In 2018, I joined the University of Portsmouth as a Lecturer in Naval History, where I am the course leader for and teach on the successful MA in Naval History by distance-learning program. I received my PhD in Maritime History from the University of Exeter in 2019 and an MA in Historical Research from the University of Sheffield in 2012.
Over the years, I worked for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London, specialising in the EMEA defence and transportation sectors. I also spent time working at the independent consultancy firm Ovum where I assessed the latest Anti-Financial Crime and Counter-Terrorist Finance technology.
My first book Gunboats, Empire and the China Station examines the largest peacetime deployment of British naval power east of Suez in the twentieth century, discusses some of the most violent clashes involving British service personnel during the interwar period, and reveals how the Admiralty secretly circumvented the Washington Treaty. My work also includes recent journal articles on officer rotation in the interwar Royal Navy in the International History Review as well as the development of amphibious warfare between the two world wars, available in the Journal of Strategic Studies.
More information about my publications.
I am on the editorial board of the Coastal Studies and Society journal and I am also a member of Portsmouth’s Port Towns and Urban Cultures research group (http://porttowns.port.ac.uk/).
Research Interests
My research focuses on the global application of naval power in littoral environments, both in peace and war. In particular, I am interested in the use of the nineteenth and twentieth century Royal Navy within the British imperial system. Looking at how the Royal Navy exploited its global dominance through gunboat diplomacy, amphibious operations, and imperial policing. In doing so, I explore the importance of naval power in Britain’s efforts to exert influence over other nations and groups of people on a day-to-day basis and consider its applicability to present-day global geopolitics.
Much of my research has taken place in dusty archives across the UK, but I have also been fortunate enough to spend several months in China delving into the Shanghai Municipal Archives as well as exploring Hong Kong, Nanjing, Wuhan and beyond. I am grateful to Santander UK for the research grant they provided that supported my time in Shanghai.
Please find my contact details on my University of Portsmouth page here.