The deadline has passed for the 2nd edition of our Alan Villiers Memorial Lecture Postgraduate Essay Contest. We have two entries this year, and we’re pleased to introduce you to the entrants.
Timothy Choi is a third year PhD student at the University of Calgary’s interdisciplinary Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. His dissertation focuses on Scandinavian naval procurement in the context of a melting Arctic and a resurgent Russia. Although his research projects – including Ottoman galley warfare, First World War naval aviation, and modern-day mine countermeasures – vary widely in subject matter, they all share a common objective of examining the adequacy of maritime tactics and equipment for strategic and political objectives. He received his Master of Strategic Studies degree in 2013 and is a recipient of the Government of Canada’s Social Science & Humanities Research Council’s Joseph P. Bombardier Doctoral Award. Tim’s entry is entitled ‘The Influence of Islam Upon Seapower: Ottoman Naval Strategy in the Age of Galleys’.
Commander Benjamin “BJ” Armstrong is an active duty U.S. naval officer who is reading for his PhD in War Studies with King’s College, London. His research focuses on the U.S. Navy in the age of sail and the conduct of naval irregular warfare: including maritime raiding and maritime security operations. He has served as a search and rescue and naval special warfare helicopter pilot, the Officer-in-Charge of an amphibious helicopter gunship detachment, and in the Pentagon as a strategic analyst and staff officer. He is a member of the U.S. Naval Institute Editorial Board, and the editor of the 21st Century Foundations series from the Naval Institute Press; which includes his books 21st Century Sims: Innovation, Education, and Leadership for the Modern Era and 21st Century Mahan: Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era. BJ’s entry is entitled ‘Zeal Intelligence and Intrepidity: Naval Irregular Warfare, the War of 1812, & American Sea Power’.
