Army – Senior Lecturer, Defence and International Affairs

Defence and International Affairs Department (DIA) delivers broad-based courses covering international security and international humanitarian law to all British Army officers during their initial officer training and later as part of the first stage of their on-going professional development.

The purpose of all courses is to provide professional knowledge as well as insights into the security and legal challenges faced by the UK and its partners, into the factors that sit behind conflict, into the elements that can add complexity to or accelerate conflict, into the political and legal framework in which the UK operates and into the variety and suitability of different national and international responses. Additionally, DIA has responsibility for delivering part of the International Humanitarian Law package to all courses. Consequently, against the operational and strategic context in which officers find themselves, DIA courses help to develop student’s bedrock of analytical, conceptual and research skills that in turn encourage effective, well-judged and evidence-based decision making/leadership.

The successful candidate will teach courses that expose students to different perspectives of the international system, power symmetries, human security, conflict analysis, security threats and responses, aspects of international law, foreign and defence policy, and area studies. Generally, courses are taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels as part of the university-accredited Army Higher Education Pathway (AHEP). The majority of courses are taught at Sandhurst, but all staff are expected to occasionally deliver courses at MoD locations around the UK and abroad.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate that they are capable of teaching to postgraduate standards as well as being comfortable with most of the subject matter. Candidates must have been awarded at least a masters’ postgraduate qualification and between their undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications at least one must be in a relevant discipline such as politics and international relations, security studies, conflict studies, international ethics, international humanitarian law, intelligence studies or area studies. For this post (00043098) an emphasis is placed on expertise in international humanitarian law. The expectation is that candidates are close to finishing a PhD, if not already completed. If the successful candidate does not already possess a HE teaching qualification, they will be helped to gain one after appointment.

In meeting professional expectations as a Senior Lecturer, as well as being able to support the conceptual needs of the wider Army, candidates should be able to demonstrate that they are and will remain research active in the areas of leadership, security and warfare. There is considerable latitude in the direction and nature of research and in recent years the department has been strengthened by its diverse mix of research interests that span across such areas as foreign policy analysis, international humanitarian law, health security, area studies, counter terrorism, power, transnational crime and human security. A mix we seek to extend and deepen.

We welcome applications from under-represented groups in academia.

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