Duncan Depledge

BA (Hons), MA, MPhil, PhD

  • Lecturer in Geopolitics and Security
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    • Duncan Depledge is a Lecturer in Geopolitics & Security. He is also leads the School of Social Sciences & Humanities Research Challenge on Sustainable Transitions Under Environment Change (STUEC).

    Duncan joined Loughborough University in 2019 as the School of Social Sciences and Humanities’ first Politics and International Studies Fellow. He was appointed Lecturer in 2020. His latest research projects focus on the implications of climate change for the future character of military operations and war, and the changing geopolitics of the Arctic. 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 Senior Research Associate to the Climate Change & (In)Security Project (a University of Oxford/British Army collaboration), a Visiting Fellow to the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre, 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 is a member of The Polar Journal editorial board.

    Duncan’s latest research tackles the implications of climate change for the future character of military operations and war. In 2022, he was awarded an ESRC New Investigator Grant for a project titled ‘Net Zero Militaries (NETZMIL): Retaining Operation Effectiveness in a Low Carbon World’.

    Duncan also researches geopolitics and security in the changing Arctic.

    These projects form part of Duncan’s broader interest in 21st Century defence and security challenges.

    Duncan mainly teaches on two undergraduate modules: Small Wars (PIB802) and War in the 21st Century (PIC684). He also teaches on the following MA International Security modules: Urban Warfare (PIP702) and Security in Global Politics (PIP700).

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

    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’

     

    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