People
The Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC) is staffed by experts from the Departments of Politics, the School of Law, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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
Executive Directors
Dr Nicholas Kitchen
Associate Professor in International Relations; Executive Director, Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC)
Biography
I joined ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ in 2018 from the London School of Economics, where I had been Assistant Professorial Research Fellow and Head of Analysis at LSE IDEAS. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing Fellow at LSE IDEAS, and Treasurer 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 , , , and . Mikołaj approaches those topics combining traditional methods of law and philosophy with , building on his experience as a professional computer programmer.
Mikołaj is also a Research Associate of the University of Oxford .
Before joining ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½, MikoÅ‚aj taught law at the University of Oxford. He was also a ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing Scholar at the University of Melbourne. MikoÅ‚aj 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 ).
Professor Bonnie Buchanan
Associate Dean (International) - FABSS; REF Lead (UoA17); 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 Associate Dean (International) in the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences.
She is also the REF Lead (UoA 17). Professor Buchanan is also the Director of the Sustainable and Explainable FinTech (SAEF) Center at the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Business School (SBS) and a Professor of Finance.
Professor Buchanan is also the Co-Editor of International Journal of Finance and Economics (an ABS 3 journal). Professor Buchanan also serves on the AI Consortium, established by the Bank of England and UK FCA.
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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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 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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Energy Economics Centre (SEEC) at the School of Economics, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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 research groups at the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES), ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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 all in Economics and from the University of Tehran.
Professor Eric Golson
Professor of Economics, Economic Warfare Expert
Biography
Eric Golson is a Professor of Economics specialising in economic warfare, trade, finance, and international political economy. He has advised governments and businesses on complex geoeconomic challenges across the world, and in 2026 has been interviewed by Al Jazeera, the Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian, Newsweek, and other leading outlets on pressing global economic warfare issues.
Eric is a co-author of McGraw-Hill's undergraduate textbook Economics, now in its 13th edition. His research spans the effects of trade blockades on stock market performance, the history of economic warfare, and the strategic behaviour of small states and neutral nations. He has co-authored four books on these themes and is co-editor of a new Bloomsbury series on Neutrality, alongside Hillary Briffa (King's College London), Pascal Lottaz (Kyoto University), and Karl-Thomas Habtom Naman (Cambridge).
His current research interests include international trade warfare, business decision-making during conflict, the effectiveness of economic sanctions, military spending, and resource management in wartime contexts. In 2026, he was appointed Co-Director of ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½'s new Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC) and remains an active member of the Centre for International Macroeconomic Studies (CIMS). He was previously a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University (2011–2016).
An award-winning educator, Eric has a strong track record in teaching and learning leadership, education policy, student experience, and long-term academic strategy. He served as Deputy Head and Undergraduate Programme Director at ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½'s School of Economics, and is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion — particularly around neurodiversity, including dyslexia, ADHD, and autism — having conducted research into learning outcomes for neurodiverse students. Over fourteen years, he has received nine teaching awards and twenty-six nominations.
Eric holds a PhD and PGCHE from the London School of Economics, and a BA and MA from the University of Chicago. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), an Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA), a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), and a Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE).
Professor Amelia Hadfield
Director, CIFAL ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½. Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainability. Associate Vice-President for External Engagement. Founding Director, Centre for Britain and Europe.
Biography
Amelia joined the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ 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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½â€™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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½, 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. From October 2023, Amelia was appointed Associate Vice-President of External Engagement, helping to deliver the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½â€™s international strategies, alongside community engagement, public affairs, and developing new partnerships at local, regional, national and international level.
In December 2024, as a result of her work with UNITAR, the UN’s research and capacity building agency, and complementing her role as Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence on Ageing (April 2023), Amelia was appointed inaugural Director of the CIFAL ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Centre, a knowledge exchange hub based within the Institute for Sustainability, dedicated to training and capacity building climate literacy, climate leadership and sustainability more broadly.
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 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 on Hong Kong.
Professor Rosalind Malcolm
Professor of Law, Co-Director of ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Centre for International and Environmental Law
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 Co-Director of the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Centre for International and Environmental Law, a research grouping of individuals and organisations engaged in research, teaching and consultancy into environmental regulation, compliance and enforcement. I also co-direct the Governing Plastics Network jointly with the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
I am a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability at the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ and I also practice as a barrister from Guildford Chambers.
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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Business School (2019-2024). He is also ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing Professor at University of Michigan, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing Professor at Cranfield School of Management, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing Professor at The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) at University of Pretoria, Fellow at University of Edinburgh and Board Member of the University of St Andrews Executive Education Advisory Group. He was previously Professor of International Business and Strategy, Head of Executive Education 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 at Cranfield School of Management. He has held visiting faculty positions at University of Oxford, London Business School, Kings College London, University of Warwick, University of Notre Dame, University of Peking, Imperial College London, ESMT, Queens University and Hult International Business School. He has been a Director of Strategy at a high-tech start-up. Prior to these roles he held a management position at , where he was an Innovation Champion and member of the Thought Leadership group at . 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 and business-government relations. He has written over 60 academic papers, 2 books, 6 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 , 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, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, and Journal of Business Research, to name a few outlets. 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 ' and a 'Routledge Companion to '. He is Editor-in-Chief at (new AOM Journal), Co-Editor-in-Chief at (ABS 3*), Associate Editor at (ABS 4), Consulting Editor at (ABS 3*), editorial board member of (ABS 4*), (ABS 4), (ABS 4), (ABS 4), (ABS 4), (ABS 3*), (2021-2025) and (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 and he has given over 200 keynotes/seminars/workshops in over 30 countries.
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 , KPMG, PwC, IBM, , EDF Energy, Royal Sun Alliance, Philips, Saudi Aramco, Qatar Petroleum, HSBC, Coca Cola, Henkel, , , 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, Aditya Birla Group (ABG), Avon and Somerset Probation Trust, Actavis, Stanbic Bank, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Rank Group, , Quadrangle, Cisco Systems, Oxford Nanopore Technologies and others. He has facilitated senior management/board level workshops and has run 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 ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½, University of Nottingham, University of Cambridge (¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ing PhD scholar) and has a PhD from . 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), Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), Member of (WEF) Expert Network and Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA). 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. He has been Reader in Public International Law since 2020 and is a barrister in England and Wales. His scholarship has been published in leading academic and practitioner journals, including the European Journal of International Law, American Journal of International Law, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals and ICSID Review. He is the author of two monographs entitled Professional Ethics at the International Bar (Oxford University Press, International Courts and Tribunals Series, 19 September 2013) and The Law of State Succession: Principles and Practice (Oxford University Press, 1 July 2025). A regular speaker on international law at academic and practitioner conferences, he has lectured in English and French on State succession and State responsibility for the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law and the UN International Law Fellowship Programme at The Hague Academy of International Law.
He regularly advises and acts as counsel to States and investors on a wide range of international law matters. He has acted as counsel to disputing and non-disputing parties in commercial and investor-State arbitration. In 2024, he plead in English and French before the International Court of Justice as sole counsel for the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change advisory proceedings. From 2019 to 2024, he served as external legal adviser to the Republic of Armenia at the Legal Committee of the General Assembly, Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform) of the UN Commission on International Trade Law and the Rules and Regulations Amendment Process of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. He represented Armenia in various multilateral negotiations, such as the annual reports of the International Law Commission and International Court of Justice, a UN crimes against humanity convention and the elaboration of 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.
An active member of various academic and practitioner societies, 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.
Dr Kirill Shakhnov
Senior Lecturer in Economics
Biography
Kirill Shakhnov is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics at the ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½. He was previously a at .
Kirill completed his Ph.D. in economics at (Florence, Italy).
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 & . His post graduate research at the , , 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 Alan worked for the UK government for many years. He continues to provide advice to governmental organisations such as 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 , and the . 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:
– The Times
– BBC
– BBC
– BBC
– BBC
– The Telegraph
it – The Register
– The Daily Mail
Programmes Manager