise in FinTech, AI in financial services, securitization, CSR and law and finance. Professor Buchanan has also taught in Australia, Russia and Finland. She was the Editor in Chief of Journal of Risk Finance between 2013-2021.
Professor Buchanan also appears in the media on FinTech, big data and AI issues.
Professor Juan Carluccio
Professor in International Trade
Biography
Juan joined Surrey Business School in 2013. He holds a PhD in Economics from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Paris School of Economics, an Msc Economics from the LSE and a Bachelor in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires. From 2010 he works as researcher in the Bank of France, and his previous working experience includes the Ministry of Finance of Argentina, the WTO and the headquarters of Nestle SA. Juan has previously taught at Sorbonne University and Paris School of Economics and held postdoc positions at College de France and the CEP at LSE.
Dr Laura Chappell
Senior Lecturer in European Politics
Biography
Dr Laura Chappell is Senior Lecturer in European Politics. She holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and an MA in European Studies also from the University of Birmingham. She is the author of Germany, Poland and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Converging Security and Defence Perspectives in an Enlarged EU (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and has published widely on different aspects of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, Polish and German defence policies as well as gender and European security. She is also co-editor of European Security.
Dr Simon Curtis
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Biography
Simon joined the University of Surrey in 2023. He had previously been an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of East Anglia, and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics.
His books include Global Cities and Global Order (Oxford University Press), which was awarded the 2018 Hedley Bull Prize by the European Consortium for Political Research, and the forthcoming The Belt and Road City (Yale University Press, 2024).
Dr Mona Chitnis
Associate Professor (Reader) in Energy Economics
Biography
Mona is Associate Professor (Reader) in Energy Economics and Director of Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC) at the School of Economics, University of Surrey where she joined in 2014. She is a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability. She was a Lecturer in Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen in 2013-2014. Mona was a Research Fellow in the multidisciplinary Sustainable Lifestyle Research Group (SLRG) and Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE) at the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES), University of Surrey in 2006-2013. Before joining CES, she worked for ten years in the Macroeconomics Department of Management and Planning Organisation (Government) in Tehran as an Expert in Economics and State Planning, and lectured at Alzahra University in Tehran. Mona has BSc, MSc and PhD (2005) all in Economics from the University of Tehran.
Dr Mikolaj Firlej
Lecturer in AI Law and Regulation
Biography
I'm Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the AI Institute at the University of Surrey, where I strive to establish a leading research portfolio in the field of Human-AI Interaction. The goal of my research is to provide a deeper understanding about the role of human factors in the increasingly algorithmic decision making across various sectors. Specifically, I focus on the operationalisation of the emerging legal principle of meaningful human control over the use of autonomous systems. At the University of Surrey, I draw from the cross-disciplinary studies of more technically oriented scholars, lawyers, and moral philosophers affiliated at the Institute and beyond. As a person with a strong commitment to public service, I am particularly interested in supporting the Institute to become a leading hub for external partnerships and policy engagement.
Previously, at Oxford, I helped to establish the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs at the Department for Politics and International Relations, where I coordinated development activities and supported the AI research Programme as a Research Affiliate.
I hold a doctorate from the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford awarded for a thesis on the emerging regulatory standards over the use of AI-augmented and autonomous weapon systems in the US Air Force. I also graduated from the MPP at the Oxford School of Government and did my graduate and undergraduate studies in socio-legal studies and philosophy at Oxford and the Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities, University of Warsaw. Outside of my work, I enjoy time with my family, read great novels, study geopolitics, try to play the trumpet, and pursue sport activities.
Dr Eric Golson
Deputy Head of School, Undergraduate Programme Director, Associate Professor of Economics
Biography
His current research interests include international trade warfare, business decision making during war, effectiveness of economic sanctions, military spending, and resource management in the context of war. An active member of two research clusters at Surrey: Centre for International Macroeconomic Studies (CIMS) within the School of Economics and the Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC) within the Politics faculty, Eric was previously a Research Fellow at Oxford University from 2011-2016.
Eric holds a PhD and PGCHE from the London School of Economics. He earned his BA and MA degrees from the University of Chicago. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Historical Society for his work in Economic History.
Professor Amelia Hadfield
Dean International, Head of Department of Politics, Founding Director of Centre for Britain and Europe (CBE)
Biography
Amelia joined the University of Surrey in January 2019 as Head of the Department of Politics, and Chair in European and International Affairs. Previously she worked as Director of the Centre for European Studies (CEFEUS), a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at Canterbury Christ Church Uni (2013-2018), after positions in Brussels at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and the Institute for European Studies, where she directed the Euromaster degree, as well as the Educational Development (EDU). Amelia is a long-standing Jean Monnet Chair in European Foreign Affairs, allowing her to successfully obtain Erasmus+ funding for the University of Surrey’s Centre for Britain and Europe (based in the Department of Politics), establishing it in 2020 as a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. Amelia’s researching, teaching, consulting & postgrad supervising covers a wide range of areas on EU foreign and security policy, as well as new forms of EU-UK relations. These include Common Foreign and Security Policy, Common Security and Defence Policy, EU-US and EU-Canada relations, EU-Russia relations, EU Neighbourhood Policy, EU Development policy (with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa), as well as Arctic & northern governance issues. Additional areas of interest include foreign policy analysis, international and diplomatic history, the role of sovereignty in political history, International Relations theory, international political economy, public policy analysis, the Commonwealth and EU education policy. Amelia is regularly called upon as a guest speaker, external supervisor, research partner, consultant and media pundit on areas of EU foreign affairs, and of late, EU-UK relations. In January 2021, Amelia was appointed Dean International of the University of Surrey, leading the International Engagement Office in supporting the strategic goals of the university on partnership with other universities and networks world-wide, enhanced cutting-edge research cooperation, as well as staff/student mobility.
Dr Malte Kaeding
Senior Lecturer in International Politics
Biography
Malte Philipp Kaeding is Senior Lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Politics. Previously he lectured at the University of Heidelberg and Hong Kong Baptist University.
He is the co-founder and co-convenor of the Hong Kong Studies Association and an Associate Fellow of the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan, University of Tübingen. Malte is also the director and co-producer of a documentary film on Hong Kong.
Professor Rosalind Malcolm
Professor of Law, Director of Environmental Regulatory Research Group (ERRG)
Biography
I am an environmental lawyer and I specialise in looking at the ways law can be used to protect the environment. Recently I have been working on the 'wicked problem' of the polluting waste from plastics and how a circular economy might help to stop the problem of waste. So I look at laws around the ecodesign of products and how they can be implemented to stop the production of waste and pollution. I look at the whole governance frameworks for environmental law including not just the legislation but policy, implementation, enforcement and compliance as well as the impact of property rights. I have been working on the rights to water and sanitation and how they can be used to ensure a decent standard of living for people especially in developing countries. I believe that we will not solve the problem of the degradation of the earth unless we work across disciplines seeking solutions together so I specialise in multidisciplinary research working with social and natural scientists and engineers.
I am the Director of the Environmental Regulatory Research Group (http://www.surrey.ac.uk/errg/) which is a research grouping of individuals and organisations engaged in research, teaching and consultancy into environmental regulation, compliance and enforcement and is part of the Surrey Centre for International and Environmental Law.
I am an associate member of the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey and I also practice as a barrister from Guildford Chambers.
Dr Carole Nakhle
Associate Lecturer in Energy Economics
Biography
Dr Carole Nakhle is the founder and CEO of Crystol Energy.
An Energy Economist, she specialises in international petroleum contractual arrangements and fiscal regimes; upstream oil and gas regulations; petroleum revenue management and governance; energy policy, security and investment; and world oil and gas market developments.
With a unique breadth of experience, Dr Nakhle has worked with oil and gas companies (NOCs and IOCs) at the highest levels, governments and policy makers, international organisations, academic institutions and specialised think tanks on a global scale.
She is active on the Governing Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute and Advisory Board of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. She is a program advisor to the Washington based International Tax and Investment Centre, and regular contributor to Geopolitical Intelligence Services and the Executive Sessions on the Political Economy of Extractive Industries at Columbia University in New York. She is a non-Resident Scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Centre and a Fellow at the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies. She is also involved in the OECD Policy Dialogue on Natural Resource-based Development and lectures at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, University of Surrey in the UK, and Saint Joseph University in Beirut.
With numerous publications to her credit, Dr Nakhle is also an avid commentator on energy in the international media, including Al Arabiyya, the BBC, CNBC, CNN, and France 24, among others.
Dr Nakhle is the author of two widely acclaimed books: Petroleum Taxation: Sharing the Wealth published in 2008, re-printed in 2012, and used as primary reference in leading universities and industry training courses; and Out of the Energy Labyrinth (2007), co-authored with Lord David Howell, former Secretary of State for Energy in the UK. She is the Executive Editor and Author of Newsweek’s special edition ‘New Technological Frontiers in the Oil and Gas Industry’ and the first Guest Blogger for Aspentech.
She has worked on energy projects in more than 45 countries and has been on exploratory visits to the Arctic and North Sea.
Dr Nakhle founded the not-for-profit organisation ‘Access for Women in Energy’ in 2007, with the aim of supporting the development of women in the energy sector, globally. She has also supported the development of similar initiatives in Ghana, Tunisia and the UAE, where she sits on ADIPEC’s Advisory Board for Inclusion and Diversity.
In 2017, Dr Nakhle gave evidence to the UK Parliament International Relations Committee on oil markets and the transformation of power in the Middle East and implications for the UK policy. In the same year, she received the Honorary Professional Recognition Award from the Tunisian Minister of Energy, Mines & Renewable Energy.
Dr Noreen O'Meara
Associate Professor (Reader), Human Rights, European and Environmental Law. Co-director: Surrey Centre for International and Environmental Law (SCIEL).
Biography
Noreen O'Meara is an Associate Professor (Reader) of Human Rights, European and Environmental Law. She read Law at the University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi College) and UCL (LLM (Public Law) and did her PhD at Queen Mary, University of London. She has also completed non-degree studies at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Université Paris-1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and RADA. She previously worked as a research fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and in practice at the European Commission's Legal Service and the Court of Justice of the European Union (cabinet, Advocate General Sharpston). Her work focused on infringement actions against Member States and cases in a broad range of areas, including data protection, taxation, extradition and environmental law.
At the University of Surrey, she has focused her research on human rights and European law, developing particular expertise on rights and the environment, environmental pollution and the evolution of human rights protection in Europe.
Noreen is Co-Director of the School of Law’s newest research centre, the Surrey Centre for International and Environmental Law (SCIEL) which launched in May 2020, and is a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability. She leads and researches on a range of projects, several of which are hosted at the Governing Plastics Network, on the law and governance of plastics pollution and extended producer responsibility - funded by UKRI/GCRF, AHRC, ESRC/IAA, EPSRC, GIZ and the Danish EPA. Further recent interdisciplinary projects were funded by UGPN (focusing on plastics pollution during Covid-19) and the British Academy (exploring strategies for tackling fake news and online misinformation in the G7). She is also PI on four British Academy projects with collaborators across the EU exploring aspects of rights of nature, trade and urban sustainability. She also leads a project funded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) addressing global plastics and trade governance in the light of the negotiations for a UN Global Plastics Treaty, in collaboration with colleagues at Surrey, Exeter and Copenhagen.
In 2018 and 2020, Noreen was a Sutherland Fellow (UCD), and previously held visiting positions at The Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL, University of Oxford), iCourts (University of Copenhagen), University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Stockholm University, a Research Affiliate at UCD Earth and an Affiliate researcher at the Exeter Centre for Environmental Law (ExCEL). In 2020 she joined the Editorial Board of the Irish Journal of European Law (IJEL).
Professor Tazeeb Rajwani
Professor of International Business and Strategy
Biography
Tazeeb Rajwani is a Chaired Professor in International Business and Strategy and Former Head of the Department of Strategy and International Business at Surrey Business School (2019-2024). He is also Visiting Professor at University of Michigan-Flint, Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management and Fellow at University of Edinburgh. He was previously Professor of International Business and Strategy, Director of Executive Education, Director of Postgraduate Programmes, member of the Senior Management team and member of the Advisory Board at University of Essex. Prior to joining Essex, he was an Associate Professor (Reader) in Strategic Management, Director of Executive MBA and Director of Creating Strategic Advantage (CSA) Executive Programme at Cranfield School of Management. He has held visiting faculty positions at London Business School, Kings College London, University of Warwick, University of Oxford, University of Notre Dame, University of Peking, Strathmore University, ESMT, Queens University, University of Anáhuac, Royal Holloway (University of London), ALBA, Hult International Business School, American University of Beirut, Swiss Hotel Management School and University of Nottingham. He has been a Director of Strategy at a high-tech start-up. Prior to these roles he held a management position at KPMG Corporate Finance, where he was an Innovation Champion and member of the Thought Leadership group at KPMG. His unique role at KPMG also included managing large complex projects globally with a particular focus on Corporate Finance.
An awarding winning researcher and leading global authority on geopolitics, he has written over 60 academic papers, 2 books, 5 book chapters, several reports and white papers on topics of strategic management, political risk, nonmarket strategy, corporate political activity, corporate social responsibility and business model innovation. His work appears in Organization Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Perspectives, Global Strategy Journal, Strategic Organization, Long Range Planning, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Groups & Organizations Management, British Journal of Management, International Business Review, Management International Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Business Research, Organizational Dynamics, Business Horizons, and European Management Journal. His research has been reported in prominent media outlets, including the The Times, BBC, Financial Times, Irish Times, Forbes, Al Jazeera, and more. He has published a highly acclaimed book contracted by Oxford University Press on 'Aligning for Advantage: Competitive Strategies for the Political and Social Arenas' and a 'Routledge Companion to Non-Market Strategy'. He is the Associate Editor at Journal of International Management (ABS 3*), Co-Editor-in-Chief at Multinational Business Review (ABS 2*), editorial board member of Journal of Management Studies (ABS 4*), Journal of World Business (ABS 4*), British Journal of Management (ABS 4*), Long Range Planning (ABS 3*), International Business Review (ABS 3*), Journal of Business Research (2021-2023) and reviews regularly for Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science, Journal of World Business, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Organization, Business and Society, Journal of International Management, Long Range Planning, British Journal of Management, and other leading world class journals. He has also been involved in a £1.2M ESRC grant focused on AI and economic growth. His work also has some policy implications.
As a recipient of various teaching awards from highly respected universities, he has gained a broad range of executive teaching experience, e.g. IT, energy, casinos, consumer goods, insurance, automotives, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, banking, hospitality and several government bodies. He has taught and facilitated many discussions with executives from major organisations such as Oracle, KPMG, PwC, IBM, BNP Paribas, EDF Energy, Royal Sun Alliance, Philips, Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum, HSBC, Coca Cola, Henkel, Jaguar Land Rover, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), EY, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), HP, Gulf bank, Co-operative Retail Bank, Telekom Malaysia, South African Airways, Adani Group, Ministry of Defence (MOD), Central Bank of Nigeria, Avon and Somerset Probation Trust, Actavis, Groupe Aeroplan, Stanbic Bank, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Rank Group, United Nations (UN), Quadrangle, Cisco Systems, Oxford Nanopore Technologies and others. He has facilitated senior management and board level workshops and runs executive programs on corporate strategy, strategic leadership and international business in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America.
He has previously studied at the University of Surrey, University of Nottingham, University of Cambridge (Visiting PhD scholar) and has a PhD from Imperial College London. He is also an active member of Strategic Management Society, Academy of International Business and Academy of Management. He is Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), Member of World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network, Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) where he was also board member for their Learning strategy task group (2011-2015). When not knee deep in research papers, he enjoys running, watching football and a good cup of coffee. In all of the above, his passion is way ahead of his talents.
Dr Arman Sarvarian
Reader in Public International Law, Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability
Biography
Dr Sarvarian is a public international law generalist of broad interests and expertise. Appointed Lecturer in 2012, he was promoted Senior Lecturer in 2016 and Reader in 2020. His scholarship has been published in leading journals, including the European Journal of International Law, The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals and the International & Comparative Law Quarterly. He has served as legal adviser to the UN Mission of the Republic of Armenia and delegate of Armenia to the Legal Committee of the General Assembly (2019, 2022-Present), the International Criminal Court Assembly of States Parties (2023), the Rules and Regulations Amendment Process of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (2019-2021) and Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (2021-Present). In those capacities, he has worked on a wide range of projects, such as the annual reports of the International Law Commission and International Court of Jusitce, the 2001 Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, the 2019 Articles on Crimes against Humanity, the 2022 ICSID Arbitration Rules and the 2023 ICSID/UNCITRAL Code of Conduct for Arbitrators. He also served as judge ad hoc at the European Court of Human Rights on a Grand Chamber case in 2020.
His monograph Professional Ethics at the International Bar (Oxford University Press, International Courts and Tribunals Series, 19 September 2013) is the first comprehensive work on the subject and has been widely cited, including in proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, investment arbitrations and the International Court of Justice. He was also lead editor of an edited volume (Procedural Fairness in International Courts and Tribunals) published by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in November 2015. His second monograph entitled 'The Law of State Succession: Principles and Practice' is due to be published by Oxford University Press in 2024.
He served as Co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association Committee on the Procedure of International Courts and Tribunals from 2016 to 2020, which resulted in a Final Report and Resolution containing proposals for reform to the rules of procedure and working practices of the International Court of Justice, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Permanent Court of Arbitration and WTO Dispute Settlement System. Proposals for procedural reform made by the Committee have begun to be adopted by those institutions. He was a member of the International Bar Association Task Force on Counsel Ethics in International Arbitration throughout the drafting of the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration 2013, which inspired the London Court of International Arbitration to enact the first binding ethical rules for counsel in international commercial arbitration in 2014. His written evidence has been cited in reports on intervention by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and on succession to membership of the European Union by the Scottish Parliament European Union and External Relations Committee.
Dr Kirill Shakhnov
Senior Lecturer in Economics
Biography
Kirill Shakhnov is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Surrey. He was previously a Foscolo Europe Fellow at EIEF.
Kirill completed his Ph.D. in economics at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy).
Panos Vasileiadis
Postgraduate Research Student
Research project: Grand strategic responses to relative decline: a neoclassical realist theory
How do great powers behave when their power is in decline? Do they burst forth in defence of what they may lose or do they opt for prudence by reducing external commitments? Existing theories of strategic adjustment provide a number of static models, split into these predicting policy continuity and to those expecting actors to re-structure their commitments so as to survive in a competitive state “market”. Still, what neither approach captures is that past declining powers have selected both 'options'. In response, a neoclassical realist theory of strategic adjustment is developed, proposing an interactive and longitudinal model so as to capture historical 'messiness'.
Professor Alan Woodward
Biography
Professor Alan Woodward is an internationally renowned computer security expert with particular expertise and current research interests in cyber security, covert communications, forensic computing and image/signal processing.
Alan began his academic career as a physicist. However, he developed an interest in computing early on through signal processing for gamma ray burst detectors, and so switched to engineering after being an undergraduate at the Department of Physics & Astronomy. His post graduate research at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), University of Southampton, was in adaptive filtering, and novel methods of recovering corrupted signals. Alan also worked on novel methods of noise cancellation, both passive and active.
After leaving the ISVR Alan worked for the UK government for many years. He continues to provide advice to governmental organisations such as Europol through the European Centre for Cyber Crime (EC3), as well as private sector organisations as an independent consultant.
Alan has been involved in some of the most significant advances in computer technology which have seen him elected as a Fellow of British Computer Society, Institute of Physics and the Royal Statistical Society. He is also a Chartered Engineer, Chartered IT Practitioner, and a Chartered Physicist.
In addition to his academic and government work, Alan has filled senior management roles in businesses focussed on various aspects of Information Technology (IT). In 2000 Alan was pivotal in the flotation of Charteris plc on the London Stock Exchange. He remained a director until 2008 at which point he began to focus back on his academic interests. Alan continues to be a director of businesses involved in IT.
Although Alan has been at the leading edge of technology development for many years, he is primarily a particularly good communicator. He is known for his ability to communicate complex ideas in a simple, yet passionate manner. He spends an increasing amount of his time on public engagement in STEM. Alan not only publishes in the academic and trade journals but has articles in the national press and comments on TV and radio.
Just a sample of the stories Professor Woodward has contributed to includes:
High-tech Cold War between China and the West can only end in conflict – The Times
Email Error ‘like handing over your keys’ – BBC
Security firm hijacks high-profile Twitter accounts – BBC
British Airways breach: How did hackers get in? – BBC
Hackers ‘targeting US mid-term elections’ – BBC
Decade-old flaw in Twitter allows hackers to spread ISIS propaganda using old accounts – The Telegraph
If you say your device is ‘unhackable’, you’re just asking for it – The Register
Is your computer slower than normal? – The Daily Mail
Professor Maurizio Zanardi
Head of School of Economics, Professor in Economics
Biography
I am a Professor of Economics and Head of the School of Economics at the University of Surrey. Before joining the University of Surrey (in January 2021), I held appointments at Lancaster University, Université libre de Bruxelles, Tilburg University, and the University of Glasgow. I am also a Co-Director of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG). I received a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston College and a B.A. in Economics from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy).