ProfessorMichael Rainsborough

Michael Rainsborough is Professor of Strategic Theory and Director of the Centre for Future Defence and National Security. Before joining the AWC he spent 25 years with the Department of War Studies, King’s College, University of London. He was made Professor of Strategic Theory in 2007 and served as Head of Department between 2016 and 2019, having previously been Deputy Head for Education (2013-2016).

Michael earned his PhD in War Studies in 1991 from King’s College London, having gained an MA in War Studies from King’s College in 1987, and a BScEcon in International Politics and Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1985.

During his time at King’s College London, Michael founded the MA in Intelligence in International Security, this was the first free standing masters level degree programme that was separate from the traditional MA in War Studies, which up until that point had been the only post-graduate degree offered by the department. The MA in Intelligence and International Security pioneered the way for the expansion of the Department’s wide-ranging suite of MA programmes. He was also co-founder of the Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and Conservation, which was the first academic centre in the world set up to examine the links between war and the impact on the non-human sphere.

He has taught in a wide variety of settings in Australia and abroad. Before joining the Department of War Studies in 1997 he was a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence serving as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and International Affairs at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He was also one of the first academics to serve with the newly created Defence Studies Department, Joint Services Command and Staff College. In 1986 he was a Robert Schuman Scholar with the Directorate-General of Research at the European Parliament, Luxembourg. He has also held posts as Lecturer in the Department of History, National University of Singapore (1992-1995) and Consultant and Principal Lecturer at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University (1997-2001), as well as visiting positions with the University of Pretoria, the University of Queensland, and the Norwegian University Defence College.