Thursday 1 December 19:00 - 20:30

King's College London
Strand
Edmund J. Safra Lecture Theatre
London
WC2R 2LS

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Powering the Future of Wargaming: Science & Tech for Strategic Advantage

Government & Politics

What is the state of wargaming as an academic discipline? How can wargames help NATO allies achieve and sustain strategic advantage?

Powering the Future of Wargaming: Advancing Science and Technology for Strategic Advantage

To mark its fourth-year anniversary, the Wargaming Network is launching an annual keynote lecture series featuring King's academic research.

Dr. Ivanka Barzashka will take stock of the history of wargaming at King's and the state of academic discipline. She will discuss the future of wargaming as a method of inquiry, and its potential for helping the UK and its NATO allies achieve and sustain strategic advantage in a competitive security environment.

About the Speakers

Dr. Ivanka Barzashka was a founding director of the Kingโ€™s Wargaming Network dedicated to developing wargaming as an academic discipline. She served as the WNโ€™s co-director (2018-2019) with Professor Philip Sabin, director (2019-2020), and managing director (2020-2022) working with Dr. David Banks as academic director. In these roles, she was responsible for the WNโ€™s strategic direction, fundraising, international partnerships, management of research and administrative staff, including graduate and undergraduate students, and external advisors and consultants. During her tenure, the WN became โ€˜one of the more active research groupsโ€™ at the School of Security Studies (SoSS) and โ€˜moved quickly to establish an impressive network that crosses academic and policy arenas,โ€™ according to an independent review of King's research groups in 2020. As a result, the SoSS recognised wargaming as โ€˜a priority growth areaโ€™ for research and education.

Currently, Dr. Barzashka is the CEO and co-founder of Strand Analytica, a US-UK tech startup dedicated to powering the emerging science of wargaming through technology for national security and defence applications.

She has led academic and policy-relevant studies for Kingโ€™s College London, the UK Ministry of Defence and the Federation of American Scientists, and has provided testimony to UK Parliament. Her applied research has been at the intersection of technology and strategy, examining questions related to grand strategy, integrated deterrence, nuclear deterrence, crisis escalation, war escalation and termination, nuclear proliferation, and arms control transparency and verification. Barzashkaโ€™s fundamental research interests include epistemology, methodology, research integrity and ethics in analytical wargaming. She has developed new empirical methods combining strategic analytical wargaming, decision and risk analysis.

Dr. David Banks, Academic Director of the King's Wargaming Network, will chair the lecture.

This event is part of the King's Wargaming Network Keynote Wargaming Lecture Series, which features King's academic research in wargaming.

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