Air Power Fellowship
The Air Power Group is responsible for stewarding the Society’s Air Power Fellowship at the University of Birmingham.
Serious debate in the UK on Air Power issues is hard to come by. There is thus little informed comment in this country that might pass the test of being based on fact, knowledge and balance. Centres of excellence engaged in the academic study of Air Power are limited in the UK. King’s College London certainly has a pre-eminent position with its Departments of War Studies and Defence Studies, and with its associated academic partnership with the Joint Services Command and Staff College and the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. The Centre for Air Power Studies at the Royal Air Force College makes a further very valuable contribution. However, air power is so important in today's world that even more needs to be done to boost the standard of public debate.
The Society’s Air Power Group recognised that there was a compelling case for establishing an independent Research Fellow at senior level to seize, exploit and create opportunities to promote a broader and deeper understanding of air power across all sectors of society.
So, in recognition of the anniversary of 100 years of powered flight and the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, the Air Power Group decided to create a senior academic post at a British university. The post has now been established at the University of Birmingham in the Department of Modern History and falls under the supervision of Prof Gary Sheffield who holds the Chair in War Studies. The initial funding for the post has been raised through donations from industry and the Royal Air Force: we are indebted to all who have supported the venture.
After a selection process involving a number of very credible candidates, the first incumbent will be Peter Gray who is on the point of retiring from the Royal Air Force as an Air Commodore, recently leaving the post of Director Defence Leadership & Management Centre.
As the RAeS Senior Research Fellow, Peter Gray will be expected to undertake a programme of research, publishing, public speaking and teaching, both in academic and military environments, and develop a sustained personal engagement with both the media and the public. To this end, he will be an entirely independent voice, an independence that will be guaranteed by the creation of an Advisory Board which will include a number of senior Fellows of the Society as well as academic representation. The Learned Society Board will assume the overall governance role and will seek to ensure that the Society’s ethos of continuous expansion of the body of knowledge, intellectual rigour and impartiality act as the guiding principles of the Fellow’s work.
Distance Learning MA in Air Power Studies
The University of Birmingham, seat of the RAeS Air Power Fellow, has just announced a new distance learning MA in Air Power studies. For more information visit the University's site .