Academia
Academic positions
2013-2016
Visiting Research Fellow, Pembroke College, University of Oxford
2009-2013
Research Fellow, Global Security, London School of Economics and Political Science
2008-2009
Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
2007-2009
Research Associate, Changing Character of War Programme, University of Oxford
2004-2007
Tutor in the Politics of the Middle East, University of Oxford
Selected academic publications
- Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror, Oxford University Press, November 2010
- Libya’s Mercenaries Crisis: ‘I am Here to Protect the King of Kings’, in Richard Iron and Damien Kingsbury (eds.), How Wars End: Theory and Practice, Routledge, 2023
- The Enemy is in Kabul, in Brian Brivati (ed.), Losing Afghanistan, Biteback, 2022
- Review - How ISIS fights: Military tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt by Omar Ashour, Middle East Journal 75:3, 1 October 2021
- Ideology and Terrorism: Causes and Motivations, in Erica Chenoweth, Richard English, Andreas Gofas and Stathis Kalyvas (eds), The Oxford Handbook on Terrorism, OUP, March 2019
- Al-Qaeda and the 9/11 Decade, in Richard English and Adam Roberts (eds), Illusions of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, OUP, September 2015
- The Evolution of Global Jihadism, in International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Survey (inaugural edition), February 2015
- Competing Narratives in the Syrian Crisis, research paper for LSE Security in Transition Programme, February 2013
- Al-Qaeda in the Changing Arab Context, policy brief for Institut français des relations internationales, September 2012
- Al-Qaeda Ten Years On, British Academy Review, issue 19, January 2012
- What is Al Qaeda Today?, in Manuel Almeida (ed), Al Qaeda After bin Laden, Al-Mesbar Press [Dubai], December 2011
- Libya’s Revolution, Journal of North African Studies 16:4, December 2011
- Islamic Radicalisation in Libya, George Joffe (ed), Islamist Radicalisation in North Africa: Politics and Process, Routledge, September 2011
- Al-Qaeda as Just Warriors? Osama bin Laden’s Case for War, in Jeevan Deol and Zaheer Kazmi (eds), Contextualising Jihadi Thought, Hurst & Co, July 2011
- Religion and War, in Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (eds), The Changing Character of War, Oxford University Press, May 2011
- Subverting Islam, LSE Research, issue 3, Spring 2011
- The Taliban’s Evolving Ideology, LSE Global Governance Paper Series, April 2010 *Most Downloaded LSE Working Paper 2010/2011 and 2011/2012*
- Crushed in the Shadows: Why Al-Qaeda Will Lose the War of Ideas, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 33:2, February 2010
- Asymétrie Morale, Didier Danet, Christian Malis and Hew Strachan (eds) La Guerre Irrégulière, Economica, December 2010
- Terrorist Beheadings: Politics and Reciprocity, Adam Roberts and Sibylle Scheipers (eds), Prisoners in War, Oxford University Press, November 2009