Biography

I joined the department as a PhD student in September 2005, I was awarded my PhD in June 2010, and in May 2010 I was employed as Research Assistant to the Director of the Callaghan Centre for the Study of Conflict, Power and Empire.  My PhD examines how the image as circulated within society has changed from what is broadly conceived of as a mass media society to that of an information society or a rhizomatic condition and how this has resulted in a paradigm shift from techno-war to image warfare.  More specifically, my thesis explores how American and British governments and militaries are failing to manage image warfare because they are operating with an outdated understanding that it is possible to ‘control’ images; whereas Al Qaeda appears to understand image warfare better.  I also reflect on the implications of this analysis for understandings of contemporary and future warfare.  Prior to moving to the department I completed both an MSc(Econ) in Strategic Studies and a BSc(Econ) in International Politics and Intelligence Studies in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. 

Current Research

I am currently reworking my thesis into a series of publications, working on a number of existing projects in the Callaghan Centre for the Study of Conflict, Power and Empire and also helping colleagues to scope new projects. 

Selected Publications

• (forthcoming), ‘Abu Ghraib Abuse Images: From Perverse War Trophies Through Internet Based War Porn to Artistic Representations and Beyond’, in De-Naturalising Violence: Trans-Disciplinary Explorations, eds. Alejandro Cervantes-Carson and Leonhard Praeg (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, forthcoming) .
• (forthcoming), ‘Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse: The Making of an Iconic Image.  What Does Its Symbolic Side Say?’, in the eBook Meaning and Violence: Readings Across Disciplines, eds. Alejandro Cervantes-Carson and Ilse Josepha Maria Lazaroms (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, forthcoming).
• (2004), ‘ABUSE & DEATH IN THE MEDIA!  The exploitation of Prisoners of War as a focus of public curiosity.’ The Aberystwyth Journal of World Affairs, 2004 (2): pp. 95-103.
• Review of James Der Derian, Virtuous War: Mapping the Military-Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network (2nd ed.) (London: Routledge, 2009), in Media, War & Conflict (forthcoming).
• Review of Alex J. Bellamy, Roland Bleiker, Sara E. Davies and Richard Devetak (eds.), Security and the War on Terror (London: Routledge, 2008), in International Affairs 86 (1) (January 2010).
• Review of Nicholas Mirzoeff, Watching Babylon: The War in Iraq and Global Visual Culture (New York, NJ: Routledge, 2005), in Media, War & Conflict 2 (1) (April 2009)

Selected Research Awards

• 2007 – Conference Bursary, British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference, University of Cambridge.
• 2007 – Graduate Access Funding, Political Studies Association (PSA) Annual Conference, University of Bath.
• 2007 – Departmental Postgraduate Research Grant, Department of Politics and International Relations, Swansea University. To attend the Inter-Disciplinary.net 6th Global Conference – Probing the Boundaries: Violence, Contexts and the Construction of Enemies, Budapest, Hungary.