Associate Fellow, Chatham House

Policy Leaders Fellow Alumnus, Centre for Science and Policy

Peter Watkins is an Independent Member of the Council (and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee) of Cranfield University; a Visiting Professor, King’s College London; a Visiting Senior Fellow, London School of Economics IDEAS; and an Associate Fellow, Chatham House. He was a Non-Executive Member of the Board (and of the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee) of the UK Space Agency (2021-26). Peter spent over three decades in UK government service working on defence and security matters, latterly as the Director General Strategy & International (2017-18) and Director General Security Policy (2014-17) in the Ministry of Defence (MOD). In these roles, he was responsible for strategic policy & planning; the Defence dimension of the UK’s cross-government response to Russia and China; key multilateral (NATO, EU, Five Eyes) and bilateral defence relationships; and defence policy aspects of cyber, space and novel technologies. Previous roles included Director General of the Defence Academy (2011-14); Director of Operational Policy (2008-11); Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary (2001-03) and Counsellor (Defence & Aerospace), British Embassy Bonn/Berlin (1996-2000).

Peter studied History and Political Philosophy at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He is an ancien of the NATO Defense College (1993-94); and was a Weatherhead Fellow at Harvard University (2006-07). He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and of the Institute of Directors, and a Liveryman of the Coachmakers’ Company. He has published a number of papers on defence and international security matters.