{"id":2925,"date":"2020-06-15T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/history\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2024-11-05T12:18:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T12:18:33","slug":"alumni-stories-dr-ash-rossiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/2020\/06\/15\/alumni-stories-dr-ash-rossiter\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Stories: Dr Ash Rossiter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This series of posts looks at what our former students do after they graduate in History at the University of Gloucestershire. It demonstrates the various types of employment and further study they can go into. It provides useful guides for existing students, but also highlights the fascinating journeys of our graduates. The next story goes a bit further back with Dr Ash Rossiter (Class of 2003).<\/strong><\/em> If you’re an alumni and would like to add your story, please contact coconnell@glos.ac.uk<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am Dr Ash Rossiter, an Assistant Professor of International Security at Khalifa University<\/a> in Abu Dhabi and a proud graduate of the history program at the University of Gloucestershire (or St Paul\u2019s College, Cheltenham, as my friends from my undergraduate days affectionately call the institution). I was delighted when members of the current history faculty asked me to write a few words about my time on the history program, which started in 2000 after a disastrous first year studying geology and geography \u2013 the less I write about the academic year 1999-2000 the better for everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr Rossiter on the far right at a recent conference at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let me first say something about what it\nis I do today and then work backwards, showing how my time in Cheltenham\nstudying history was instrumental to everything that came thereafter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I research and teach International Relations at its bloodier edges, with a particular interest in the generation and use of military force, technology & international security, defence policy, strategic thought, security issues in the Middle East, and lately the question of international security in the Indo-Pacific. More broadly, I\u2019m a sort of drifter between history and international relations, in grand strategy and diplomatic history, the way nations and their governments strive to survive in an anarchic world, how they rise and fall, how they think about force as a tool of policy. This omnivorous approach \u2013 often advised against by mentors past and present \u2013 is reflected in my recent academic publications, which include a paper on the Indian defence industry, a forthcoming book (Routledge, November 2020) on Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Warfare, and a monograph published in June this year with Cambridge University Press on British policy in the Arabian Gulf before 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Front and rear cover from Ash’s book<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I joined history program in 2000, I\nhad no aspirations of pursuing an academic career of any sorts. Instead, I planned\nto take a commission in the army as an infantry officer. But something happened\nto me on the history program at UoG. It was not so much learning new\ninformation or gaining fresh perspectives about the past that produced such a\nstrong reaction in me towards the field; it was more the feeling \u2013 a feeling I\nfelt for the first time on the course \u2013 that I could be a generator of\nknowledge. More precisely, I can trace this burgeoning love affair with history\nto a short study I did using primary sources on the restoration of the\nPittville Pump Rooms which were requisition for military use and damaged during\nWWII. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After completing the history degree, I\nwent on to take an MA in War Studies at King\u2019s College London and then later,\nafter a decade working across the Middle East in a range of roles, I undertook\na PhD at the University of Exeter. The history degree was a tremendous\nfoundation not only for all my academic pursuits that came thereafter; the\nanalytical and evaluating skills I developed through the study of the past\nproved indispensable in all of the public and private positions I served in\nbefore entering academia. I can say without any fear of contradiction that a\nhistory degree at the University of Gloucestershire is an exceptionally good\nway to prepare one\u2019s self for the challenges of the future, irrespective of\nultimate career path. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This series of posts looks at what our former students do after they graduate in History at the University of Gloucestershire. It demonstrates the various types of employment and further […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[376,697,769,768,296,684,208,773,766],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","tag-higher-education-2","tag-international-relations","tag-methodologies","tag-modern","tag-postgraduate","tag-postgraduate-research","tag-postgraduate-study","tag-university-of-gloucestershire-alumni","tag-uog"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3338,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions\/3338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}