Mark Hilborne

Dr Mark Hilborne joined King’s Defence Studies Department at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in September 2004. He spent a brief time at the Air Power Studies Division, where he was Assistant Head of Air Power Studies and Director of Research and Teaching. He returned to the Staff College in April 2008.

Prior to coming to King's he was a lecturer at the University of Birmingham and a Visiting Researcher at the United Nations Institute of Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva. He received his PhD in International Relations from Cambridge University in 2000. He also holds an M.Phil from Cambridge and a B.A from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.

Dr Hilborne’s research concentrates on strategic stability, deterrence and arms control, with an emphasis on nuclear weapons and outer space. In 2014 he set up the Space Security Research Group to further the understanding of the space domain.

In addition to his work in the Defence Studies Department, Dr Hilborne also taught the MA in Air Power in the Modern World for nine years. He also serves as Chair of the Exam Board.

Research Interests

Mark has just published the second ESRC-funded report on UK space policy. The goal is a series of reports focused on the UK’s future direction in space. He is also currently writing on deterrence in space and the military-commercial nexus in space.