| Biography
"Chris Abbott is a rising star of the peace and security field. Within a short time he has established himself as a distinctive and influential voice, capable of deep analysis, and the vision to drive this analysis home where it counts."
Dr. John Sloboda, Oxford Research Group
Chris Abbott is a freelance writer and researcher specialising in international security and foreign affairs. He holds the honorary positions of Sustainable Security Consultant to Oxford Research Group (ORG) and Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. He also sits on the advisory council of the Climate Institute, Bangalore. His research interests include transnational and non-traditional security threats, alternative global security strategies and the national and international security implications of climate change, but he is perhaps best known for his work developing and promoting the sustainable security framework.
Until June 2009, he was the Deputy Director of Oxford Research Group, one of Europe’s leading international security think tanks. Chris joined ORG in October 2003 and directed their Moving Towards Sustainable Security programme from September 2006 until June 2009 and he remains on the programme's international advisory board. During this time he founded and chaired the UK Policy Group for Sustainable Security, a high-level group made up of Lords and former MPs, ministers, diplomats and civil servants, and founded SustainableSecurity.org, an innovative news and analysis website, for which he remains an Associate Editor. Throughout 2008, he was also an Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Governance and International Affairs at the University of Bristol and has been listed as an expert at the Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior in Madrid since mid-2006.
In addition to several influential reports, including Global Responses to Global Threats: Sustainable Security for the 21st Century and An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change, his articles on global security issues have appeared in numerous publications, both in the UK and abroad. His first book, Beyond Terror: The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World, was published by Random House in April 2007, and is now available in five languages. Chris's publications are required reading for courses at several universities and military colleges in Britain and the United States, including the Joint Services Command & Staff College and the US Army War College.
Chris has been a regular commentator on political and security issues in the national and international media, and in recent years has been interviewed by the BBC, ABC, British Forces Radio, The Australian, The Toronto Star and Esquire magazine. His books and reports have been covered by press and media around the world, including The Times, The Independent and The Guardian in the UK and Al Jazeera, CNN and The Boston Globe overseas.
His work on international security has been endorsed by a wide-range of politicians, academics, journalists and other public figures, from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the composer Brian Eno. It has been raised twice by MPs in the British House of Commons during debates with the Prime Minister (March 2008) and the Foreign Secretary (February 2008) and referred to by the Spanish Prime Minister at an international meeting in Uruguay (November 2006). His expertise has been sought by the British Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office, the Spanish government, the Australian Federal Police and numerous think tanks. Chris has also given evidence in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee, briefed MPs in the House of Commons, met the Prime Minster's foreign policy adviser in 10 Downing Street and briefed members of the police and armed forces from the UK and Australia.
Chris has a degree in Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Masters in Social Anthropology from the University of St Andrews. He is a member of the British International Studies Association, the Foreign Affairs & Global Risks Network, the Futures Analysts' Network, the World Security Network and the Peace and Collaborative Development Network.
He currently lives in West Cornwall and is writing his second book, 21 Speeches that Shaped Our World: The People and Ideas that Changed the Way We Think, due for publication in August 2010.
For more information please read his CV or follow the links at the top of the page.
Copyright © Chris Abbott, 2009-2010 | Some rights reserved