Dr Hillary Briffa
Communications Manager, Strife
Dr Hillary Briffa is a Lecturer in Defence Studies at King’s College London, working primarily with the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom (the Royal College of Defence Studies and the Joint Services Command and Staff College). She is a founding member of the Centre for Grand Strategy at King’s College London, where she read for her Ph.D in War Studies. Previously, she taught at University College London, Birkbeck University of London, and Queen Mary University of London.
Beyond academia, she served as Youth Ambassador for Malta to the OSCE for three years, and worked at the Malta High Commission to the UK throughout Malta’s tenure as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office. After running peace-building projects in Eastern and Central Europe, in 2015 she was appointed an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and in 2016 became a recipient of the U.S. State Department’s inaugural Emerging Young Leaders award.
As of August 2020, she is currently one of the inaugural non-resident Hans J. Morgenthau Fellows at The Notre Dame International Security Center, studying grand strategy in its larger conceptual and historical context. You can follow her on Twitter @h1llz
Gideon Jones
Internal Communications Officer
Gideon Jones is a MA student in Terrorism, Security & Society at the War Studies Department, King’s College London, and completed his BA in History at the University of Warwick.
Coming from Northern Ireland, he has been brought up in a country scarred by the issues of terrorism, conflict, sectarianism, and extremist ideology. Through this experience, he has been given valuable insight into how the legacies of such problems can continue to divide a society decades after the fighting has stopped, and how the issues left unresolved can threaten to upend a fragile peace.
Through his studies at the University of Warwick, he developed a strong interest in extremist ideology and radical thought. Through his final year dissertation, he used evolutionary psychology, sociology, and literary analysis to study the role that disgust played in the creation of reactionary and extremist thought in the French Revolution. Whilst studying at King’s, he hopes to pursue further research into the intersection of emotion and psychology and their influence on motivating extremist thought and action.
Jorge Medina
External Communications Officer
Jorge is a Conflict Resolution in Divided Societies MA student at King’s. During his undergrad, Jorge spent time in the Middle East conducting research about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Jorge also spent time in South Korea studying the Northeast Asian security dynamics in the region. Jorge also interned at the Office of Border Affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington DC during the 2019 Migrant Crisis. Jorge is very passionate about the influence that diasporic and immigrant movements perpetuate and/or prevent conflict. Jorge also enjoys growing his knowledge about the East Asia region. In the future, he hopes to be able to work in foreign policy and continue growing his knowledge about the world.
Matthew Ader
Publications Officer, Strife
Matthew is a third-year student doing War Studies. He has worked as an intern in a number of security consultancy firms. His academic interests gravitate loosely towards understanding challenges and opportunities for Anglo-American strategy in the 21st century (and also being snide about Captain America’s command ability). He is an editor at Wavell Room, among other publications. You can follow him on Twitter: @AderMatthew.
Rose Bouchard
Outreach Assistant, Strife
Rose is in her last term of her BA in International Relations and History at the History Department at King’s College London. Originally from Canada but having attended boarding school throughout her high school career, she has developed a real passion for international relations. Meeting people from all over the world has really instilled in her a real interest for international affairs. Coming to King’s for her BA, has been a very eye-opening experience, enabling her to deepen her knowledge on international matters. She is passionate about studying history to make sure that her future work in civil service is aware of the past mistakes that have caused international conflicts.
She is currently writing her dissertation on the American Housewife in the 1950’s through a Cold War lens. She remains very involved in the cause for gender equality and as a dedicated feminist she is always trying to pursue ways to make the world more feminist. Rose hopes to go on and pursue an MA in Public Policy in the coming years in the United Kingdom. In her free time, Rose loves Gilmore Girls and can recite every episode by heart!
Jessie Dunn
Social Media Assistant, Strife
Jessie is a MA student on the Terrorism, Security and Society course in the War Studies Department at King’s College London.
Her main area of interests are within Counter Terrorism and Female Radicalisation. She has previously received a First Class Honours in Journalism at London Southbank University where she gained experience within the social media sector.
Ka Leung
Web Assistant, Strife
Ka Leung is doing a MA in Intelligence and International Security at King’s College, London. Her research interest is in cultural politics and the use of propaganda in the post-Soviet space. She has a MA (undergrad) in Central and East European Studies from the University of Glasgow.