Patrick Bury

Dr Patrick Bury is a Reader (Senior Associate Professor) in Security at the PoLIS department, specialising in warfare and counter-terrorism. He has over 20 years’ experience of working in the security sector as a practitioner, analyst and academic. A former British army Captain and NATO analyst, he has appeared regularly on BBC News, BBC World, Sky News, France 24, Euronews, Al-Jazeera, Alsharq, CBC, BBC Hardtalk, BBC 5 Live, RTE News, TalkTV, TodayFM, Newstalk, LBC and is a regular contributor to British and Irish national and regional radio. He has written regularly for The Irish Times, and The Guardian and The Independent, amongst others, and his analysis has appeared in major global outlets including New Scientist. He is available for comment on the conduct of Russia’s war on Ukraine, international security including Taiwan, and counter-terrorism.

Patrick joined the university in 2017 and is currently a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow examining the Transformation of Transatlantic Counter-Terrorism, 2001-25, in partnership with an international network of experts. The project is developing innovative theoretical approaches to understanding counter-terrorism change since 2001, combined with a trust and capacity building programme for practitioners. He is a researcher on the GLOBSEC think-tank's high profile Intelligence Reform Initiative, and a member of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT).

Dr Bury’s scholarly publications have appeared in International Affairs (multiple times), The British Journal of Sociology, European Security, Armed Forces and Society (multiple times), Defence Studies, The RUSI Journal, and Oxford University Press volumes, amongst others, including War on the Rocks (multiple times). He also appeared on every series of National Geographic’s global hit Nazi Megastructures programme and has contributed to numerous television documentaries and podcasts such as Airpower, and The History Hit.

Patrick gained his ESRC-funded PhD from the University of Exeter in 2016. His thesis, supervised by Professor Anthony King, examined the recent attempt to transform the British Army Reserve, and was published by Howgate in 2019 as Mission Improbable. Elements of this research were incorporated into British defence policy, and Dr Bury has appeared as an expert witness to the British Defence Select Committee, and the Doctrine and Training Centre of the Polish Armed Forces.

Prior to entering academia, Patrick served in the British Army as an air assault infantry Captain. A memoir of his platoon's tour in Sangin, Afghanistan, Callsign Hades, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010 and has been described as 'the first great book of the Afghan War’. After leaving the army, he worked as an analyst for NATO and then a private security firm.

Research interests

Transatlantic counter-terrorism (transformation; liaison; trust)
Military sociology (warfare, transformation; cohesion; special forces; logistics)
International (in!)security esp Ukraine and Taiwan
Terrorism (esp impact of information technology)
British Army and reserve forces