Duncan Depledge

Duncan Depledge is a Lecturer in Geopolitics & Security. He jointed Loughborough University in 2019 as the School of Social Sciences and Humanities’ first Politics and International Studies Fellow. His latest research projects focus on the changing geopolitics of the Arctic and the implications of climate change for the future character of military operations and war. He is the author of Britain and the Arctic (Palgrave, 2018).

Duncan has a Ph.D. from Royal Holloway, University of London, an MPhil in Geographical Research from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Political Theory from the University of Sheffield and a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Sheffield.

As well as having an interdisciplinary academic background, Duncan has extensive experience of working with government, parliamentarians, think tanks, international organisations and militaries. From 2010-2014, Duncan was a Research Analyst on the Climate Change & Security Programme at the Royal United Services Institute. He was the first Director of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions in Westminster, which he helped to establish (2015-2019). He also served as Special Adviser to the House of Commons Defence Committee during its inquiry on ‘UK Defence in the Arctic’ (2017-2018). In addition to these roles, Duncan has provided advice to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Ministry of Defence, NATO and the European Commission.

Duncan remains an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute. He is also a Visiting Fellow to the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre (2022-2024), and a member of the UK Arctic & Antarctic Partnership Steering Committee, the University of the Arctic/Northern Research Forum Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions’ Advisory Council.

Duncan currently researches the changing geopolitics of the Arctic and the implications of climate change for the future character of military operations and war. These projects form part of Duncan’s broader interest in 21^st century defence and security challenges.

Book

• Depledge, D. and Lackenbauer, P. W. (2021). On Thin Ice? Perspectives on Arctic Security (North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network Engage Series) E-Book: Free to Download
• Depledge, D. (2018). Britain and the Arctic (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)

Selected Journal Articles

• Depledge, D. and Østhagen, A. (2022). Scotland: A Touchstone for Security in the High North? The RUSI Journal [Online, Open Access].
• Depledge, D. (2021). NATO and the Arctic: The Need for a New Approach. The RUSI Journal 16 (5-6): 80-90.
• Depledge, D. (2020).Train Where You Expect to Fight: Why Military Exercises Have Increased in the High North. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies,3 (1): 288-301.
• Depledge, D., Dodds, K., and Kennedy-Pipe, C. (2019) The UK’s Arctic Defence Strategy: Negotiating the slippery geopolitics of the Arctic, The RUSI Journal 164 (1): 28-39.
• Depledge, D. 2015. Geopolitical material: assemblages of geopower and the constitution of the geopolitical stage. Political Geography 45: 91-92.
• Depledge, D. and Dodds, K. 2014. No “Strategy” please, we’re British: The UK and the Arctic Policy Framework. The RUSI Journal 159 (1): 24-31.
• Depledge, D. 2013. Emerging UK Arctic policy. International Affairs 89 (6): 369-372
• Depledge, D. 2013. Assembling a (British) Arctic. The Polar Journal 3 (1): 163-177
• Depledge, D. and Dodds, K. 2012. Testing the Northern Flank: The UK, Norway and Exercise Cold Response. The RUSI Journal, 157 (4): 72-78.
• Depledge, D. and Feakin, T. 2012. Climate change and international institutions: implications for security. Climate Policy, 12: S73-S84.
• Depledge, D. and Dodds, K. 2011. The UK and the Arctic: The Strategic Gap. The RUSI Journal, 156 (3): 72-79.

Duncan currently teaches on two undergraduate modules: Small Wars and 21^st Century War. He also teaches on the MA Security modules Security in Global Politics and Urban Warfare

Current Postgraduate Research Students under PhD Supervision:

• Fatih Aydogan, ‘Geopolitics in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict’

• Wooyun Jo, ‘Rethinking ROK-US defence relations and the security of the Korean Peninsula’  

• Jordan Pilcher, ‘Ontological fantasies and the geopolitical dispositive: President Erdoğan’s vision for the Türkiye apparatus from the Middle East to Africa’

Duncan is interested in supervising doctoral students in any area of geopolitics and/or foreign, security and defence policy (especially, but not limited to, 21^st century challenges). If you are interested in working with him, please get in touch.