Afzal Ashraf

Afzal Ashraf has broad experience of International Relations and security issues, both as a practitioner and as an academic.

This includes service as a senior officer in the UK Armed Forces in operations ranging from famine relief in Africa to stabilisation operations in the South Atlantic, deterrence support in the Cold War and strategic aspects of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has worked in support of diplomacy in the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in information fusion, analysis and communication in some of UK’s security-related government departments.

He has been Head of Training Management for the Royal Air Force where he had responsibility for physical fitness, combat survival and through life learning.

He has run a private security consultancy covering areas such as cyber security and countering violent extremism and was a Consultant Fellow at the UK’s oldest Think Tank, the Royal United Services Institute. 

Afzal Ashraf's first degree was in Aeronautical Engineering, which was followed by several years leading engineering organizations involving advanced fighter aircraft, associated electronic warfare, and weapons systems. He is a Chartered Engineer and remains engaged with advances in technology for defence purposes, especially on the impact of hypersonic systems in the context of nuclear deterrence.

His current research includes cybersecurity in the world of AI and quantum computing, the geopolitics of genocide, and conceptualizing failure in contemporary conflicts. He has also conducted novel research on the current transition from a unipolar (with Western domination) to a multipolar (with increasing equality, diversity, and inclusion) world order."