BUCSIS Research Programme
BUCSIS has a vibrant programme of active research currently being undertaken in a range of topics related to UK, European and Global Security and Intelligence. We offer research degrees both at Master’s level and PhD level. Our research programme is headed by Professor Julian Richards and Dr. Melina Dobson.
We are always looking for interesting new research proposals, and prospective candidates are welcome to approach Professor Richards with ideas in the first instance, by emailing julian.richards@buckingham.ac.uk.
More information on studying for a PhD in the Department of Economics and International Studies.
PhD Candidates
- Frederic Bonfanti is researching the societal effects of cyber surveillance strategy.
- Alexander Butterworth is exploring the contemporary strategic implications of Grand Strategy in ancient Rome.
- Alexandra Fairbairn is evaluating the UK’s foreign policy approach to Russia through a narrative analysis of the Russian leader’s speeches.
- Manel Hamdi is researching the challenge of female jihadists in Tunisia.
- Bryony Norburn is working on intelligence history and Bletchley Park, researching the role that women played at Bletchley Park during the Second World War
- Diva Patang Wardak is conducting an evaluation of Afghanistan’s contemporary intelligence infrastructure
- Andreja Bogdanovski is examining the reasons behind states’ involvement in the process of securing ecclesiastical independence in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with special reference to the churches in North Macedonia, Montenegro and Ukraine
- Fidel Abowei is re-evaluating the concept of soft power from an African perspective
- Muhammad Usman Abdullahi is examining questions of the governance of humanitarian crises, with particular reference to IDPs in Nigeria
- Mary Showstark is exploring the diversionary effect of healthcare training for individuals that might be drawn into insurgent groups
- Eleonora Winger is looking at radicalisation from a forensic linguistics perspective
- Karabo Segondi is examining the potential threat from travelling female jihadists
- Kenechukwu Osanakpo is evaluating the effectiveness of Nigerian counter-terrorism strategy
- Evelyn Lumish is looking at media narratives concerning terrorism in the United States
- Moataz El-Shafie is assessing the nature and dynamics of modern proxy wars in the Middle East
MPhil Candidates
- Gary Buck is exploring questions of cognitive bias in intelligence decision-making, with reference to historical military cases studies
Successful graduates
2012
- Megan Munroe (PhD): A morphological analysis of sporting mega-even security policy
- Randy Wilson (PhD): Police intelligence in a counter-insurgency.
2014
- Twana Bawa (PhD): The privatisation of security in the Kurdish region of Iraq
2016
- Eugene Eji (PhD): Terrorism in Nigeria: Threats, responses and strategy
- Tony Percy (PhD): Liberal Democracy under Stress: the Oxford Mind and the Threat of Totalitarianism
- Edmar Salem (PhD): Female Suicide Bombers: a Comparative Study of Public Attitudes within the Conflicts of Iraq, Israel/Palestine, and Sri Lanka
- Giles Wollenmann (PhD): Liberal Intolerance: Applying Borum’s phase model to help identify an in-group’s susceptibility towards ideological development
- Mohamed Salem (PhD): Iran and Threat Perception in the Arabian Gulf: A Case Study of the UAE
2019
- Olamide Samuel (PhD): Analysis of national security culture in Nigeria
2020
- Andreas Banoutsos (PhD): Greece: Unscathed by Jihadism
- Richard Hallows (PhD): Securitisation and the Role of the State in Delivering UK Cyber Security
- Awwal Isa (PhD): Engaging Academia to Improve Professionalism in Nigeria’s Intelligence Community
- Muhammad Tahir Mahmood (PhD): The Role of the Judicial System and Law Enforcement Agencies in Combating Terrorism in Pakistan