Dr Camino Kavanagh is a visiting Senior Fellow with the Dept. of War Studies, King’s College London. Her current research focuses on international security, geopolitics, conflict and technology, cyber intelligence, critical infrastructure protection in crisis and conflict and emerging issues relevant to critical subsea infrastructure.

Amongst other, Camino also serves as a Senior Advisor to the UN Department of Political Affairs’ Policy and Mediation Division on digital tech and conflict. She served as advisor/rapporteur to the 2019-2021 and 2016-2017 UN negotiating processes on cyber/ICT and international security (the UNGGE and UNOEWG). Over the past decade she has also advised and consulted with the UN Secretary-General’s office and a range of other UN entities, regional bodies as well as government departments and agencies on issues pertaining to digital technologies and national/international security, conflict and diplomacy. She participates in a number track 1.5 and track 2 initiatives on these same topics.

Prior to this, Camino spent over a decade working in conflict and post-conflict contexts, including with UN peacekeeping operations and political missions.  

Research 

• Norms, international security, geopolitics, intelligence, crisis management, conflict, technology, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, subsea infrastructure, United Nations, NATO.
• Current research focuses on international security, geopolitics, conflict and technology, cyber intelligence, critical infrastructure protection in crisis and conflict and emerging issues relevant to critical subsea infrastructure.

Teaching

Lectures on UN negotiating processes on cyber/ICTs and international security and other related issues. 

Publications

• ‘Subsea Communications Cables and Conflict’, in Chris Demchak and Sam J. Tangredi (eds), Cyber Warfare and Navies, USNI (forthcoming 2024).
• ‘Wading Murky Waters: Subsea Cables and Responsible State Behaviour’, UNIDIR, March 2023, https://unidir.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/UNIDIR_Wading_Murky_Waters_Subsea_Communications_Cables_Responsible_State_Behaviour.pdf
• ‘The use of intelligence in UN peacekeeping operations’ co-authored with Nicholas Tsagourias in Russell Buchan and Iñaki Navarrete (eds), Research Handbook on Intelligence and International Law (Edward Elgar, 2024/forthcoming).
• ‘Shades of Grey: Cyber Intelligence and (Inter)national Security’, co-authored with Broeders,D., EU Cyber Direct, October 2023, https://eucd.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/eucd/assets/XqXCPBb2/shades-of-grey-cyber-intelligence-and-inter-national-security.pdf
• ‘Cyber Power in International Relations’. Book Chapter with Stevens, T. in Cornish, P. (ed.), Handbook of Cybersecurity, Oxford University Press (2021), https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/41360
• Quiet Conversations: Observations on Cyber-related Track 1.5 and Track 2 Diplomacy, co-authored with Prof. Madeline Carr and Nils Berglund, EU Cyber Direct, November 2021, https://eucyberdirect.eu/research/quiet-conversations-observations-from-a-decade-of-practice-in-cyber-related-track-1-5-and-track-2-diplomacy
• ‘New Tech, New Threats and New Governance Dilemmas’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2019), https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep20978.1.pdf
• 'Digital Technologies and Civil Conflicts: Insights for peacemakers’, EU Institute for Security Studies (2021), https://www.iss.europa.eu/sites/default/files/EUISSFiles/Brief_4_2021_0.pdf
• ‘Digital Technologies and Mediation in Armed Conflict’ report, UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (March 2019), https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/DigitalToolkitReport.pdf