Biography
Dr Alex Neads is a Jean Monnet Fellow in the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Florence, and Assistant Professor of International Security in the Durham Global Security Institute (DGSi), within the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University in the UK. His research explores the construction and diffusion of military power and its implications for international security and conflict. He is particularly interested in the decisions states make about how to raise armies, and the ways in which these ideas and practices diffuse internationally, together with the social, political, and military implications of such choices.
His current research examines the politics of Security Force Assistance and associated international military training programmes in West Africa, with a particular focus on the implications of intensifying geopolitical competition on the conduct and outcomes of assistance activities. The project is funded by the British Academy in association with Durham University.
Alex has previously held posts at the University of Bath and at Cranfield University, where he was based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. His work has been published in Security Studies, the European Journal of International Security, Democratization, and the Journal of Strategic Studies, as well as by Oxford University Press, Routledge, and Lynne Rienner. He has conducted research in conjunction with the Australian Army Research Centre and the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research.
He holds a PhD in Strategy & Security from the University of Exeter, an MPhil in Modern British and European History from the University of Oxford, and a BA (Hons) in History from Royal Holloway, University of London.