Associate Professor and Co-Director
Space Research Centre (Durham University)
United Kingdom
Dr Bleddyn Bowen is Associate Professor of Astropolitics and a Co-Director of the Space Research Centre (SPARC) at Durham University, and housed at the School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA). He is an expert in astropolitics and the military uses of outer space. He is the author of two monographs: Original Sin: Power, Technology, and War in Outer Space (Hurst, 2022) and War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics(Edinburgh University Press, 2020); and multiple peer-reviewed articles. Dr Bowen's research focuses on spacepower; space policy and politics; military space history and contemporary defence strategy in space; technology and modern warfare; and infrastructural approaches to space technology. He is recognised by bestselling author and journalist Tim Marshall as 'Britain's leading thinker on astropolitics' and "a leading expert on the politics of space" in the pages of Politique étrangère. Dr Bowen has advised, presented, and briefed for many government agencies and offices, including the UK Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, the US National Space Council, the US Space Force, the European Space Agency, UK Ministry of Defence, UK Space Agency, the UK Parliament, and the Japanese Cabinet Office. He is also frequently interviewed for news and media organisations to provide analysis and commentary on space policy and international security. Prior to joining Durham University, Dr Bowen taught and researched at the University of Leicester, King’s College London, and Aberystwyth University. Dr Bowen also has prior experience in Professional Military Education at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at the UK Defence Academy. Dr Bowen studied for his Bachelor's degree in International Relations at Aberystwyth University's International Politics Department, followed by a Master's in Strategic Studies and a second Master's in Security Studies, both at Aberystwyth University. He secured ESRC funding for his PhD at Aberystwyth University, which was titled "Spacepower and Space Warfare: The Continuation of Terran Politics by Other Means" and was awarded in early 2016.
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