Team
Chris Alden is Senior Advisor.
Professor Chris Alden teaches International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he is Deputy Head of the Department (PhD and Research). He is also Director of LSE IDEAS. He is a Research Associate with South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
Matthew Arnold is Programme Director.
Matthew Arnold is an academic and policy analyst specializing in politics, governance, conflict, and state fragility. He is the Programme Director of the Democratic Resilience in a New Age of War at LSE IDEAS. He previously served as The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Myanmar and Senior Economist at the Irrawaddy Policy Exchange. His research and professional experience spans Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Thailand, Ethiopia, Namibia, and beyond. He has been a Senior Research Fellow at Chulalongkorn University, researching foreign intervention and post-conflict reconstruction, and has taught these subjects at Tsukuba University in Japan. He has also worked for the U.S. Department of Defense and UN World Food Programme.
Jack Matlack is Project Associate.
Jon-Wyatt "Jack" Matlack recently submitted a doctoral dissertation on U.S. Army and German Army ways of warfare in Cold War large-scale training exercises. Previously, Jack was a visiting fellow at LSE Ideas as the Anthony D. Smith Fellow, and as well at the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces (ZMSBw). His research and publication areas encompass NATO maritime strategy, multinational military alliances and state sovereignty, and military training and maneuvers. At LSE Ideas, Jack focuses on the intersection between whole-of-society civil-military engagement, unmanned systems, arms procurement, and multinational unmanned systems training. His recent publications include the LSE Research Report Ukraine's Drone Ecosystem and the Defence of Europe: Lessons Lost Can't be Learned. He also works in strategy consulting.
Oliver Gill is Project Associate.
Oliver Gill is Ukraine Programme Manager and Principal Researcher for the Democratic Resilience in a New Age of War Programme at LSE IDEAS. After completing a master’s in international relations at King’s College London with a focus on information warfare and AI, his research now focuses on Black Sea security, Ukrainian defence innovation, information and influence operations, training in the armed forces, and emerging and disruptive technologies’ impact on defence and security. Oliver also operates the Education for Victory capacity building programme, bringing together senior civil servants, business and third sector workers, and military personnel to address the challenges of reconstruction and recovery.