Honourary Research Fellows
Mark Laity is a widely respected expert on Strategic Communications and a key leader in its development within NATO where his nickname was ‘Mr StratCom’. He has been involved with the media, information & Strategic Communication for more than four decades, both as a journalist, mostly with the BBC, & then in senior posts within NATO.
From 2007 until 2017, he was the Chief Strategic Communications (StratCom) at SHAPE, the first holder of the post. This followed the first of three tours of Afghanistan, for which he was awarded NATO’s Meritorious Service Medal. He joined NATO in 2000 as Special Adviser to then Secretary General of NATO, Lord Robertson, and the Alliance’s Deputy Spokesman. This followed 22 years in journalism, mostly in the BBC, notably 11 years as the BBC's Defence Correspondent. A graduate of the University of York, in 2020 the university awarded him an Honorary Doctorate (DUniv). He is also an Associate Fellow at the King’s Centre for Strategic Communications, Kings College London.
Mark is now Senior Director of the StratCom Academy. He is also a British Army reservist with 77 Brigade.
Professor Jamie Shea CMG is Professor at the College of Europe Natolin. He is also a Senior Fellow responsible for security and defence programmes at Friends of Europe and a Senior Advisor with the European Policy Centre. Both of these think tanks are based in Brussels. More recently, Jamie Shea has assumed the position of Senior Counsel to the Founder and CEO of Fanack/The Chronicle and Fanack Water.
Between 2018 and 2022 Jamie Shea was Professor of Strategy and Security at the University of Exeter and prior to that, for 38 years he was an international public servant and a member of the International Staff of NATO. His last NATO post was Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. Other positions included Director of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the Secretary General, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Public Diplomacy Division, Director of Information and Press and Spokesman of NATO.
Senior Research Fellows
Professor Susanne Braun is Professor in Leadership at Durham University Business School and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research of the Faculty of Business. She is the Principal Investigator of the grant Leadership Identity Dynamics in Work and Beyond: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Intervention funded by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI). She received her PhD (2011) and Habilitation (2017) in Psychology from Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany. She held posts at TUM School of Management and visiting scholarships at New York University and the University of California in Berkeley before joining Durham University in 2015.
Prof Braun has published in outlets such as Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, The Leadership Quarterly, British Journal of Management, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, and the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. She received the Emerald Citation of Excellence and The Leadership Quarterly's Highly Cited Research Award in 2016. She is Associate Editor (Organizational Psychology) of Frontiers in Psychology and Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Organizational Behavior and the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Warrant Officer Class One Paul Carney MBE was born in November 1979 in Gosport and joined the Army in January 1997 as a combat engineer and electrician in the Royal Engineers. He has exercised around the world and operated in Macedonia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
WO1 Carney’s Junior and Senior Non-Commissioned Officer roles were spread between close support armoured engineering and general support engineering. As a Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor, he taught Troop Commanders and Sergeants Combat Engineering specialising on Demolitions and Bridging at the Royal Engineer Warfare Wing. He was the Squadron Sergeant Major of 20 Field Squadron, 36 Engineer Regiment as it transitioned to a Route Proving and Clearance role.
After serving as Regimental Sergeant Major at 22 Engineer Regiment WO1 Carney has since served as 3rd (United Kingdom) Division Command Sergeant Major, the Field Army Command Sergeant Major and as a student on the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land). In July 2021 he was appointed the 3rd British Army Sergeant Major.
He is married to Kathryn with two children: Nicole and Ethan. He has a BA (Hons) in Leadership and Management and is currently studying at master’s level. He enjoys CrossFit, running, kayaking and adventure training.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2024-2028)
Dr Munish Chauhan MBBS, MRCS, PgDip, RAMC moved to the UK from India at the age of 17 and he is currently serving in the RAMC as a Surgical Registrar. In 2007, Munish joined the British Army as a CMT, serving with 22 Field Hospital. As a JNCO, he was assigned as a squadron medic with 49 Sqn (EOD) of 33 Engineers Regiment. In 2011, Munish started his medicine degree from St. George's University, London and subsequently re-joined the Army as a Medical Officer. He has various clinical publications to his name. Throughout his military career, Munish has deployed, both within the UK and abroad, providing essential medical support in locations such as Kenya, Cyprus, Germany, and Estonia.
Munish has a passion for coaching and mentoring, and he regularly lends his expertise to medical staff. As a guest speaker, Munish has presented and received awards from PGIMER, Chandigarh and Panjab University, Chandigarh in India. His community work and leading the charity events, has earned him recognition at the House of Parliament and by community leaders. Munish's media appearances, on television and radio, serve as a source of inspiration for young Indians contemplating careers in the British Armed Forces.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Dr Tess Morris-Paterson BSc MSc PhD CSci is a chartered scientist who started her career in elite and professional sport. This included the Premier League, Women’s Super League, Formula One, tennis and golf, before the role of head of performance in Olympic and Paralympic sport. Tess transferred this experience to astronauts, where she studied the human effects of microgravity for her doctorate. This led her to work at NASA GeneLab, who investigate space-related genetic changes, and International Space University. She now has a business that specialises in the selection of astronauts, and is a Reservist Officer in 135 Geographic Sqn (42 Engineer Regiment).
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Professor Alexander Evans OBE FRHistS is based at the London School of Economics. He is a former Henry Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress, Senior Fellow at Yale, and Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford. A career member of the diplomatic service, he has also worked in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office. He has served as Deputy and Acting High Commissioner to India and (briefly) Pakistan, led the UN Security Council expert group on Daesh, Al Qaida and the Taliban, and was a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of State.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Langley Sharp MBE is the former head of the Centre for Army Leadership, responsible for championing leadership excellence across the British Army. Having himself graduated from Sandhurst two decades ago, his career in the Parachute Regiment, which included operational command at every rank, saw him deployed to Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Among his many varied roles, he led a counter-
insurgency Task Force operation, commanded a Parachute Regiment Battalion and delivered the Ministry of Defence’s training programme for the London 2012 Olympics venue security, for which he was awarded an MBE. He is the author of the British Army’s official account of leadership, 'The Habit of Excellence' , distilling over three centuries of the Army’s experience in the art, science and practice of leadership.
The breadth of Langley’s life experiences has fostered in him a steadfast belief in the potential of people. As an executive coach and leadership consultant, working with executives and senior leadership teams across the private and public sectors, his passion is to help unleash this potential. Langley is the Founder and Director of the consultancy firm Frontier Leadership.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2024-2028)
Donna Verdi is a highly accomplished Head of Talent and Development; Chartered Fellow of CIPD and LPI. She has worked for 23 years within the financial services industry spearheading successful initiatives to drive organizational effectiveness, leadership development, talent management and cultural transformation. She has successfully collaborated with strategic partners, influenced senior leaders and led diverse teams to produce impactful, leadership, management and cultural transformation programmes that drive a long-term leadership and organisational impact.
Her most recent leadership development programme was recognised for a gold award in Leadership Development by Brandon Hall. She is an accredited MBTI, Hogan and Insights practitioner.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Dr Alexandra Thorp graduated from Canterbury Christ-Church University with a BA(Ed) Hons in English and primary education in 1996. She progressed to headship within five years and enjoyed a successful 20-year career as a headteacher. Much of this career was spent working for Service Children’s Education overseas, with postings in Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands. During this time, Alexandra worked with military leaders and members of the civilian command, building her knowledge of leadership across a wide range of fields.
After receiving a MA (Ed) with distinction in leadership and management, Alexandra continued to develop her interest and expertise in leadership development. She has delivered lectures and seminars on effective leadership including the development of women in leadership roles. In 2021, she completed a Professional Doctorate with a focus on the impact of gender on leadership identity and career progression. Alexandra’s research looked at the social conditioning of individuals and how gender performativity impacts on leadership identity at all levels.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Major Simon Lash enlisted into the Army in 1996 as a soldier in the Adjutant General’s Corps. In Oct 2019 he was selected for commission, commissioning in Dec 2020. A leadership enthusiast he delivered Command, Leadership and Management Training to newly promoted NCO’s and has written leadership insights on Followership and Coaching as a Leader. He is a co-founder of the Staff and Personnel Support’s Coaching and Mentoring Network which has the aim of promoting coaching and mentoring throughout the Branch.
So far, the Network has created over 50 mentoring pairings, delivered briefs over the UK and established a reward and recognition scheme for coaching and mentoring. Major Lash is a keen military historian, specialising in the War of 1812 and Normandy, in particular the work of the Royal Army Pay Corps. His philosophies are leadership flows through followership and providing practical advice on applying leadership at the team level.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Colonel Matthew Ketterer (Matt) was born in Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire and was educated at Ipswich School in Suffolk. Following a BA (Hons) in Russian & Serbian from the University of Nottingham, he commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and into the Educational & Training Services (ETS) in December 2000. Most recent appointments include Command of East Midlands UOTC and ETS (South); Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Interior (Afghanistan); NATO’s Head of the Professional Military Education and Training Division in Iraq; and DACOS Education/Branch Colonel for the ETS.
Matt is currently Head of Profession for the ETS and is on full-time Arabic language training in preparation for his Defence Attaché deployment to North Africa. Matt is a qualified teacher, CELTA trained, has an MSc in Training Management & Consultancy, an MA in Defence Studies and completed a Fellowship at The University of Oxford in 2022. He has a personal and professional interest in leadership development and character education and considers himself extremely lucky to have spent a career principally employed to make others better.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2023-2027)
Flight Lieutenant (Retd) Dr David Atkinson BEng (Hons), FHEA is an academic and practitioner whose work focuses on leadership judgement and responsibility under uncertainty, constraint and technological change. He is a Lecturer at York Business School, York St John University, where he teaches industrial economics and entrepreneurship from a strategic decision-making perspective, with a particular emphasis on how leaders interpret complex environments, recognise risk, and commit under conditions of incomplete information.
A former Chartered Engineer, David previously served as a Royal Air Force Communications Engineering Officer, having been commissioned from the technical ranks as the first serving direct-entry airman awarded an RAF University Cadetship. He worked with UK and NATO strategic and operational systems, later undertaking advisory work in defence, aerospace and higher education contexts. Across both military and civilian settings, he has supported senior decision-makers in politically and reputationally sensitive situations through structured analysis, scenario development and written advisory input. David received his 2006 PhD in Critical Management from Lancaster University, winning the 2007 EDAMBA Thesis Competition. A core strand of David’s current work examines how automated analysis and AI-assisted systems reshape decision environments—enhancing situational awareness while also compressing decision time and influencing how options are framed. His research framework, Material Entropic Dynamics, explores how leaders preserve decision authority and maintain accountability when technology accelerates analysis but cannot assume responsibility for consequences.
Alongside his published research and teaching, David develops Hypothetical Decision-Forcing Cases (HDFCs) as scenario-based leadership development tools, including influence-focused wargames. These exercises apply a structured judgement-conditioning cycle (S2C2R) to help leaders practise sense- making, surface decision tension, commit, and learn from the consequences of commitment under uncertainty. David has contributed to policy debate through written evidence to the UK Parliament Science & Technology Committee and the APPG on Entrepreneurship, and engages with cross-sector forums linking defence, academia, industry and public policy.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Nikki McLeary CSci MSc MCASES is a Chartered & Accredited Scientist specialising in Human Performance Optimisation (HPO) in high-stakes settings with over 25 years applied experience. Her specialism is translating scientific and medical research into sustained readiness for individuals and teams navigating complex environments. Nikki is a Steering Committee Member for the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES) Extreme Environments Group; Co-author of an Extreme Medicine textbook; and faculty for MSc Extreme Medicine via the University of Exeter Medical School.
Nikki has built an international field-based career spanning extreme environments and multidisciplinary cohorts, from elite athletes such as F1 drivers and Vendee Globe sailors to multinational emergency service teams. Her recent work includes curating leadership workshops for senior UAE government ministers; leading a Health of the Nation initiative guiding 10 athletes across 1000km of desert in 30 days alongside a 2-unit production crew and in-country officials; and Chief Scientific Advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic across 20+ global film productions leading distributed teams in desert, polar, altitude, jungle and urban environments. Nikki’s academic work positions outdoor environments as high-fidelity testing grounds for the targeted development of critical non-technical skills. She is currently working with high-stakes operation teams to explore command assessment frameworks that address performance degradation under pressure, an emerging area of study at the intersection of human performance, cognition and system design.
A former Editor for the British Medical Journal (BMJ), with 25 years’ publishing experience to Editor-in-Chief level, she has authored over 100 articles translating academic research into applied practice for general populations. She has a particular interest in developing the next generation of leaders through high-challenge, evidence-informed experiential training. She was recently recognised in the inaugural cohort Women of the Future UAE 100 for the work she is undertaking in Human Performance Optimisation across this region.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Lt Gen (retd) Massimo Panizzi is a senior military leader, strategic communications expert, and consultant with over four decades of experience in national and multinational defence, NATO operations, and international diplomacy. He served at the highest levels of the Italian Army and NATO, holding senior command, staff, and representative positions across Europe, the Balkans, and Afghanistan.
His career includes appointments as Commander of the Italian Army Territorial Command and of the Military Geographic Institute, Deputy Military Representative of Italy to NATO and the EU Military Committees, and Deputy Chief of Staff (Support) of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Kabul, where he led large multinational staffs and oversaw complex logistics, infrastructure, and sustainment operations. He also commanded the “Taurinense” Alpine Brigade and played a key role in establishing the Italian–French bi national brigade under NATO, EU, and UN mandates.
An authority on strategic communications and public diplomacy, Panizzi served as Spokesperson and Strategic Communications Advisor to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and contributed to the development of NATO’s Strategic Communications Policy and Strategic Concept. He is a certified journalist and has extensive experience in leadership communication, crisis response, and civil military cooperation.
Panizzi holds multiple university degrees and advanced qualifications in strategic studies, peacekeeping, defence policy, and management from Italian, NATO, and French institutions. Since leaving active command, he has worked as a journalist and consultant, focusing on leadership development and the training of young leaders. His service has been recognised with numerous national and international honours, including the French Légion d’Honneur and the U.S. Legion of Merit.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Dr Lucie Pebay is a dual UK–French national. She holds a Master’s degree in English Studies from a French university and later moved to the United Kingdom to undertake a further Master’s degree in Strategic Studies at the University of Aberdeen. She subsequently completed a PhD in Politics and International Studies at the University of Bath, where her research examined the contemporary transformation of the French Army, with a particular focus on military innovation and the forces’ transition to ‘high intensity warfare’.
Pebay currently works within the Ministry of Defence on Naval Staff as a Research Manager, supporting and coordinating research activity designed to inform Royal Navy strategy, planning, and senior decision making. Her role sits at the interface between analysis and practice, requiring close engagement with military and civilian stakeholders across Defence and academia to ensure that research contributes meaningfully to operational and strategic thinking. Her professional experience reflects a strong understanding of institutional change and a career consistently oriented towards bridging academia and defence practice. She works to translate rigorous academic research into accessible, policy relevant insight, while bringing practitioner concerns and operational realities back into research and scholarly debate. She also maintains an ongoing commitment to defence research networks and professional military education through applied research, teaching, and engagement with practitioner audiences.
Her research interests centre on contemporary and future conflict, military transformation, and the readiness of European military forces. She is particularly interested in how shifts in the strategic environment affect the way militaries fight, learn, and organise, and how these changes shape leadership and institutional behaviour.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Dr Dennis Vincent MBE was commissioned into the Royal Anglian Regiment and conducted various roles at Regimental Duty which concluded with command of the 3rd Battalion. During his time at Regimental Duty, he was awarded an MBE for leadership on operations. His tours at staff were in the areas of training or plans and included roles in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan and with the UN in the DRC. His final staff role was as Colonel Training at Sandhurst.
He resigned from the British Army in 2015 to become a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication and Applied Behavioural Science at Sandhurst. He was the Head of Department between 2019-2024. He joined Cranfield University as a Senior Lecturer in 2024 to be the Academic Director for the Strategic Leadership Programme. He is now the Course Director for the Leadership and Strategic Capability MSc. He also supervises PhD students in leadership and military ethics subjects. He has a PhD in Military History and Leadership Studies and an MA in Defence Studies from King’s College London. He also has an MSc in Leadership and Management from Portsmouth University. He is a Chartered Manager, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority.
His principal research areas are in leadership at the operational and strategic levels and applied military ethics. His book The Forgotten General: General Sir Alan Cunningham, is a biography of this little-known commander and explores his actions as an operational and strategic leader during the Second World War and Palestine Emergency. The book was the runner up in the 2024 Chapple Prize. His 2025 book on military ethics is titled The S-CALM Model: The Application of Ethical Leadership in the Military, it offers a practical toolkit for making ethical decisions in stressful, real-world military situations.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Dr Declan Woods TD, CPsychol, AFBPsS works as a psychologist to top leadership teams and boards. He draws upon first-hand leadership experience gained as a former Plc. executive and a portfolio of non- executive director roles, and a parallel career as an Army Reserve Officer.
Declan has led an international board and executive-level development business and headed organisation-wide leadership development functions.
Declan is a recent Professor of Leadership Practice at King's College London (KCL) and current Senior Fellow in Management Practice at King's Business School (KBS). Declan is an Advisory Council Member of Harvard Business Review (HBR) and sits on the board of Freedom from Torture.
Declan has earned multiple awards for raising standards of workplace coaching, most recently for creating a new industry benchmark for coaching teams. He created teamSalient, a British Psychological Society-registered diagnostic tool used to help whole organisations transform. Declan wrote the best-selling 'go-to' handbook, 'The Transformed Team' and is currently editing a new book on team coaching. He is a regular writer and commentor in the press on the challenges work teams face.
Declan is a Chartered and HCPC-Registered Psychologist, accredited master coach, and holds advanced degrees from Cambridge, Warwick and Leicester universities and INSEAD, France. He is a Fellow of the CIPD (FCIPD), Association for Coaching (FAC) and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS).
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Professor Gerardine (Gerri) Matthews-Smith brings over two decades of senior leadership across research, education, and applied practice at the intersection of academia and defence. Her work focuses on the design and delivery of evidence-informed approaches to leadership, organisational development, and professional military education, consistently aligned to real-world defence challenges.
As Research Professor and University Lead for Military Research at Edinburgh Napier University, she has established nationally significant capability in armed forces research. She is Founder and Director of the Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement (CMREPE), an interdisciplinary platform translating research into outputs that inform leadership practice, personnel policy, and institutional resilience. Her approach is defined by building sustainable systems that connect research with operational need. This is exemplified by the Armed Forces Community Learning Academy, which integrates leadership development, education, and transition support across the military lifecycle.
Professor Matthews-Smith has secured and led over £8 million in external funding, delivering research on leadership, workforce wellbeing, and performance in complex environments. Her outputs span military transition, veterans’ health and wellbeing, employment, and education of service children and the needs of military families. This work has informed approaches to transition, resilience, and leadership development, contributing to more effective and sustainable workforce and support frameworks across the defence community. She combines strategic leadership with direct practitioner engagement, working with serving personnel, veterans, policymakers, and third-sector partners. She has supervised and completed over 65 doctoral candidates, including military personnel, and delivers executive and international education, developing reflective and adaptive leaders. Her external roles include Chair of the Edinburgh Military Education Committee and Vice Chair of the UK Council of Military Education Committees, alongside contributions to Scottish Government working groups on veteran mental health and the educational needs of military children.
CAL Senior Research Fellow (2026-2028)
Past CAL Fellows
- Dr Victoria Carr, 2022-2026
- Sarah Chapman Trim, 2022-2026
- Dr Mary Hunter, 2022-2024
- Dr Chris Kempshall, 2022-2026
- Dr Gabriel Morin, 2022-2026
- Maj. Gavin Paton, 2022-2026
- Scott Sheriff, 2022-2024
Contact the team
Want to find out more or apply to become a Fellow of the Centre for Army Leadership and help support leaders of the future, then get in touch using the email address below.
Email: [email protected]