Matthew Moran is a Professor of International Security at King’s College London and currently serves as Head of the Department of War Studies, overseeing the strategic direction and daily management of one of the University’s largest departments. His previous roles include Director of Research in War Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies.

Dedicated to producing academically rigorous yet policy-relevant work, Professor Moran has an extensive record of engagement with the policy community. This includes executive education and professional development collaborations with the Foreign and Defence Ministries of several governments, both in an advisory capacity and through the design of bespoke courses.

His public engagement includes contributions to outlets such as BBC News, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Prospect, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Conversation, France24, and Le Courrier International.

Professor Moran holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Galway and a PhD from University College London. His research has been supported by the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the MacArthur Foundation, and various national governments.

Research

Professor Moran’s research interests focus on understanding the social and political factors underlying significant security-related events. His work spans four key areas:

• The causes of collective disorder and rioting
• The nature and drivers of coercive influence in the international system
• The role of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in international politics
• The evolution and use of open-source material for investigative and intelligence purposes

He is the author or editor of eight books, including a forthcoming study of chemical weapons use in Syria, to be published by Oxford University Press, as well as numerous academic articles.

Teaching

• Armchair Intelligence: Open Sources and Online Investigation (MA)
• Hacking Defence Problems (MA)

PhD supervision

Professor Moran is willing to provide PhD supervision in any of his areas of research interest.

Publications

Books

• Coercing Syria on Chemical Weapons: A Case Study of Deterrence and Coercive Diplomacy (Oxford University Press, 2025) [with Wyn Bowen and Jeffrey Knopf]
• Trust in Nuclear Disarmament Verification (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) [with Wyn Bowen, Hassan Elbahtimy and Christopher Hobbs].
• Living on the Edge: Iran, Nuclear Hedging and Countering Proliferation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) [with Wyn Bowen and Dina Esfandiary].
• Riots: An International Comparison (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) [with David Waddington].
• Open Source Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century: New Approaches and Opportunities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) [with Christopher Hobbs and Daniel Salisbury].

Articles

• ‘The Obama Administration and Syrian Chemical Weapons: Deterrence, Compellence, and the Limits of the “Resolve plus Bombs” Formula’, Security Studies (2020), Vol.29, No.5, pp.797-831. [co-authored with Wyn Bowen and Jeffrey Knopf] https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2020.1859130.
• ‘Fusing Algorithms and Analysts: Open-Source Intelligence in the Age of “Big Data”’. Intelligence and National Security 33, no.3 (2018): 391-406, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2017.1406677
• ‘Terrorism and the banlieues: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks in Context’. Modern and Contemporary France 25, no.3 (2017): 315-332, https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2017.1323199
• ‘Living with Nuclear Hedging: The Implications of Iran’s Nuclear Strategy’, International Affairs (2015), Vol. 91, No. 4, pp. 687-707. [co-authored with Wyn Bowen] https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12337.

Book chapters

• ‘Sanctions, Deterrence and the Recent Case of Russia’, in Ksenia Kirkham (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Sanctions (Routledge, 2024), pp.59-75 [co-authored with Wyn Bowen].
• ‘Armchair Safeguards: The Role of OSINT in Proliferation Analysis’, in Christopher Hobbs, Matthew Moran and Daniel Salisbury (eds.), Open Source Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century: New Approaches and Opportunities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp.65-80 [co-authored with Christopher Hobbs].