Owen is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, with interests in Critical Security Studies (CSS), Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), Intelligence Studies, and Critical Military Studies (CMS).

Owen's research centres on issues of political accountability and knowledge production. Focussing on a range of controversial or scandalous events in global politics—such as wars, terrorist attacks, disasters and accidents—his research explores how societies can learn lessons, uncover the truth, provide justice for victims and hold actors to account. This research has included extensive work on public inquiries, freedom of information, state secrecy and, more recently, the democratisation of accountability through civil society-led open-source intelligence (OSINT).  

Owen's research has appeared in journals such as the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Current Sociology, International Political Sociology, Review of International Studies, Modern British History, and Security Dialogue. He has presented his work in venues including the European Parliament, the Houses of Parliament and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Read more in "Research Activities".

Owen is an accomplished interdisciplinary scholar, with collaborations in Law, History, Sociology and Criminology. Recent projects include:

• Warnings from the Archive: A Century of British Intervention in the Middle East (funded by Leverhulme Trust)
• Secrecy, Power and Ignorance Network (SPIN)
• A Tale of Two Cities? Elite and Everyday Narratives of Security and Responsibility in the Grenfell and London Bridge killings (funded by British Academy). Listen to a podcast here.

Owen sits on the editorial board of Critical Military Studies.

Beyond academia, Owen has served as a Magistrate (Justice of the Peace) in the Adult Criminal Court since 2009.