Dr Maria E. Burczynska is a Lecturer in Defence Studies at the Defence Studies Department. She is based at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in Shrivenham. She is a member of the RAF Museum’s Research Advisory Board and an Advance HE Fellow. She is also an editor for an online scholarly platform, From Balloons to Drones.

Maria joined King’s from the University of Wolverhampton where she was involved in designing and delivering an MA Air, Space and Cyber Power by distance learning.

She obtained her PhD from the University of Nottingham, where she worked on a project focused on European air power and its involvement in different forms of multinational cooperation. Her thesis, titled ‘The potential and limits of air power in contemporary multinational operations: the case of the UK, Polish and Swedish air forces,’ is making an essential contribution to the field of air power studies, which remains primarily dominated by the US case. The RAF Museum recognised her research’s significance, awarding her the Museum’s RAF Centenary PhD Bursary in Air Power Studies in April 2019.

Qualifications:

• Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in Higher Education, University of Wolverhampton ( 2021)
• PhD in International Relations, University of Nottingham (2019)
• MA in National Security, National Defence University of Warsaw, Poland (2011)

Research Interests

• European air power
• Multinational cooperation
• Multi-domain integration
• Military culture
• Military doctrine

Maria’s research interests are in the broad area of military and security studies in both, national and international dimensions. She is particularly interested in contemporary European air forces and their participation in multinational operations and initiatives and the influence of national culture on the military culture of individual air forces.

Teaching

Maria teaches across a broad range of subject areas related to international affairs as well as defence and security issues at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham.

Publications

Book chapters:

Burczynska, Maria E., 2020. “Operation Allied Force as a Catalyst for Change: Toward Intensified Multinational Cooperation.” In Allies in Air Power: A History of Multinational Air Operations, edited by Steven Paget. University Press of Kentucky, 2020.

Research articles:

Burczynska, Maria E., 2019. “Multinational cooperation: building capabilities in small air forces.” European Security 28(1): 85–104, first published on March 4, 2019, doi:10.1080/09662839.2019.1584102.

Burczynska, Maria E., 2022. “#Commentary – Transferring Polish MiG-29s to Ukraine: why is it easier said than done?” From Balloons to Drones. Available at: balloonstodrones.com/2022/03/30/commentary-transferring-polish-mig-29s-to-ukraine-why-is-it-easier-said-than-done/

Burczynska, Maria E., 2018. “Small Air Forces and #HighIntensityWar: Multinational Cooperation as an Opportunity to Build and Strengthen their Capabilities.” From Balloons to Drones. Available at: balloonstodrones.com/2018/04/25/small-air-forces-and-highintensitywar-multinational-cooperation-as-an-opportunity-to-build-and-strengthen-their-capabilities

Book reviews:

Burczynska, Maria E., 2023. Book Review: Brian D. Laslie, Air Power’s Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam, From Balloons to Drones. Available at: < https://balloonstodrones.com/2023/05/03/bookreview-air-powers-lost-cause-the-american-air-wars-of-vietnam/?fbclid=IwAR1S6BHdTOZmmOUvhiKHFq4JzH47NspC-wy38zTtQxWyd9lo1vbUlQdS7Kw>.

Burczynska, Maria, 2016. Book Review: John Andreas Olsen (ed.), Airpower Reborn: The Strategic Concepts of John Warden and John Boyd, Political Studies Review 14(4): 609; first published on September 7, 2016 doi:10.1177/1478929916660462.

Dr Maria Burczynksa's ORCID Profile is available here.