Dr Melina Dobson is a Lecturer at the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at The University of Buckingham. Dr Dobson holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies and an MA in International Security from the University of Warwick. She also holds an LLB (Hons) Law with German Law from the University of Surrey. Since April 2019, Dr Dobson has also commenced on a highly competitive Early Career Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick. Her doctoral thesis, ‘Unauthorised Disclosures: US National Security Whistleblowers and Leakers, 1970-2017’ maps selected cases of public disclosures pertaining to national security. She focused on exploring the potential impact that unauthorised disclosures can have by tracing the stories of whistleblowers and leakers. Her research interests include the new challenges to intelligence accountability and oversight in a technologically driven modern world. Dr Dobson has teaching experience in security and intelligence at both undergraduate and postgraduate level for a number of years. She has been teaching in higher education since 2014.
Publications
Aldrich, Richard J. and Melina J. Dobson, ‘The Convergence of Spies, Scholars and Science’, Liam Francis Gearon (ed.), Routledge International Handbook of Universities, Security and Intelligence Studies (London: Routledge, forthcoming 2019).
Dobson, Melina (2020) Operation Rubicon: Germany as an intelligence ‘Great Power’? Intelligence and National Security, 35 (5). pp. 608-622. ISSN 1743-9019
Dobson, Melina J., ‘The Last Forum of Accountability? State Secrecy, Intelligence and Freedom of Information in the United Kingdom’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 21: 2 (2019), pp. 312-329. Impact Factor: 1.543 | 2017 Ranking: 64/169 in Political Science | 31/85 in International Relations
Cybersecurity: A Guide for the Global South (Contributor)
Cyber Security Policy Centre in collaboration with the Warwick Cyber Security GRP 2018, Supported by the Warwick Impact Fund
Conference Papers (selected)
| March 2020 | International Studies Association, Annual Convention – Honolulu, USA Papers: ‘Against the Grain: The Ethical Implications of Unauthorised Disclosures’ and ‘Roots meet underground: Hawaii, SIGINT and Snowden.’ |
| May 2019 | International Intelligence Historian Association – Berlin, Germany Paper: ‘Comparing US Whistleblowers.’ |
| June 2018 | International Intelligence Historian Association – Graz, Austria Paper: ‘Whistleblowers in the Intelligence Community.’ |
| April 2018 | International Studies Association, Annual Convention – San Francisco, USA Paper: ‘Waste, Fraud, Abuse: Creating an Improved Whistleblower Track in the Intelligence Community’ (Intelligence Studies Panel). |
| May 2016 | Criminal Investigations Symposium (with Warwick, Law School) – Bologna, Italy Paper: ‘The Right to be Forgotten: Privacy and Secrecy in an Age of Sharing.’ |
| June 2015 | Science, Security and the Future of Freedom, Warwick Intelligence Futures Event, Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) – Warwick, UK Paper: ’Intelligence Oversight and Official Secrecy’ (with Dr. Christopher Moran). |
| May 2015 | The Common Good: Ethics and Rights in Cyber Security [ERCS] – Wilberforce Institute, Hull, UK Paper: ‘Behind Closed Doors: Snowden, Accountability and Oversight.’ |
| February 2015 | International Studies Association, Annual Convention – New Orleans, US Paper: ‘Edward Snowden and the Impact of Whistleblowing on International Security in the Information Age’ (International Political Sociology and International Communication Panel). |
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