The Year Ahead

14 Jan 2019 04:44 PM

As we begin the year, we look forward to RUSI's busy 2019 research agenda.

Centre For Financial Crime And Security Studies

2018 Highlights
Continued work on human trafficking, proliferation finance, sanctions, terrorist financing and the growth of our Financial Crime 2.0 programme with papers on the use of data analytics and cyber-dependent financial crime.

2019 Agenda
Further Financial Crime 2.0 work on the threats and opportunities of new technologies; publication of a two-year study on ‘Rethinking Counter-terror Finance’; a report on North Korea’s use of cryptocurrencies, and a dedicated programme on asset confiscation and recovery.  The Centre will also celebrate its fifth anniversary!

Defence, Industries And Society

2018 Highlights
Published two major research reports on the UK defence industrial strategyand UK service accommodation. Subsequently, programme experts John Louth and Trevor Taylor were invited on to UK Government Expert Panel Groups to translate this knowledge into policy options. Programme experts also published a major book with Routledge, UK Defence in the 21st Century.

2019 Agenda
Future combat air and complex technologies; defence capability generation and artificial intelligence; the condition of the service/veterans community;  higher defence management in the UK and NATO.

International Security Studies

2018 Highlights
Published a website on UAV proliferation in the Middle East, worked on the Chinese Maritime Silk Road and hosted a conference on the new Chinese aid agency CIDCA; continued work on our UK—Russia bilateral formatand on the radicalisation of Central Asian migrants in Russia.

2019 Agenda
Looking at the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative in third locations; social media and extremism in South Asia; UK—Russia relations; exploring the fall-out from the continuing confrontation over the nuclear deal with Iran, and major conferences on international legal precedents in defining international borders and European responses to Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

Military Sciences

2018 Highlights
Continued to deliver the Martial Power programme, as well as more research for external clients than in the past decade. We also started the Modern Deterrence project and doubled the size of the team.  That team engaged with more than 9,500 political and military figures around the world.

2019 Agenda
Examine contemporary conflict, convene and speak at international conferences, publish and inform.  New research topics for 2019 include a forthcoming paper on 'The Operating Environment in the 2020s', with 'Strategic Autonomy', and 'Escalation Management' being delivered later in the year.

National Security Studies

2018 Highlights
Major publications on countering violent extremism (CVE), terrorist disengagement in Somalia, machine learning and the police,  illicit tobacco, and the security of individuals in public life; a programme of workshops on a wide range of organised crime topicsand a major event on the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy; launch of theGIFCT research network; groundbreaking CVE actions in Kenya.

2019 Agenda
Research on counter-terrorism including thirteen papers on terrorism and the internet; the launch of a 3-year CVE project for the EU in Afghanistan; a report on what works in CVE; cyber security projects on 5G, and the UK’s National Strategy; research and training in southern Africa on investigating illegal wildlife trafficking; projects on police and intelligence capabilities to deal with organised crime and terrorism.

Proliferation And Nuclear Policy

2018 Highlights
Examined how North Korea exploits the insurance sector in its proliferation activities, which has set the agenda for government and industry action. Our contributions on the question of denuclearising North Korea also led to our engagement in various governments’ efforts to wrestle with this challenge.

2019 Agenda
Alongside our counter-proliferation finance research, will take a closer look at North Korean proliferation-related activities, using open source intelligence to expose illicit activities. We will also focus on UK nuclear weapons issues, from deterrence to disarmament.