Dr Sergio Catignani is Reader/Associate Professor in International Relations. He joined the University of Exeter in 2013.

Dr Catignani has an MA (Hons) Political Studies (Aberdeen), MLitt (Research) International Relations (Aberdeen), and DPhil War Studies (King's College London) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Between 1 September 2010 and 31 August 2011 Dr. Catignani was a Leverhulme Research Fellow and conducted an empirical study on the British Army's adaptation to the insurgency campaign in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Although funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the study was sponsored by then Land Warfare Director General, Major General Nick Carter, currently Chief of the Defence Staff.

He was between 2014 and 2018 Principal Investigator on a joint funded ESRC-Ministry of Defence grant titled, “Sustaining Future Reserves 2020: Assessing Organisational Commitment in the Reserves”. With co-investigator, Dr Victoria Basham (Cardiff University), he examined the impact that Reserve service has both on reservists and their spouse/partners, the ways in which reservists balance their work, family and Reserve commitments and how their spouses/partners provide support at enabling reservists to balance such commitments.

Dr Catignani is an Associate Editor of European Journal of International Security and the Critical Military Studies journal and sits on the editorial board of the new Studies in Contemporary Warfare book series (IB Tauris).

Office hours, Term 2, AY 2023-24 (pre-booking by email necessary):

• In person: Fridays 12:35-13:35, Amory Room B215; and
• Mondays: 13:30-14:30, MS Teams (online).

Prior to joining the University of Exeter in 2013, Dr Catignani was a Lecturer in Strategic and Security Studies in the Department of International Relations, University of Sussex (2009-2013), Assistant Professor in International Security in the Political Institute, Leiden University (2008-2009), Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute Florence (2007-2008), and Lecturer in War Studies in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London (2005-2007).

In his free time, Dr Catignani enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons and daughter, rambling along the British coast or countryside with their English cocker spaniels by their side.

• External Examiner, MA in International Affairs, King's College London, October 2018-October 2022.
• External Examiner, MLitt in Terrorism Studies, St Andrews University, October 2016-January 2021.
• Research Grant Proposal Reviewer, Humanities & Social Science Panel, Israel Science Foundation.
• Monograph Reviewer, Cornell University Press; Routledge Middle Eastern Military Studies Series.
• Article Referee, Critical Military Studies, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Defence Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Journal of Strategic Studies, International Affairs, Security Studies, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Research supervision:

Dr Catignani's research interests comprise, amongst other things, military sociology, critical military studies, civil-military relations, institutional innovation and transformation, contemporary security issues (esp. insurgency and stabilization operations and military humanitarian interventions, the militarisation of counter-narcotics and policing within urban spaces), and gendered perspectives on security, military personnel and family issues.

He is happy to supervise in the above areas.